Artist News

Annual Dallas art event MTV RE:DEFINE honors bed-loving British artist

"My Bed" by Tracey Emin.

Photo courtesy of YouTube

Dallas' annual MTV RE:DEFINE art happening has selected an honoree for 2018: British artist Tracey Emin. The event, a partnership with the Goss-Michael Foundation and Dallas Contemporary, will take place April 13 with an art exhibition, auction, and gala.

The evening will include a musical performance and live auction led by Simon de Pury. Hosts will be Joyce Goss, director of the Goss-Michael Foundation, and her brother Kenny Goss, George Michael's former boyfriend.

Chairs are Dallas luminaries Maxine Trowbridge and Brooke Davenport, and it will benefit the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and Dallas Contemporary.

The one-time enfant terrible of the British art scene, Emin is known for her autobiographical and confessional works, spanning a variety of media including painting, drawing, video, photography, sculpture, neon text, and sewn appliqué. Among her most famous works is the 1998 piece called "My Bed," which showed her unmade bed with various objects strewn about.

Previous honorees have included Enoc Perez, Eric Fischl, and Michael Craig-Martin.

MTV RE:DEFINE began in 2011 and has raised more than $10 million for HIV prevention through MTV Staying Alive, and the Dallas arts community through Dallas Contemporary. Contributing artists have included Marc Quinn, Michael Craig Martin, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Nate Lowman, Sterling Ruby, Enoc Perez, and Damien Hirst.

This year’s event marks the 20th anniversary of MTV Staying Alive Foundation. The exhibition will feature over 50 works, including pieces from some of the world’s foremost contemporary artists: Tracey Emin, Richard Phillips, Francesco Clemente, and Enoc Perez, among others.

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Season Announcement

Kitchen Dog Theater unleashes immersive 2025 season in new Dallas space

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Safe at Home

Photo by Jordan Fraker

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Seven years after announcing it had purchased a building in the Design District, Kitchen Dog Theater is finally ready to move into its new home.

The third and final production of its 2025 season — the theater company's 34th — will take place all around the new "Doghouse." The other two productions will follow the immersive format at non-traditional performance spaces that was established last season.

With three fully produced events that each run the gambit from captivating and gutsy to heartfelt and hilarious, the monthly New Works Festival Staged Readings Series returns, as does the 23rd annual PUP Fest, nurturing high school talent from all over DFW.

First up is the area premiere of Will Eno's Wakey, Wakey, directed by KDT's artistic director Tina Parker and starring KDT co-artistic director Christopher Carlos.

"Is it now? I thought I had more time." These first words in Will Eno's play are spoken by Guy, a man who knows, like all of us on some level, that he is about to die. The play questions why we are here and the journeys that everyone takes to eventually get to the same place. Performances will take place at Expo Park, 840 Exposition Avenue, and run February 7-23, 2025.

Production No. 2 is full of mystery: The title and performance location will be announced soon and run in March/April 2025.

The Happiness Gymby Ken Weitzman closes out the season in August 2025 (exact dates TBA).

This regional premiere is a joyous, experiential event based on the science of well-being. Participants take part in a curated theatrical experience meant to boost their sense of happiness, joy, and feelings of connection. This one-of-a-kind project will be the soft opening to Kitchen Dog’s new theater and will take place all over the entire facility, giving patrons unparalleled access to KDT’s new home.

From March to July 2025, the 26th annual 2025 New Works Festival will showcase four-to-five staged readings of the newest and most exciting local and regional playwrights working in contemporary theater today. Each reading will feature some of DFW's most accomplished actors and directors and will take place at different venues across DFW.

For its 23rd annual event, PUP Fest will feature six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by DFW high school students, featuring student actors directed by area professional directors. PUP Fest is the culminating event of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players. Performance location is TBA, but the event will happen June 7, 2025.

For more information, visit kitchendogtheater.org or call 214-953-1055.

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