Ballroom Marfa proudly presents a new publication documenting our 2015 Sam Falls exhibition.

Ballroom Marfa Curator Laura Copelin at Frieze …

From seminal Land Art projects like Michael Heizer’s Double Negative and James Turrell’s Roden Crater; to the proliferation of artists’ projects in Marfa, Texas; to Jananne Al-Ani’s films of remote landscapes of the Middle East that have been scarred by war, to Ben Rivers’s most recent project, set in the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona, the unique and sometimes bizarre landscapes of the desert have served as fertile ground for artists, writers and filmmakers alike. What are the utopian and dystopian qualities of the desert that draw artists over generations? In this panel discussion, curator and writer Shumon Basar discusses the ‘desert imaginary’ with artist Jananne Al-Ani, Ballroom Marfa curator Laura Copelin,

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the reception of The Institute for New Feeling’s This is Presence and the 2016 season of Artists’ Film International. The Chulita Vinyl Club was amazing and we appreciate everyone’s support.
This is Presence is made possible in part by the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston; City of Marfa; National Endowment for the Arts; Pace Art + Technology; Texas Commission on the Arts; Ballroom Marfa Board of Trustees; and Ballroom Marfa members.
Special thanks to Vicente and Ramona for the always delicious tacos; Chulita Vinyl Club for the awesome DJ set; Gem and Bolt Mezcal for delicious cocktails; and SAVED Wines and Big Bend Brewery for continued support of Ballroom Programs.

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Opening reception for This is Presence, 2016
Photo by Emma Rogers

Catch Ballroom alum Jonathan Schipper’s new installation, Cubicle, at Rice Gallery in Houston. From Rice Gallery … Jonathan Schipper, known for his time-based, kinetic installations, will create Cubicle, a new installation for Rice Gallery. Schipper’s works reveal the flow of time as imperceptible until, as in life, we see the physical evidence of its passing. In his Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle, 2008, two full-size automobiles crush into one another to simulate the force of a 30 mph head-on collision slowed down to unfold over several days. For Cubicle, Schipper will construct an office setting that will undergo subtle, yet inescapable changes over two months. The opening celebration will take place on Thursday, October 6 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, and will feature remarks by Jonathan Schipper at 6:00 pm. Complimentary snacks and beverages including ale courtesy of Saint Arnold Brewery will be served. The event is free and open to the public. For more information see the VISIT page at ricegallery.org or call 713.348.6069.

  For those of you aching to know more about Graham Reynolds’ opera Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance, check out our new website! Panchovillaopera.com features a full list of the collaborators and some new videos, with more to come. Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance is the third and final chapter in Reynold’s epic Marfa Triptych. Tickets for Pancho Villa‘s public premiere on November 12 are now sold out.
To be added to the waitlist, please email [email protected].

  Don’t miss your chance to see After Effect, a group exhibition on view at Ballroom until Sunday August 21. If you can’t make it out to Marfa, check out this video walkthrough video directed by David Fenster. Ballroom’s next exhibition, This is Presence, part of Artists’ Film International 2016, opens September 23, 2016.

“It’s one thing to spend a long weekend in Marfa,” writes Leigh Patterson in Apiece Apart, “and another entirely to live and work there.” Patterson traveled to Marfa along with stylist Alexa Hotz and photographer Michael A. Muller to interview three Marfa women, including Freda owner Susannah Lipsey, ceramicist Mimi Dopson, and Ballroom Marfa Executive Director Susan Sutton. Sutton holds forth on minimalism, her changing self-perceptions, and other women that she admires. “Going into your fear is the only way forward,” she says.

Ballroom Marfa is excited to announce the launch of our Kickstarter campaign for Graham Reynolds’ experimental chamber opera, Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance,

the third and final installment of The Marfa Triptych. Join us in supporting this extraordinarily ambitious collaboration through Kickstarter today! Click here to visit the campaign page and find out more about the project and the unique rewards available to all Pancho Villa backers.

Ballroom Marfa is pleased to host Dengue Fever, the second of four exhibitions conceived for Arturo Bandini’s year long installation in the courtyard, a perfect copy of their iconic Los Angeles gallery. As a worm in an apple, or a tongue licking a psychoactive toad, or more to the point a wet willy, works by Kelly Akashi, Marten Elder, John Finneran, S Gernsbacher, Drew Heitzler, Sarah Manuwal, Calvin Marcus, and Roni Shneior surround and infuse the building (both inside and out), saturating it with meaning. Arturo Bandini is a collaborative project/gallery by artists Michael Dopp and Isaac Resnikoff. The gallery occupies a small building designed by Joakim Dahlqvist that fluidly transposes interior and exterior space, mirroring Bandini’s promiscuous curatorial sensibility. Documentation of the exhibition follows. All photos by Alex Marks courtesy the artists and Ballroom Marfa.

Ballroom Marfa recently hosted a lecture by artist Mary Weatherford, “Agnes Pelton and the American Transcendental” to complement After Effect, the current exhibition on view in Ballroom’s galleries. The lecture took place at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, TX on May 21, 2016. A painter herself, Weatherford speaks here on the work of Agnes Pelton, a member of the historical Transcendental Painting Group active in New Mexico in the 1930s and ’40s.
The Transcendental Painting Group’s manifesto identifies their aim as carrying “painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual” in an effort to “widen the horizon of art.” Watch Weatherford’s lecture below or visit Ballroom Marfa’s Vimeo page.