Michael Agresta
By Michael Agresta:
In ‘The Atomic Cafe,’ U.S. Cold War Propaganda Comes Out of the Bunkers for the Trump Era
Screening at SXSW on Saturday, the film's Cold War-era footage never feels distant — perhaps because both careless stewardship of the bomb and surreal official propaganda seem to be making a comeback.
When Jayne Loader was a child growing up in 1950s and ’60s Fort Worth, she lived across the street from E.O. “Soapy” Gillam, the “bomb shelter king of North Texas.” This was the height of the Cold War, when a … Read More
His Pet Monsters
Trenton Doyle Hancock uses '80s kid culture and an expansive fantasy world to explore identity, racial politics and growing up fundamentalist Christian.
His Pet Monsters Trenton Doyle Hancock uses ’80s kid culture and an expansive fantasy world to explore identity, racial politics and growing up fundamentalist Christian. – by Michael Agresta @magresta January 2, 2018 A visit to the Northside Houston studio … Read More
Houston Photo Exhibit Documents First Markers of Modern U.S.-Mexico Border
How strange, David Taylor’s camera seems to say, that this haphazard line has survived nearly 170 years as an international border, when so much else around it has changed.
Texans are accustomed to thinking of the U.S.-Mexico border as a fact of nature, defined by the course of the Rio Grande. It may make little sense to local communities, accustomed over untold generations to crossing and recrossing the river, … Read More
Wall Flowers
Border art projects bloom in the shadow of Trump's wall.
"When I’m building spaces, they’re really to invite people in, oftentimes people who are excluded or don’t have access to more traditional art spaces.” Read More
‘Through the Repellent Fence’ Celebrates Art that Transcends Borders
In "Through the Repellent Fence," artists speak passionately of the centuries-old importance of cross-border relationships.
In "Through the Repellent Fence," artists speak passionately of the centuries-old importance of cross-border relationships. Read More
Adiós Utopia, Hello Texas
The first major U.S. show since 1942 of Cuban art comes to Houston.
The landmark exhibit Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950 is at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), from March 5 to May 21. Read More
Valeria Luiselli’s ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ Is the First Must-Read Book of the Trump Era
The Mexican novelist writes that asylum-seekers come to the U.S. not in search of the American dream, but “to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born.”
The Mexican novelist writes that asylum-seekers come to the U.S. not in search of the American dream, but “to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born.” Read More
At SXSW, ‘The Work’ Builds Case for Prison Program That Breaks Inmates Down
"The Work" raises important questions about masculinity and violence, but the film’s ties to a controversial men’s movement cloud the picture. Read More
Internment Camps Take the Stage in Houston, and We Wish It Were Just a History Lesson
A dance performance at the Asia Society marks the 75th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order authorizing World War II internment camps.
A dance performance at the Asia Society marks the 75th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order authorizing World War II internment camps. Read More