I was incredibly lucky to be able to attend this year's SXSW (more like I was there when it happened -no badge/wristband). I saw an incredible amount of amazing music (for free!) and had the chance to walk around a bit before shows. Other than the fact that Richard Linklater's
Slacker was filmed and inspired by Austin, I knew virtually nothing about the city. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a lot of nice and genuine people and discovered that Austin is indeed a bit weird, although absolutely amazing. These were taken with my digital point and shoot.
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| In the early 80's, a young, unknown and slightly mental Daniel Johnston performed his heartbreaking melodies for passersby in the streets of Austin. |
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| Austin, and perhaps all of Texas, has a number of catholic churches and hacienda-like buildings, architecture that reflects their lingering Mexican heritage. |
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| At the SXSW interactive, couldn't resist. |
Tears of Joy, located on Austin's famous 6th st. is a hot sauce shop (A.K.A heaven). They make their own sauces but they also sell almost every brand of hot sauce to be found in the country.
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| The Vegan Yatch, in Austin's east side was closed this day and, sadly, we didn't get a chance to try their food. Next time. |
Since we were in Texas for a week, we figured we should go to Houston for the day to see the
Rothko Chapel, given that I missed "the Rothko tower" exhibit at the NGA. It probably goes without saying but the chapel was incredible, to say the least. Houston reminded me of Mexico City (as depicted in novelas, of course) and although we were only there for a couple of hours, it became one of the highlights of our trip.
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| Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk, outside of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX. |
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| Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX |
From what we could make out, there aren't too many art galleries and museums in Austin. The city's devotion to art perhaps stops at their huge music festivals (sx and Austin city limits). However, there are a couple of notable spots, namely the Blanton Museum, the Mexican Museum of Art and
Women and their Work, which we were unable to visit.
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| Teresita Fernándes' Stacked Waters, 2009 at the Blanton Museum of Art |
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| Jorge Eielson's Quipus 58 B, 1966-68 |
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| Adolph Gottlieb's Cadmium Red Above Black, 1959 |
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| Ellsworth Kelly's High Yellow, 1960 |
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| Walter Darby Bannard's Yellow Step, 1963 |
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| Romulo Maccio, Vivir: a los Saltos [To Live: By Leaps and Bounds], 1964 |
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| Helen Frankenthaler's Over the Circle, 1961 |
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| Franz Kline's Black and White No. 2, 1960 |
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| Cildo Meireles, Missao, Missoes, 1987 |
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Cildo Meireles, Missao, Missoes, 1987
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Cildo Meireles, Missao, Missoes, 1987
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| El Anatsui, Untitled, 2007 |
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| El Anatsui, Untitled, 2007 |
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| Miguel Angel Rios, Sueño de las Alturas, 1989 |
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| Richard Long, Summer Circle, 1991 |
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| Anselm Kiefer's Sternenfall, 1998 |
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Adriana Corral's installation at the Mexic-Arte museum in Austin, TX entitled "Voces de las Pérdidas [Voices of the Lost ones]" is a homage to the women (students and maquiladoras) in Mexico who are often victims of the violence caused by drug trafficking.
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| AAdriana Corral's Voces de las Pérdidas, 2011 |
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| Adriana Corral's Voces de las Pérdidas, 2011 |
Did you guys know that the Whole Foods headquarters are in Austin?
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| Daniel Johnston's Frog personal cake at the Whole Foods in Austin's West end. |
As Amber and I realized, there aren't many veg friendly places in Austin (those Texans sure love their bbq, I suppose). However, we did find some awesome places to stuff our veg faces with. Since we were staying close to the UT campus, we ate steam buns and bubble teas from Veggie Heaven on the Drag, daily. We also visited
Beets Cafe, an all vegan, all raw restaurant on W. 5th st. I got their delicious enchiladas with lentil salad.
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| The Texas State Capitol |
That is all for now, I will post my film pics and my own take on "what to do/how to do sxsw on the cheap/without a badge or wristband" in the near future.
