Web Extra: Quirky Houston

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Carol Barrington presented a collection of oddball Houston attractions in the January 2010 issue. Two more quirky sites follow.

Edgy Arts

Individual expression of a higher sort headlines at DiverseWorks Art Space, a non-profit gallery cum theater that has prodded Houstonians into new ways of looking at life and contemporary art for 27 years. Expressions of assorted social messages—notions of time, ethnic relationships, cultural histories, personal roots, ecology, and so on—tend to headline here, most often presented via unique juxtapositions of visual, performing, and literary art.

This may mean creative audio accompanies you on a quest for the gallery’s restroom, a theatrical performance viewed through “peepholes,” or an evening of food and art that features rising stars in both disciplines. Every season brings new surprises; simply reading their calendar will stretch your art horizons. Coming up: the U.S. premier January 21 of The Voyeur, the latest performance installation by Australian-based Company Clare Dyson.

Narrowing that visual art focus to cinema means catching the Aurora Picture Show. This non-profit micro-cinema curates and screens experimental and independent films and videos by new artists in various venues. You never know what to expect here; some showings are hilarious, others thought-provoking, but all put you on the cutting edge of today’s independent-flick scene. Coming up January 23: rare performance footage of ’60s soul music by James Brown, Etta James, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina Turner, and many others. The screening site, the Eldorado Ballroom, adds to the evening’s time-warp; this venerable venue hosted numerous major blues and jazz performances during its 1940-1970 heyday.

—Carol Barrington

DiverseWorks Art Space, 1117 East Freeway, 713/223-8346.

Aurora Picture Show, 1524 Sul Ross (office and video library), 713/868-2101.

From the June 2012 issue.

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