Diverse Discourse

Join us for the Spring 2020 Diverse Discourse Lecture with Candice Hopkins, independent curator and writer, and Senior Curator, Toronto Biennial of Art. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the content and format of the lecture has shifted. Instead of her originally planned lecture, Sounding the Margins: Towards Decolonial Listening, Hopkins will present, The Golden Potlatch and the Gilded Gaze: Capitalism, Infection, and Early Colonialism. **This event will be presented live online via Zoom and Facebook Live. Registrants will receive access instructions and the Zoom link via email on Wednesday, April 1 prior tot he event start time. Those who wish to view via Facebook Live do NOT need to preregister through Eventbrite. The recorded lecture will also be made available on DiverseWorks' website after the event.** CLICK TO REGISTER Given the present climate, this lecture will center on the relationships between Indigenous economies, extractive colonialism and its attendant metaphors of infection and sickness. Beginning in the 1800s with the Klondike Gold Rush, early forms of capitalism and resource extraction in my homelands of Yukon, Canada were commonly described as viral: "So infectious was the Klondike epidemic that that flimsiest rumor served to send hundreds dashing to the farthest corners of […]

Co-presented with Asia Society Texas Center Join us online on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:30 pm for the Fall 2020 Diverse Discourse Lecture with Adriel Luis, Memory Transplant. Luis is Curator of Digital and Emerging Practice at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. REGISTER HERE What makes a place? What are the elements that constitute a sense of here? As of late, most of the sites that surround us seem as remote and inaccessible as anywhere else in the world. Meanwhile, we have learned to forge intimacy and share experiences that transcend space and borders. But can any measure of technology, online interaction, or knowledge accumulation from afar instill a pulse of a city, a familiarity with culture, and a notion of having been there – in the absence of physical presence? In Memory Transplant, writer and curator Adriel Luis attempts to form a relationship with Houston through a series of virtual studio visits with artists, video chats with community, and research online. Through this process, he reflects on the obstacles and opportunities of building community in an age of social distance. Adriel Luis is a community organizer, artist, and curator who believes that our collective imagination can make a reality where we all thrive. […]

Join DiverseWorks live and online for the Spring 2021 Diverse Discourse Lecture with Larry Ossei-Mensah, Curator-at-Large, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and Co-Founder of ARTNOIR. This online lecture will be presented via Zoom; registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Please register only once per email address. The lecture will also be live-streamed to the DiverseWorks YouTube channel. Diverse Discourse brings national curators, artistic directors, and critics to Houston to present a free public lecture and conduct studio visits with  Houston-area artists, performers, and writers. Diverse Discourse provides a significant opportunity for area artists in all disciplines to have their work reviewed by a variety of distinguished arts professionals, fostering a cultural exchange across the nation between artists and cultural producers. STUDIO VISITS Artists living in Harris County may apply for a virtual studio visit with Larry Ossei-Mensah. Application Deadline: April 6, 11:59 pm Online Application Portal ABOUT LARRY OSSEI-MENSAH Larry Ossei-Mensah uses contemporary art as a vehicle to redefine how we see ourselves and the world around us. The Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic has organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and nonprofit spaces around the globe from New York City to Rome featuring artists such as Firelei Baez, […]

Join DiverseWorks on September 30 for the Fall 2021 Diverse Discourse Lecture, Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation, with Amanda Chachia, independent curator and critic. NOTE: Due to a shift in circumstances, this event is now online only. The talk is free to attend, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link: Register for the Zoom Event Watch the livestream on YouTube ABOUT THIS PROGRAM Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation Oftentimes exhibitions tack on access once the artwork has already been executed and ready to be installed in the museum or gallery. But what if artists were to ponder access as an integral and critical part of their artwork? Can access be creative and experimental? And furthermore, can the curator also fold access into their practice, while working collaboratively with artists, considering it as a theoretical and practical generative force that seeks to make an exhibition more engaging for a wider diversity of audiences? This talk will consider how a growing number of artists, curators, and scholars ponder these ideas through experimental approaches within exhibition-making and artistic practices. The Diverse Discourse Lecture & Studio Visit Series brings national curators, artistic directors, and critics to Houston […]

Join DiverseWorks and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts for the Spring 2022 Diverse Discourse Lecture with Christopher K. Morgan, choreographer, educator, and Vice President of Programming, Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 6:30 pm Dudley Recital Hall Fine Arts Building, Room 132 University of Houston Campus Map Integrating Identity in Artistic Practice: Decentralizing Eurocentrism in My Dancing Body a Diverse Discourse Lecture by Christopher K. Morgan As a multi-racial, multi-hyphenate artist I have spent a substantial portion of my career in primarily western influenced art forms that often overshadowed the Native Hawaiian and Polynesian dance forms I learned as a child. For more than 10 years, I have been on a journey to holistically integrate the multitude of identities I hold into my creative practice. As choreographer, artist, and writer Liz Lerman says “Artists can hold many truths at once.” I draw inspiration from this notion as I re-indigenize my practice, embracing the totality of who I am as human in my artistic practice, and share this ongoing journey in this Diverse Discourse Lecture. ADMISSION: The lecture is free to attend; seating is first-come, first-served. PARKING:  Enter the University of Houston Campus from Elgin […]