The Hidden Agenda: New Beginnings
After a seven-year hiatus, The Hidden Agenda has returned with vigor to provide a look at some of the best events you may not have heard about — but certainly shouldn’t sleep on. From exhibition openings, closings, performances, and film screenings to events on community organizing and therapeutic care through art, we’ve got you covered for the next two weeks.
Thursday, February 6
Screening – Every Ocean Hughes: One Big Bag
Blaffer Art Museum
In conjunction with the group exhibition Makeshift Memorials, Small Revolutions, Blaffer Art Museum (4173 Elgin Street) presents a screening and conversation with artist Every Ocean Hughes from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The screening of her film, One Big Bag — which poses questions about the important and burgeoning debate around end-of-life practices — will be followed by a roundtable discussion with Hughes in dialogue with Amanda Cachia, MaryScott Hage, and Woods Nash.
Phillip Pyle II with his work at Moody Center for the Arts
Opening Reception – Phillip Pyle II: Spectrum Sammy
Moody Center for the Arts
From 6 to 8 p.m., Moody Center for the Arts (6100 Main Street, MS-480) hosts the opening reception for Phillip Pyle II's work Spectrum Sammy, the latest installation in their Moody Project Wall series. Presented in collaboration with Rice University’s Center for African and African American Studies, the reception features remarks from Pyle as well as music from DJ Flash Gordon Parks.
Performance – Julia Barbosa Landois’ Praise Music Sonogram
DiverseWorks
Combining spoken word, video, and experimental sound in telling “a story of motherhood, miscarriage, and abortion access across national and state borders,” Julia Barbosa Landois’ performance piece, Praise Music Sonogram, runs from Thursday to Saturday at DiverseWorks (3400 Main Street). The performance, lauded as “deeply personal and unexpectedly comedic,” will begin at 7 p.m. each night. Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $25.
Friday, February 7
Screening – Mulholland Drive
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
In light of the recent passing of legendary director and creative David Lynch, there’s never been a better time to see his lauded 2001 film Mulholland Drive, screening in 35mm on Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1001 Bissonnet Street). To attempt to summarize the film would do a proper disservice to Lynch, so go see it and come up with your own interpretation of this surreal masterpiece starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Justin Theroux.
Saturday, February 8
Houston Organizing Fair
Axelrad
From noon to 5 p.m., the Houston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is hosting an organizing fair at Axelrad (1517 Alabama Street). The event features a number of participating organizations, including FIEL Houston, Food Not Bombs, JVP Houston, JuntosHOU, and Kitchen Table, among many others, offering the opportunity for people to meet fellow organizers and find out how to get involved.
2025 Woodson Black Fest
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
In celebration of Black History Month and in honor of author and thinker Carter G. Woodson, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (5216 Montrose) presents the fourth annual Woodson Black Fest from 1 to 4 p.m. The event “brings enlightenment, creativity, and innovation to celebrate Black artists and artisans’ contributions to our community” and features participating artists and speakers Outspoken Bean, Mookie Copeland, Richelle Gemini, Jasmine Mans, and Jasminne Mendez. A tour of the survey exhibition Vincent Valdez: Just A Dream… will be offered from 1 to 2 p.m.
Opening Reception – Manik Raj Nakra and Gabo Martinez: The Sun Rises at Midnight
Pablo Cardoza Gallery
From 1 to 6 p.m., Pablo Cardoza Gallery (803 Williams Street, Unit 3) will host the opening reception for The Sun Rises at Midnight, an exhibition featuring works by Manik Raj Nakra and Gabo Martinez. Austin-based artist Nakra’s artworks explore the “relationship between the earth and the divine, and the political histories that influence our existence.” Martinez, a Mexican-born artist who creates with terracotta clay, presents works inspired by her indigenous Mexican culture and her research into Native American visual traditions.
Program – Strength Through Artistic Resilience Workshop
Project Row Houses
From 3 to 5 p.m., join Project Row Houses (2521 Holman Street) for a community event focused on “creative expression as a tool for collective healing, exploring disability justice and intersectional identity.” The event includes a workshop featuring therapeutic art-making processes focused on self-care and emotional expression as well as a peer-led support group for artists and creatives.
Sunday, February 9
Closing – Round 57: Southern Survey Biennial II
Project Row Houses
As the second iteration of a survey of recent works created by contemporary visual artists living and working in “The South,” Southern Survey Biennial II closes on Sunday at Project Row Houses (2521 Holman Street). The round features installations from Rabeeha Adnan (Richmond, VA), Nic[o] Brierre Aziz (New Orleans, LA), Violette Bule (Houston, TX), Carolina Rodriguez Meyer (Miami, FL), Amy Schissel (Miami, FL), Martin Wannam (Durham, NC) and Jamire Williams (Houston, TX). The installations are open from noon to 5 p.m.
Saturday, February 15
Jason Moran, “Dream Weaver”
Courtesy of Josh Pazda Hiram Butler.
Closing – Time•Line
Josh Pazda Hiram Butler
Presented as “a playful twist on the conventional understanding of the word timeline,” the group exhibition Time•Line will close at Josh Pazda Hiram Butler (4520 Blossom Street) on February 15. The exhibition, organized on the occasion of the gallery’s 40th anniversary, features works that “signify the notions of time and line in equal measure.” Produced between 1978 and 2024, the works presented in the exhibition include sculpture, drawing, prints, painting, photography, and installation. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Screening – Dahomey
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Screening at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1001 Bissonnet Street), French director Mati Diop’s 2024 documentary Dahomey explores the journey of more than two dozen historical artifacts as they return from French museums to present-day Benin, from where they were plundered by colonial troops in 1892. The film showcases the perspectives of modern-day citizens of Benin on displacement, ownership, institutionalization, and the future of their homeland.
