Houston’s cultural art scene is set to EXPLODE!!  Performance artists from around the world will be in the city March 8-10 for the first Houston International Performance Art Biennale 2012. (HIPAB)

Hosted at DiverseWorks Art Space, March 8th AvantGarden March 9th and notsuoH March 10th, the festival will feature international artists Myk Henry (Ireland), Elena Nestorova (Finland), Gim Gwang Cheol (South Korea), Orion Maxted (London), John Boehme and Natali Leduc (Canada), Marcus Vinicius (Brazil), Rodney Dickson (Northern Ireland), Non Grata (Estonia), Ville-Karel (Estonia) and 1KA (France)

National artists include Nyugen E. Smith (New Jersey), Jamie McMurry (Los Angeles), Jill Pangallo (New York), Patrick Lichty (Chicago) and a diverse collection of local artists including The Art Guys, Jim Pirtle, Nestor Topchy, Julia Wallace, Jonatan Lopez, Rahul Mitra, Emily Sloan, Daniel Adame, Nancy Douthey, Brian and Stevie McCord and Daniel-Kayne.

In October 2011, Nestor Topchy (the genius behind HIVE) met Myk Henry at a Grace Exhibition Space performance event in Brooklyn. Myk was a key organizer of the Williamsburg (Brooklyn) warehouse (Immersionist) movement 1989-1992. They discussed the art scene in Houston and Nestor told Myk about notsuoH, describing it as “possibly THE most interesting enclosed urban space in Texas”. Together they came up with the idea of organizing a live art event.  This is how the Houston International Performance Art Biennale 2012, also known as the Lone Star Explosion came about. Since then, the event has been gathering steam and the organizational team has expanded to include artists Kelly Alison and Jack Massing of The Art Guys.

Event dates and locations: 

• Symposium at CAMH. Wednesday March 7, 2-4pm. Cullen Educational Resource Center,

Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston 5216 Montrose Blvd. 77006. www.camh.org

• Performances at DiverseWorks. Thursday, March 8, 7-11pm. 1117 E. Freeway 77022. www.diverseworks.org
• Performances at AvantGarden. Friday, March 9, 7-11pm. 411 Westheimer, 77006. www.avantgardenhouston.com
• Artist Reception at AvantGarden. Friday, March 9, 11pm-2am. 411 Westheimer, 77006. www.avantgardenhouston.com
• Performances at notsuoH. Saturday, March 10, 7-11pm. 314 Main (Downtown) 77002. www.notsuoh.com

Tickets are $30 to attend all events, or $12 per performance event. 

To contribute to the fundraising campaign please visit www.indiegogo.com/Lone-Star-Performance-Explosion