The folks behind the Insight/Out Festival are interested in the impact of art and performance on our interpretation of public spaces. “We believe that doing live performance in a space can totally transform one’s view of that space permanently,” says Karen Farber, director of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston. “There are spaces that we might see every day, but having an encounter in those spaces will forever change those spaces for the viewer,” she says.
To prove the point, UH CWMC has commissioned composer Travis Weller to create “Seven in the Third: A Site-Specific Chamber Music Performance,” a haunting, melodic score written specifically around Project Row Houses, in Houston’s Third Ward. “Each audience member is given a [headset],” says Farber. “They’ll be able to hear the entire composition as they move from house to house, but when they are inside each row house, they’ll have an intimate experience with just one musician from the ensemble. In one house, they might encounter a cello player.”
There are two other components of the festival, Scoot-In, a drive-in film screening on Saturday at Sesquicentennial Park, and Stephan Koplowitz: Taskforce — Natural Acts in Artificial Water, a dance work, on Sunday at the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park. “Seven in the Third” is performed at noon and 3 p.m. on Sunday at Project Row Houses, 2505 Holman. For information, call 713-743-5749 or visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org.
Sun., May 20, 12 & 3 p.m., 2012
This article appears in May 17-23, 2012.