Schedule

Wednesday, November 9, 2022
6:30 p.m. Program

Join us at Asia Society Texas for an artist talk and performance by Monira Al Qadiri, who will lead guests on a metaphysical journey through time, space, and substances — specifically petroleum, visualizing its origins, current use, and potential futures.

Using her own artworks as a marker, the performance crosses between truth, fantasy, and what might be in order to highlight both our fascination and trepidation towards the use of fossil fuels and to attempt to envision a truly post-oil world.

The artist performance is co-presented by the Blaffer Art Museum, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at University of Houston, and Asia Society Texas. The performance is presented in conjunction with the Blaffer Art Museum exhibition, Monira Al Qadiri: Refined Vision, on view through January 8, 2023.

Monira Al Qadiri is Artist-in-Residence at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts.

About the Artist

Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal. In 2010, she received a PhD in intermedia art from Tokyo University of the Arts, where her research was focused on the aesthetics of sadness in the Middle East—stemming from histories of poetry, music, art, and religious practices in the region. Al Qadiri’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2022); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2020); Gasworks, London, UK (2017); Stroom Den Haag, the Hague, the Netherlands (2017); and the Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany (2019); among others. She has been featured in group exhibitions at venues that include the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2021); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2020); MoMA PS1, New York, New York (2019); the Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine (2019); the 6th Athens Biennial (2018); the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial (2018); and the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2018); among many others. Her films and videos have also been screened in Ireland, Germany, South Korea, Romania, Egypt, Qatar, Norway, and many more nations across the globe. In 2022, Al Qadiri was featured in the Venice Biennale’s central exhibition The Milk of Dreams. She is a 2022-2023 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts Artist-in-Residence. 

Exhibitions and their related programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher. Major support comes from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Clayton Fund, Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Wortham Foundation, Inc., and Ann Wales. United Airlines is our official airline partner. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Exhibitions Patron Circle, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas. This program is presented in partnership with the Blaffer Art Museum, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at University of Houston.

Presenting Sponsors

Nancy C. Allen
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Chinhui Juhn and Edward Allen

Official Airline Sponsor

Program Sponsors

Presenting Partners

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.