MESS WITH TEXAS

Co-presented by Aurora Picture Show and the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) and organized by curator Peter Lucas, Mess With Texas is a generative project commissioning Texas artists to create new experimental films using archival footage from TAMI’s vast collection of regional films, newsreels, home movies, and television shows. Each unique in content and creative approach, these re-workings are imaginative intersections of past and present. Collectively, they make use of archival material from more than 100 films made in Texas between the 1930s and the 1980s.

Mess With Texas programs have been screened at Aurora Picture Show, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, AMOA-Arthouse, and the Dallas Art Museum / Dallas Video Festival. Some of the films have also gone on to be screened individually at film festivals and art spaces world-wide. The selection of 8 films included here were made by a variety of visual and multimedia artists from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.

Eyes On Texas by Krista Steinke (6:26)
Houston-based artist Krista Steinke uses unconventional methods in her experimental photography, film, video, and installation work, often informed by human-environmental relationships.
Website: https://www.kristasteinke.com/

Black Space by Robert Pruitt (5:18)  
Now based in Harlem, NY, Houston visual artist Robert Pruitt drawings, sculptures, photogrpahs, and videos are engaged in a “fictional ethnography” rooted in black identity. Website: http://www.robert-pruitt.com/

VIRAGO by Jennifer Lane (8:04) 
San Antonio-based Jennifer Lane is an artist and filmmaker, as well as co-founder and programmer of the CineMarfa festival.
Website: https://jenniferlanestudio.tumblr.com/

Is It True What They Say by Scott Stark (9:28) 
Now based in San Francisco, CA, Scott Stark is an experimental film and video installation artist, and founder of Austin’s long-running Experimental Response Cinema series.
Website: http://www.scottstark.com/

The Rancher by Kelly Sears (7:00)
Now based in Denver, Colorado, experimental animator Kelly Sears lived in Houston for a number of years. Her collage films create alternate stories drawing from a range of cast-off imagery from American culture and politics.
Website: http://www.kellysears.com/

Laugh by The Art Guys (1:58)
Houston’s legendary multidisciplinary art duo of Jack Massing and Michael Galbreth (who passed away last fall), The Art Guys presented an absurd blend of performance, conceptual, and visual art since they began working together in 1983.
Website: https://www.theartguys.com/  

In Search of Jackalope by Prince Varughese Thomas (9:35)
Houston-based visual artist Prince Varughese Thomas works in photographic, video, drawing, and installation, often examining sociopolitical issues.
Website: http://princevthomas.com/

Target by Nick Bontrager (5:09)
Fort Worth-based interdisciplinary artist Nick Bontrager’s work and research explores the physical and conceptual natures of media, game-based interactions, and the idea of replicas as tools of preservation.
Website: https://nickbontrager.com/