"Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft" This exhibit examines and emphasizes the integration of performance in contemporary art and craft. But don't expect to walk into the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and watch a show. While performances and events have been scheduled as part of the ongoing exhibition, many of the works on display have been augmented with video elements that document the ways in which the objects were used in performance. For instance, Ryan Gothrup makes objects out of glass that mimic objects made from other materials. Here, he presents a rack holding four basketballs. One is made of glass, but it's almost impossible to tell which without touching them. He also presents a disturbing video of a man shooting hoops at a public outdoor court, shattering several glass balls. Meant as a controlled, supervised performance with a production crew, the shooting is halted by a violent, deranged man threatening to call the cops on the artists for deliberately breaking glass in a public park. It's a train wreck that's both fascinating and infuriating to watch. Another standout is collaborative group Plan B's video of glass blowers doing some very dangerous things with molten glass — like juggling hot balls of it and using a long, hot strand of it as a jump rope. And don't miss Michael Rea's wooden re-creations of musical instruments and equipment: electric guitars, a sax, drums, keyboard, theremin, amps, pedals, power cords and even a cowbell. An accompanying video shows a "band" performing a pretend/karaoke rendition of the Bee Gees' "Jive Talkin'" using the displayed equipment. Through July 25. 5216 Montrose, 713-284-8250. — TS
"Maurizio Cattelan" It's tempting to think that artist Maurizio Cattelan is putting one over on The Menil Collection. The Italian sculptor's works often tease art-world conventions and mock institutional authority. What's happened, though, in the delightful exhibition "Maurizio Cattelan," is a perfect harmony of two voices, the artist's and the institution's. Always smart in its approach to curation, the Menil has allowed Cattelan to make selections from the collection to display in juxtaposition with his own works, as well as install pieces within the museum's permanent exhibits. The result is a building-wide scavenger hunt that yields some pretty thrilling moments. And ironically, the Menil plays the trickster by figuring out an ingenious way to make patrons who only show up for the rotating exhibits check out the permanent ones again. There may not be a more perfect place for this experiment — Cattelan is a self-taught artist and was influenced greatly by surrealism. If one begins exploring the Menil at the west side of the building, Cattelan literally spells it out for us by choosing to display Joseph Kosuth's 1967 painting Titled. In white letters on a black canvas is the definition of the word "meaning." The majority of the Cattelan works on display are untitled, so introducing the definition of "meaning" seems to imply "abandon all hope of." The exhibition's major work is Cattelan's All, nine human figures lying horizontally on the floor that appear to be covered with white sheets — at least, that's what your brain tells you when you walk into the room. Closer inspection reveals a material of significantly greater substance. Another Cattelan work resides near a selection from Warhol's Electric Chair series. (You have to look for it.) And inside the surrealism galleries, find the hanging, upside-down hand with its fingers cut off (except for the middle one). Cattelan's summation of Dada, perhaps? Through August 15. 1515 Sul Ross, 713-525-9400. — TS
