Schedule

Saturday, November 11, 2023
2 p.m. Celebration
Performance sets:
2:30 p.m. UNDR WRPS
3:15 p.m. Bollywood Dancing With Steps for Dancing
4 p.m. Marley Moon

Celebrate the opening of Asia Society Texas' first public art installation Rafael Domenech and Tomas Vu: Heat Silhouette!

Made of wood, aluminum framing, and laser-cut construction mesh — the very materials used to build the city of Houston — this collaboration between Cuban American artist Rafael Domenech and Vietnamese American artist Tomas Vu assumes the form of an outdoor pavilion that becomes an extension of the museum and public programming space, taking cues from college campuses, popular culture, and experimental magazines.

Guests of all ages are welcome to participate in the day’s festivities with craft activities and performances throughout the afternoon! Listen to live music from bands UNDR WRPS and Marley Moon and enjoy Bollywood dancing while grabbing a bite to eat from Coffee-Q. The afternoon will showcase the versatility of Heat Silhouette with the hopes to inspire more spontaneous use from the public during its installation.

This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP for planning purposes.

About the Artists

Rafael Domenech was born in 1989 in Havana, Cuba, and lives and works in New York. His work has been exhibited at SculptureCenter; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City; The Bass Museum, Miami Beach; Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Yeh Art Gallery at St. John's University, New York; Artium Museum, Vitoria, Spain; Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami; and The Rockefeller Foundation, New York. Domenech was the recipient of an award from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and the CINTAS Fellowship.

Tomas Vu was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and moved with his family to El Paso, Texas, at age ten. Vu received a BFA from the University of Texas, El Paso, and went on to earn an MFA from Yale University. He has received numerous awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Award, the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. Vu has exhibited globally, including at MoMa PS1 (New York), CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, and the Inside-Out Art Museum (Beijing). He has been a professor at Columbia University School of the Arts since 1996. In 1996, Vu also helped found the Leroy Neiman Center for Print Studies. Since its inception, he has served as Director/Artistic Director of the Neiman Center. He was appointed the LeRoy Neiman Professor of Visual Arts in 2000.

About Coffee-Q

A food truck for delicious Houston-Latin fusion bites and handcrafted beverages, Coffee-Q is the intersection of the two distinct yet hallowed sacraments of coffee and barbecue — the scene to break the night-time fast and sip the morning brew. Here is where you wrestle your slumber and satiate your hunger.

Website

Heat Silhouette is commissioned in partnership with the University of Houston’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. This program is organized by Asia Society Texas.

Exhibitions and their related programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher. Major support comes from The Brown Foundation, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, The Clayton Fund, Houston Endowment Inc., and Mid-America Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, National Endowment for the Arts, and Texas Commission on the Arts. Free Thursday exhibition admission presented by Regions Bank. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Exhibitions Patron Circle, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas.

Presenting Sponsors

Nancy C. Allen
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Chinhui Juhn and Edward Allen

Program Sponsors

Presenting Partner

Food Partner

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.