Art League Houston presents "Muscle Panic objects," a site-specific installation by Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Hazel Meyer. The exhibition is part of the artist's ongoing, multifaceted project Muscle Panic, which explores the relationship between artistic and athletic practices. The exhibition features an immersive installation comprising of archival research, textile, sculpture, and performance conceived by the artist to recover the queer aesthetics, politics, and bodies often effaced within histories of sports and recreation.
Leading the viewer through the space, the works offer an extended consideration regarding the performative nature of the athletic as it intersects with queerness. The exhibition instigates an arena of sweat and queer desire, evoking the imagery of momentous sports history, the bodily gestures and actions of a drill or warm-up and the aesthetics of the gymnasium. Simultaneously an installation and a performance, the exhibition transforms the banal and austere white cube into a hot physically charged site for emotional and physical exchange.
Additionally, the exhibition features a performance at the opening reception led by the artist in collaboration with local women, trans and/or non-binary artists, athletes and activists. The performance begins for the performers with a 5 km run through Houston, and begins for the audience as they arrive at the Art League Main Gallery. Drawing on the gestures and routines of sports practice as a way to explore the emotive dimensions of sport, the performance is semi-improvised and based on athletic drills, pregame rituals, teammate dynamics and workouts. Remnants of the performance, including the performer's sweaty uniforms will be left on view in the installation, tying action with environment, and leaving a trace of the warm bodies that were there.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view until March 10.
Art League Houston presents "Muscle Panic objects," a site-specific installation by Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Hazel Meyer. The exhibition is part of the artist's ongoing, multifaceted project Muscle Panic, which explores the relationship between artistic and athletic practices. The exhibition features an immersive installation comprising of archival research, textile, sculpture, and performance conceived by the artist to recover the queer aesthetics, politics, and bodies often effaced within histories of sports and recreation.
Leading the viewer through the space, the works offer an extended consideration regarding the performative nature of the athletic as it intersects with queerness. The exhibition instigates an arena of sweat and queer desire, evoking the imagery of momentous sports history, the bodily gestures and actions of a drill or warm-up and the aesthetics of the gymnasium. Simultaneously an installation and a performance, the exhibition transforms the banal and austere white cube into a hot physically charged site for emotional and physical exchange.
Additionally, the exhibition features a performance at the opening reception led by the artist in collaboration with local women, trans and/or non-binary artists, athletes and activists. The performance begins for the performers with a 5 km run through Houston, and begins for the audience as they arrive at the Art League Main Gallery. Drawing on the gestures and routines of sports practice as a way to explore the emotive dimensions of sport, the performance is semi-improvised and based on athletic drills, pregame rituals, teammate dynamics and workouts. Remnants of the performance, including the performer's sweaty uniforms will be left on view in the installation, tying action with environment, and leaving a trace of the warm bodies that were there.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view until March 10.
Art League Houston presents "Muscle Panic objects," a site-specific installation by Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Hazel Meyer. The exhibition is part of the artist's ongoing, multifaceted project Muscle Panic, which explores the relationship between artistic and athletic practices. The exhibition features an immersive installation comprising of archival research, textile, sculpture, and performance conceived by the artist to recover the queer aesthetics, politics, and bodies often effaced within histories of sports and recreation.
Leading the viewer through the space, the works offer an extended consideration regarding the performative nature of the athletic as it intersects with queerness. The exhibition instigates an arena of sweat and queer desire, evoking the imagery of momentous sports history, the bodily gestures and actions of a drill or warm-up and the aesthetics of the gymnasium. Simultaneously an installation and a performance, the exhibition transforms the banal and austere white cube into a hot physically charged site for emotional and physical exchange.
Additionally, the exhibition features a performance at the opening reception led by the artist in collaboration with local women, trans and/or non-binary artists, athletes and activists. The performance begins for the performers with a 5 km run through Houston, and begins for the audience as they arrive at the Art League Main Gallery. Drawing on the gestures and routines of sports practice as a way to explore the emotive dimensions of sport, the performance is semi-improvised and based on athletic drills, pregame rituals, teammate dynamics and workouts. Remnants of the performance, including the performer's sweaty uniforms will be left on view in the installation, tying action with environment, and leaving a trace of the warm bodies that were there.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view until March 10.