Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler: Sound Speed Marker opening reception

Now concluding an international tour at Blaffer Art Museum, the critically acclaimed exhibition "Sound Speed Marker" showcases a trilogy of video installations, related photographs and an outdoor sculpture by the renowned Swiss-American artist duo, Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler. In "Sound Speed Marker," the Texas towns and landscapes of Paris, Sierra Blanca and Ryan—each cinematically defined by their fleeting experiences as actual or ostensible film locations—take center stage as Hubbard / Birchler and their crew pay close attention to these places and the people who live there. Described as "mesmerizing ... soulful and also sublime" by Art in America, "Sound Speed Marker" addresses all the known clichés associated with Texas: its industries of cattle, oil and space, its heroes of cowboys, wildcatters and astronauts, its vast land and skies and extreme weather. But it removes them from their isolated existence of singular ideas and concepts and inflects them with real times, places and people who collectively deny their simple perpetuation. More broadly, the site, subject and mystique of Texas and its associated cinematic imagery serve as a platform for reflection on filmmaking itself.