pikachu for you

Houston museum celebrates anime culture in blockbuster fall exhibit

The right panel of Yoshitaka Amano's "Time and Light"

A portion of "Time and Light" by Yoshitaka Amano, one of the pieces on display at Asia Society

Photo courtesy of Asia Society Texas

Anime and Japanese pop culture are extremely popular in America, and Asia Society Texas (1370 Southmore) is celebrating their enduring legacies with a new exhibit. The House of Pikachu: Art, Anime, and Pop Culture, opening October 17.

On display through March 15, 2026, The House of Pikachu illustrates how 25 artists from around the world incorporate anime's signature elements — including flatness, saturated colors, and stylized features — into 21st century pop art. The exhibit both honor's the genre's pioneers and showcases its continuing cultural relevance by highlights anime's strange, otherworldly, and supernatural dimensions.

“Much of my youth was shaped by a love for Japanese pop culture: binging on Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, and Final Fantasy," said Owen Duffy, Nancy C. Allen Gallery curator and director of exhibitions, in a statement. "In my recent years, I’ve realized I'm far from alone in my nostalgia for these classics and admiration for the art of animation. By encountering these energetic works of contemporary art, I hope viewers will recognize how global anime has become, and that pop culture is an enduring inspiration for artistic expression."

One of the most exciting acquisitions is a massive creation on aluminum with car paint called "Time and Light" by famed Japanese illustrator Yoshitaka Amano. Amano began his career as an animator on Speed Racer, but his most notable pop culture work would be the title and character illustrations in the Final Fantasy video game series. His ethereal figures helped shape the identity of the franchise for decades, cementing him as one of the world's greatest fantasy artists and setting the bar for the entire Japanese Role Playing Game genre.

The exhibit will host several Houston-centric pieces. Local artist Gao Hang created a new entry in his retro-futuristic ouvere featuring the show's mascot, Pokemon's Pikachu. Monsieur Zohore, an artist based between the United States and Cote D'Ivoire, will be showing a massive anime-inspired mural called "Houston, We Have a Problem," full of characters from Naruto, Akira, Dragon Ball Z, Inuyasha , Berserk, Mobile Suit Gundam, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Gurren Lagann, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

“Anime was my first passport," said Zohore. "It connected me to kids in Abidjan and in the U.S. — a shared language of transformation that transcended geography, language, and shame. Long before I understood difference, I understood what it meant to go Super Saiyan in times of crisis. Anime didn’t just entertain me; it taught me how to survive, how to perform, how to belong. It metabolized trauma into critique — and gave me permission to do the same.”

Other artists featured in the show include Chiho Aoshima, Daniel Arsham, Emily Yong Beck, Katherine Bernhardt, Julien Ceccaldi, CFGNY, Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group, Maya Fuji, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Gao Hang, Loc Huynh, Teppei Kaneuji, Izumi Kato, Taylor Lee, Jarod Lew, Ileana Moreno, Yoshitomo Nara, Robert Nava, Otani Workshop, Rozeal., Keiichi Tanaami, Andrew Norman Wilson, and Yuli Yamagata.

The gallery is open daily from 10 am-5 pm Wednesday, and Friday-Sunday and 12-7 pm on Thursday. Admission to The House of Pikachu is $8.

asia society texas center museums openings

raise the baton

Prestigious international conductor competition will debut in Houston

Photo by Clayton Stephenson

Conductor Marin Alsop will lead the judging panel.

Houston is about to get a new baton in town, and this one comes with international ambitions.

The Cliburn has announced the launch of the Cliburn International Competition for Conductors.

Classical music cognoscenti might be asking what this has to do with Houston. After all, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has long been synonymous with Fort Worth. The answer lies in legacy, logistics, and a bit of full-circle musical fate: Houston is home to a world-class orchestra, a premier music school, and a deep-rooted connection to Van Cliburn himself, who made his orchestral debut here at age 12.

The new program is set to debut in June 2028 in Houston. So there it is.

Open to conductors ages 21 to 35, the competition marks the first major international conducting competition in North America, placing the city on the global podium for emerging musical leadership.

The new initiative is a collaboration between The Cliburn, the Houston Symphony, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. The Houston Symphony will perform with all competitors.

“The event will bring people to Houston from around the world, enhancing our reputation as an international city with a thriving arts and cultural sector,” Gary Ginstling, executive director and CEO of the Houston Symphony, tells CultureMap.

Competition rounds will take place at both the Shepherd School and Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.

“Collaborations like this are central to who we are as a university,” Matthew Loden, dean of the Shepherd School of Music, says. “They build on a deep network of relationships we’ve established with renowned arts organizations in Texas and around the world, and they strengthen the multifaceted programs already in place at Shepherd.

Loden frames Houston — and Texas more broadly — as uniquely positioned to lead in the arts. Often dubbed the Third Coast, he sees the region as more than a participant in the global cultural conversation. Instead, he views Texas as actively shaping a growing center for artistic innovation, making Houston a fitting home for the first major international conducting competition in North America. It’s a point of pride, he notes, but hardly a surprise.

At the helm of the jury will be Marin Alsop, who also conducted the 2022 and 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competitions. An artistic advisory committee stacked with conducting prowess will help shape the competition’s structure and repertoire, including former Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya (Shepherd’s resident director of orchestras), current Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano, Kent Nagano, Juraj Valčuha (Houston Symphony music director), and Xian Zhang.

Applications will open in October 2026, with submissions due in November 2027. A screening jury will narrow the pool to as many as 25 applicants for live auditions in early 2028, ultimately selecting 12 competitors. All rounds will be open to the public, with tickets going on sale in early 2028, and performances livestreamed to a global audience.

One grand prize winner will receive $50,000, concert engagements, and enhanced career support, while finalists will each earn $20,000.

Building on the Cliburn’s digital reach, more than 100 million video views across 180 countries in recent years, the new competition aims to be a launchpad for the next generation of maestros, with Houston as the overture.

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