Art and About

Where art cars go to die: Step inside The Silo for Kevin Holden's primal,theater-rattling Soulstice

When does a party become performance art?

Interactivity and participatory art practices are consistently on the rise. It's a method to provide higher levels of intimate connection between artist, viewer, art form and the work itself. Whether that is in direct relationship to the dire need to cultivate audiences or an honest reflection of the artist's viewpoint, experiential art often questions the origin of creation and blurs the lines between creator, audience and the physicality of the work itself.

Carrie Schneider's Hear Our Houston project juxtaposes personal narrative into the physical world. Her art simply provides a path for others to share and archive stories. Her contribution is conceptual, while the execution and content is up to the participants.

In one of Sonia Noriega's works presented at "Rip in the Atmosphere," the audience was invited to vote on their favorite music to accompany the choreography. The exercise allowed aesthetic direction from viewers while forcing the creator to give up control.

The Silo itself is a thought-provoking venue. Located on the east side of downtown and adjacent to train tracks, the apocalyptic roofless concrete shell is also a resting place for vehicles. It's where art cars go to die.

But in Kevin Holden's Soulstice — which will take place Saturday at The Silo — the audience is the art. The audience's behavior is what you want to watch. Holden just provides the framework, inspiration and opportunity. The end product is unpredictable.

With the support of a Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist grant through the City of Houston, it is Holden's wish to return to an experiential model of theater, where performance affected change and encouraged community bonding. He further explained:

I was somewhat unsatisfied with what theater is, or at least what our definition in society right now for theater is. Looking back along the roots of theater, why did we ever come up with theater? Why did we have it? Why do we still have it? Looking back at some of the theoretical ideas of why and how theater came about, the one that was most interesting to me was the ceremonial aspect of trying to explain things that people couldn't understand or control. (I was interested in) creating a piece of ceremonial theater about it and explore what that would do to the community that participate in it.

Soulstice is an experiment, a modern adaptation of Holden's pure idea of theater in an effort to return back to basics. With his role as an artistic director of Horse Head Theatre Company, we have already experienced Holden's attitude towards audience inclusion. But this takes that to yet another level.

It's not an event to watch others on stage. It's an opportunity to be the event, to be the show, to be art.

Sounds like an Lord of the Flies-esque art "orgy" to me. Expect to get wet. Expect to get dirty.

"The whole motivation behind it is, let our souls out and reconnect with the humanity that we've lost touch with," Holden said.

The Silo itself is a thought-provoking venue. Located on the east side of downtown and adjacent to train tracks, the apocalyptic roofless concrete shell is also a resting place for vehicles. It's where art cars go to die.

One quadrant will serve as the lobby, where the tribal esprit de corps begins with loud drumming and a secular shaman leading "primitives" into the performance space for a three-part bacchanal. Add projections, lighting effects, loud music, dancing, a mud pit and body painting, and you have the recipe for something delightfully nasty — and I mean that positively.

Collaborating with Holden are Space City Gamelan, lighting designers Jeremy Choate and Clint Allen, guitarist Danny Painter, CORE Performance Company artist and freestyle pole dancer Blake Dalton (who comes courtesy of FrenetiCore) and actor Xzavien Hollins.

You can also help by contributing. Soulstice currently has an IndieGoGo campaign in hopes of raising $4,000. Contribute and you can be a Villager for $10 (that also gets you two drink coupons), a Tribal for $20 (you get to use and keep a percussion instrument plus all the Villager benefits) or a Shaman for $200 (all the other perks, plus front row viewing and open participation in creative process).

If you go, here are our insider tips:

Bring cash. The Silo is off the grid so you will not be able to pay with a credit card if you choose to indulge in an adult beverage.
Bring something to bang on. There will be percussion instruments on loan, but surely they will run out. Think of cans, pots, pans, sticks — anything that makes noise and is satisfying to beat the crap out of.
Wear comfortable clothes, ones that if they get dirty or ruined will not distract you from getting down and primal. There will be a change of clothes for some, but not all.

Soulstice is pay what you can. So what do you have to lose? Old clothes? Your inhibitions?

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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