Media Alert: March 2019 Events at Asia Society Texas Center
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HOUSTON, February 27, 2019 — Asia Society Texas Center (ASTC) invites families to celebrate Spring Break by learning about Japan’s beautiful spring season and enjoying kid-friendly Japanese traditions on March 11–15.
Each day during the week, Houstonians can participate in a different come-and-go activity and enjoy daily film screenings of fun anime movies. Admission is FREE for all activities, which range from origami to craft dolls to Japanese food workshops.
And in mid-March, ASTC opens its first-ever exhibition by Filipino American artists, Super Sarap, which is also Asia Society’s first food-focused exhibition. In Super Sarap, the artists utilize routine kitchen items such as rice cookers, decorative forks and spoons, and balikbayan (care packages), plus ingredients and dishes familiar in Filipino cooking, such as ube (purple yam), langka (jackfruit), avocado, banana, guava, tapioca, and halo-halo (an ice cream-based dessert), to elicit personal and collective memories and offer cultural connections that go beyond the Philippine diaspora.
Tai Chi and Qigong with Henderson Smith
Asia Society’s Tai Chi and Qigong classes with Henderson Smith exercise the Three Treasures of the mind, body, and breath, using a practice that anyone can benefit from and enjoy.
- Level I: Wind down your day with this Qigong and renew your qi (energy) for the week through meditation. Learn more »
- Level II: Practice your Tai Chi and enhance your experience with your qi with two different forms of Tai Chi from the Wu Dang Mountains. Learn more »
When: Mondays, March 4 – April 22, 2019
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Registration: $210 – $245
Asian Representation: Overcoming Whitewashing and Stereotypes
Asian Americans have made significant strides in the past generation within film and television — however, they still must address ongoing stereotypes and issues of whitewashing. Actors Rizwan Manji (NBC’s Outsourced, The Wolf of Wall Street) and Tim Jo (NBC’s This Is Us, FOX’s Pitch) discuss the portrayal of Asian characters in American cinema and television. In conversation with Hollywood Reporter senior reporter Rebecca Sun.
When: Thursday, March 7, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $10 ASTC Members, $20 Nonmembers
Cultivating Life Qigong and Meditation Workshop with Henderson Smith
Reduce stress and pain, sleep well, and experience the power of your qi (energy) in this three-hour workshop with Henderson Smith.
When: Saturday, March 9, 2019, 12–3 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $90 ASTC Members, $105 Nonmembers
Spring Break: Journey through Japan
Celebrate Spring Break by learning about Japan and its beautiful spring season! Each day during the week, join us in welcoming spring by participating in a new come-and-go, kid-friendly activity.
When: Monday, March 11 – Friday, March 15, 2019, 12–3 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: Free and open to the public
Reception for Super Sarap & Artists' Conversation
Join Asia Society Texas Center to celebrate the opening of Super Sarap, the Center's first exhibition focusing on food and featuring Filipino American artists. Artists Mik Gaspay, Jeanne F. Jalandoni, Charlene Tan, and O.M. France Viana will be present and participate in a conversation led by guest curator Patricia Cariño Valdez and Bridget Bray.
When: Thursday, March 14, 2019, 6–8 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: Free and open to the public
U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East with Ryan Crocker
During his 37-year Foreign Service career, Ryan Crocker served as U.S. Ambassador to some of the most volatile countries in the world: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Syria. A conversation with Ambassador Crocker on his thoughts regarding the current U.S. administration's approach to foreign policy in the Middle East and the path forward to a peaceful and sustainable future.
When: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $15 ASTC Members, $25 Nonmembers
Moving Mountains through the Clouds with the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective
Featuring the talents of Nao Kusuzaki, Jennifer Mabus, and Evelyn Toh, this site-specific performance creates an interdisciplinary world that blurs the lines between sound, dance, design, and space. Built upon improvisational techniques, each artist responds in the moment to one another and to Asia Society Texas Center's unique architecture, enveloping the audience in the unspoken conversation and inviting their presence to contribute to the experience.
When: Friday, March 22, 2019, 8 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $15 ASTC Members, $25 Nonmembers
The Importance of LNG in Asia's Sustainable Future
As Asian economies strive to reduce emissions through moving away from coal to cleaner technology, the demand for natural gas will continue to increase. As Australia and the U.S. jockey to meet that demand, geopolitical and economic pressures are continually changing the playing field. A moderated panel examines the Australia-Asia-U.S. dynamics.
When: Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $10 ASTC Members, $20 Nonmembers
Ongoing Exhibitions
New Cartographies
This exhibition delves into the unique ways that contemporary artists such as Tiffany Chung, Allan deSouza, Li Songsong, and Sohei Nishino are incorporating mapmaking into their practices as they look at globally relevant topics such as urbanization, economic migration, environmental change, refugee movements, and the repercussions of colonial legacies.
Learn more »
When: Open through Sunday, March 17, 2019
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: Free for ASTC Members, $5 Students and Seniors, $8 Nonmembers
Super Sarap — NEW EXHIBITION
Artists Mik Gaspay, Jeanne F. Jalandoni, Charlene Tan, and O.M. France Viana revisit commonplace objects and food within Filipino cooking. Through sculpture, photography, and video, the artists elicit personal and collective memories and offer cultural connections that go beyond the Philippine diaspora.
The exhibition title, Super Sarap, fuses both English and Tagalog together, to hold multiple meanings. It can convey something that is extremely delicious, an expression of excitement and affirmation. It can also imply an exaggeration in terms of scale: something that is beyond, powerful, large, and exceeding the norm. In this exhibition, the artists play with these definitions and mutate symbols, making them both strange and familiar, challenging cultural norms associated with food.
Learn more »
When: On view March 16 – July 21, 2019
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: Free
Looking Ahead
Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity — Regional Premiere
Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity illuminates the daily experiences of five young Muslim Americans who came of age in a post-9/11 society, and who are building their lives in a time of continued fear and violence towards Muslims. This theatrical production was developed through a community-engaged process as part of Ping Chong + Company’s Undesirable Elements series of oral history theater works.
When: Friday, April 5, 2019, 7:30–9:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 6, 2019, 7:30–9:30 p.m.
Where: Asia Society Texas Center
Admission: $20 ASTC Members, $20 Nonmembers
About Asia Society Texas Center
With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.