Writers Remix | "Material Presence"
Date & Time
Thu. Jun. 25, 2026
6:30 PM-7:30 PM
This event has passed
Location Main Campus | Kinder Building
Parking at Kinder Garage
Drop off at Kinder Building
Drop off at Kinder Building
Writers Remix
In this interactive program, local writers perform their own works in response to special exhibitions and the MFAH art collections.
Email Your Questions [email protected]
Writers Remix | "Material Presence"
Date & Time
Thu. Jun. 25, 2026
6:30 PM-7:30 PM
This event has passed
Location Main Campus | Kinder Building
Parking at Kinder Garage
Drop off at Kinder Building
Drop off at Kinder Building
Writers Remix
In this interactive program, local writers perform their own works in response to special exhibitions and the MFAH art collections.
Experience the MFAH like never before—through the power of the written word. Local writers bring art to life by performing original works in the galleries.
Material Presence features artists who have rejected traditional media and genre boundaries. In their hands, the material support—be it plaster, plastic, canvas, or stone—has an active presence. Ai Weiwei’s Water Lilies #4 uses LEGO® bricks to reinterpret Claude Monet’s most beloved series, and Sam Gilliam’s sweeping Double Merge (Carousel I and Carousel II) liberates painting from the wall. Among the other works on view are Los Carpinteros’s Podgaric Toy, a critical assessment of Cold War memorials made from LEGO® bricks; and Rachel Whiteread’s monumental Untitled (Fire Escape).
Plan Your Visit
- Included with Museum admission
- This event takes place on Level 3 of the Kinder Building.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Program
Writers Remix is presented in collaboration with Public Poetry.
About the Poets
Joshua Burton is a poet and educator from Houston. He received his MFA in poetry at Syracuse University. His chapbook, Fracture Anthology, was published through Ethel Press, and Grace Engine, his debut poetry collection, is available through the University of Wisconsin Press. Burton is a Tin House Scholar, a 2023 Elizabeth George Foundation grant recipient, and a Writers' League of Texas Book Awards Discovery Prize Winner.
Hayan Charara is a poet and writer based in Houston. He received his PhD from the University of Houston, where he is currently a professor, and has published several poetry books, including: These Trees, Those Leaves, This Flower, That Fruit; Something Sinister; The Sadness of Others; and The Alchemist’s Diary. He co-founded the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, and his honors include the Arab American Book Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lucille Joy Prize in Poetry from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, and the John Clare Prize.
Gracie Pressley graduated from the University of Houston in 2023, where she earned a degree in Psychology and double-minored in biology and creative writing. She works with the organization Public Poetry, and her creative work often centers around themes of identity, emotional distance, and a central lie.
Karen Zheng is a queer, Chinese-American poet and writer. Their work has been featured in Bat City Review, Harbor Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. They have received fellowships from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, Chicago Storystudio, and Inprint MD Anderson Foundation. They have also been a finalist for Harbor Review’s Washburn Chapbook Prize and have been nominated for the Best of the Net Awards and the Pushcart Prize.
Email Your Questions [email protected]
On Thursdays, admission to the MFAH Permanent Collections is free, courtesy of Shell USA, Inc.
Learning and Interpretation programs receive generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Samuel H. Kress Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Junior Woman's Club; Sharon G. Dies; Sterling-Turner Foundation; Susan Vaughan Foundation; and additional generous donors.