Closed World: Exercise of Remembrance and Memory
Presented by the 2024 Texas Biennial, in Partnership with THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN AND Future Front TEXAS
Part 2 of a 4-Part Film & Video Series
Join us in The Contemporary Austin Jones Center’s Community Room on Sunday, November 10 from 3 to 4:30 PM for Closed World: Exercise in Remembrance and Memory, the second in a four-part film series presented in partnership with Future Front and the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston as part of the 2024 Texas Biennial.
SCROLL FOR DETAILS.
what to expect at part TWO
PART TWO’S FILM PROGRAM
Films included in part-two, Closed World: Exercise of Remembrance and Memory, include Relics (2024) by Texas-based artists Ana Trevino & Mark Menjivar alongside the following works:
Thania Petersen, KASSARAM, 2020
Chitra Ganesh, Silhouette in the Graveyard, 2018
Cauleen Smith, Sojourner, 2018
Martha Colburn, Western Wild … or How I Found Wanderlust and Met Old Shatterhand, 2017
Aline Baiana, At that time when everything was human, 2016
Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Invalid Throne, 2018
Sriwhana Spong, Beach Study, 2012
about THE FOUR-PART SERIES
Closed World, co-curated by Innocent Ekejiuba and Erika Mei Chua Holum, is a four-part film program including works by an international roster of contemporary artists designed as four exercises in healing. The film series is presented in conjunction with Makeshift Memorials, Small Revolutions – an exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston that is co-organized with KADIST – San Francisco and offered as part of the 2024 Texas Biennial: The Last Sky.
For these satellite screenings of the Closed World programs at The Contemporary Austin, the program’s curators have partnered with Future Front’s Founding Director Jane Hervey, who additionally curated works by Texas-based artists appearing in The Front Festival’s annual Independent Film Showcase. Later Closed World screenings at The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center offered as part of this series include:
Exercise in Resilience on Wednesday, November 20 from 6:30 to 8 PM
Exercise of Rebuilding and Recovery on Sunday, November 24 from 3 to 4:30 PM
HOW TO ATTEND
All programs within this series are free to attend and include admission to view The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center’s current exhibitions Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses and HOST: Katarina Janečková Walshe.
For additional screening info, head to The Contemporary Austin’s events calendar. For accommodations, please email salexander@thecontemporaryaustin.org in advance.
RSVP WITH THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN BELOW:
*If you are a Future Front member, head to members.futurefronttexas.org or futurefrontmembership.squarespace.com to access member rates for event tickets, applications & other perks at anytime.
This event is Presented by the 2024 Texas Biennial, in Partnership with THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN - JONES CENTER AND Future Front TEXAS.
behind “CLOSED WORLD”
Closed World consists of four short-film programs, or exercises, encompassing the themes of grief, memory / remembrance, resilience, and rebuilding / recovery. Each program is designed as a ‘Closed World’ – or as a generative system formed through synthetic naturalism, where the habitable conditions of nature are replicated within spaces of the home, theater, or gallery space.
Closed World seeks to examine the earth as a whole – as a complete and interconnected system – which can be shaped into architecture as part of an integrated system derived from nature in the built environment. A closed world is built and unbuilt through the progression of the four-part exercises in this film program and the community taking part; it is not enough to talk about healing or grief, we must all go through the complete healing process as a community and ensure rebirth happens on a communal scale.
About the Organizers
Erika Mei Chua Holum is the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston and is one of three curators of the 2024 Texas Biennial. Recent projects at the Blaffer Art Museum include Makeshift Memorials, Small Revolutions with KADIST San Francisco (2024), and solo exhibitions with Cian Dayrit (2024), Saif Azzuz (2025), and Ja’Tovia Gary (2026).
Innocent Ekejiuba is a PhD student at Howard University and a Cultural Researcher. He serves as an assistant professor of Art and Cultural Management in the Creative Enterprise Leadership International Graduate Program at Pratt Institute. In 2020, he founded The Drill, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a sustainable African art ecosystem by providing early and mid-career African artists with tools for sustainable practices.
behind the texas biennial
The Texas Biennial is a geographically-led, independent survey of contemporary art in Texas. The program was founded in 2005 by Austin nonprofit Big Medium to provide an exhibition opportunity open to all artists living and working in the state. The eighth edition of this program will take place in 2024, making the Texas Biennial the longest-running state biennial in the country. Since its inception, the program has brought the work of over 300 artists to new audiences, springboarding many artists’ careers and underscoring the diversity of contemporary practice in Texas.
behind the CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN - JONES CENTER
When you visit The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center, you are greeted by a glittering work of art floating above the roofline and visible from the street below. This now-iconic sculpture, Jim Hodges’s With Liberty and Justice for All (A Work in Progress), sets the stage for what you will experience inside: a dynamic schedule of exhibitions in nearly 8,000 square-feet of museum space.
Designed by architect Paul Lewis of Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center includes two floors of exhibition space and a stunning rooftop deck—the Moody Rooftop—home to exhibition-related films, performances, family programs, and tours, along with some of the most creative private events in the city.
Visit our events calendar for information on upcoming workshops, films, and other museum programs. Visit The Contemporary from Home to enjoy virtual tours of current and past exhibitions at the Jones Center on Congress Avenue.
BEHIND FUTURE FRONT
The Texas-based filmmakers featured in Closed World have been curated by Future Front’s Founding Director Jane Hervey from The Front Festival’s Independent Film Showcase, which is annually hosted at The Contemporary Austin — Laguna Gloria.
HOMEGROWN IN AUSTIN, FUTURE FRONT IS AN AWARD-WINNING CULTURE SPACE AND EXHIBITION SERIES—WITH WOMEN AND LGBTQ+ CREATIVES AT THE FRONT.
As an arts and culture nonprofit, we produce two community-led exhibitions, The Front Market and The Front Festival. Beyond our flagship showcases, we host year-round shows and workshops at our creative space in historic East Austin, welcoming 20,000+ visitors per year.
Through these programs and collaborations, we invite the public to dream of a future where creativity, curiosity and intersectional design thrive in Texas—where we see ourselves and our cultures reflected in our communities. Learn more at futurefronttexas.org.
FUTURE FRONT IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY The City of Austin Economic Development Department, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, Waymo, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, the Red River Cultural District, Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, Topo Chico, as well as Future Front’s donors and members. THANK YOU!