- Marfa, Texas—located about three hours east of El Paso, the closest major city—is an odd place. It's small, with a population of just under 2000, and it sits in the middle of the dry and dusty West Texas desert, where the nearby towns are around the same size. But none are as intriguing as Marfa, which has become an unlikely centre for contemporary art, home to a vast collection of properties and art installations from Donald Judd, a 20th-century sculptor who helped transform Marfa in the '70s. His impact is impossible to miss: Judd-owned buildings are scattered throughout (and outside of) town, as is the influence of The Chinati Foundation, a nonprofit that Judd started in order to preserve his work and that of his peers. The town is dominated by Chinati and Ballroom Marfa, another nonprofit and gallery space perhaps most famous for the fake Prada store installed on the nearby highway. All of this naturally makes Marfa a hub for the performing arts, which Marfa Myths festival, now in its fifth year, brings to life. It’s an event that respectfully interacts with the history of its setting, fully integrating itself in a way that most festivals could only dream of.
Marfa Myths is a collaboration between Ballroom Marfa and New York label Mexican Summer, whose acts make up about half of the bill. While many festivals claim to be at the intersection of art, culture and music, few can say that as credibly as Marfa Myths. In between performances from indie rock and folk acts (Amen Dunes, Jessica Pratt), world music artists (Laraaji, Innov Gnawa) and dance parties, there were guided tours of Judd's works and buildings, exhibition openings and even drag shows, all seamlessly woven into the fabric of a notably relaxed and well-paced event. It approached its home city as cultural playground, and there were surprises seemingly hidden everywhere. I found a Judd complex behind an old feed mill and a banging Tex-Mex stand inside of a petrol station. The city's best coffee was discovered inside a laundromat, serving up beans roasted just a block away.
The first night got across this remarkable diversity, with a performance from the extremely twangy West Texas singer-songwriter Terry Allen followed by one of the most impressive drag balls I've ever seen (featuring mostly queens from Austin). The next few days were a mishmash of art shows, live concerts and DJ sets, sometimes all at the same event. Jessica Pratt's spectral folk was a Friday afternoon highlight, while Visible Cloaks played a live set to a magenta-hued room at The Wrong Store, which felt halfway between a gallery and someone's house. Suzanne Ciani performed a quadrophonic live modular set at the barn-like arena at The Chinati Foundation, filling the enormous room with synth sounds that went from placid to rhythmic and rumbling á la Basic Channel. Deerhunter's Bradford Cox and Cate Le Bon bashed out a no-wave inspired set—part of an ongoing Marfa artists-in-residence program that encourages collaboration—that seemed at least half improvised and somehow upstaged festival headliners Wire.
Most of those things happened in the day and the early evening; when the sun went down, Marfa Myths turned from highfalutin art festival into makeshift dance party. On Friday at the El Cosmico hotel, Moroccan group Innov Gnawa put on a spirited opening for Omar-S, their North African music every bit as joyous and inspiring as the Detroit DJ's roughshod house and techno. The crowd braved a bracingly cold desert evening, made worse by a persistent windstorm. Others huddled inside the hybrid lounge and giftshop, where plenty of dogs—another noticeable fixture of the festival—laid about with their owners.
The decision to hold nighttime events outdoors was the only logistical issue in an otherwise smooth experience. That didn't seem to be as much of an issue on Saturday night, when Equiknoxx took the stage outside The Capri, Marfa's main concert venue. Their live set—Time Cow and Gavsborg on controllers and laptop, Shanique Marie on vocals—was one of the weekend's most dynamic moments, squeezing some fantastic dance moves—and even a short-lived mosh pit—out of an otherwise laid-back crowd. There were plenty of live dub effects and a cover of Erykah Badu's "On & On." It was a suitably grand finale (most people left on Sunday morning). Before Equiknoxx there had been a legendary post-punk band, a rising star of indie rock, a synth music legend and some genuinely impressive contemporary art. You wouldn't get that anywhere other than Marfa.
Photo credit /
Alex Marks
The first night got across this remarkable diversity, with a performance from the extremely twangy West Texas singer-songwriter Terry Allen followed by one of the most impressive drag balls I've ever seen (featuring mostly queens from Austin). The next few days were a mishmash of art shows, live concerts and DJ sets, sometimes all at the same event. Jessica Pratt's spectral folk was a Friday afternoon highlight, while Visible Cloaks played a live set to a magenta-hued room at The Wrong Store, which felt halfway between a gallery and someone's house. Suzanne Ciani performed a quadrophonic live modular set at the barn-like arena at The Chinati Foundation, filling the enormous room with synth sounds that went from placid to rhythmic and rumbling á la Basic Channel. Deerhunter's Bradford Cox and Cate Le Bon bashed out a no-wave inspired set—part of an ongoing Marfa artists-in-residence program that encourages collaboration—that seemed at least half improvised and somehow upstaged festival headliners Wire. Most of those things happened in the day and the early evening; when the sun went down, Marfa Myths turned from highfalutin art festival into makeshift dance party. On Friday at the El Cosmico hotel, Moroccan group Innov Gnawa put on a spirited opening for Omar-S, their North African music every bit as joyous and inspiring as the Detroit DJ's roughshod house and techno. The crowd braved a bracingly cold desert evening, made worse by a persistent windstorm. Others huddled inside the hybrid lounge and giftshop, where plenty of dogs—another noticeable fixture of the festival—laid about with their owners.
The decision to hold nighttime events outdoors was the only logistical issue in an otherwise smooth experience. That didn't seem to be as much of an issue on Saturday night, when Equiknoxx took the stage outside The Capri, Marfa's main concert venue. Their live set—Time Cow and Gavsborg on controllers and laptop, Shanique Marie on vocals—was one of the weekend's most dynamic moments, squeezing some fantastic dance moves—and even a short-lived mosh pit—out of an otherwise laid-back crowd. There were plenty of live dub effects and a cover of Erykah Badu's "On & On." It was a suitably grand finale (most people left on Sunday morning). Before Equiknoxx there had been a legendary post-punk band, a rising star of indie rock, a synth music legend and some genuinely impressive contemporary art. You wouldn't get that anywhere other than Marfa. Photo credit / Alex Marks