by Maria Manuela on
1 Witness Native theater’s lineage.
More than 100 works are part of SITE Santa Fe’s newest exhibition, Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969, opening Friday with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Curated by Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), executive director at the Forge Project in upstate New York, the exhibition dives into the history of modern Indigenous theater and performance art and traces its genesis to an Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) document titled “Indian Theater.” In it, IAIA co-founder Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee) and others laid out a vision for the future of Indigenous performance that eventually sparked the first Native theater program in the country at IAIA.
In a series of sculptures, installations, paintings, and performance works, the exhibition features 40 of the biggest stars in Native art, including Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee), who showed work at the 2024 Venice Biennale; Eric-Paul Reige (Diné), who has created garments for Bad Bunny; and Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), whose mirror shields have been seen around the world. “There are all kinds of ways this can be experienced differently because performance is at the heart of it,” says Hopkins. The exhibition hosts workshops, performances, and other activations that tie into its theme of exploring the modern history of Indigenous performance art. “So many Native artists are also performers,” she explains. “I think it’s one of the characteristics of Native artists; they are interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary.” See the exhibition through September 7.
2 Catch a free concert.
Traditional New Mexican string band Lone Piñon debuts its new album on Friday during Winrock Park’s free summer concert series in Albuquerque. The ensemble specializes in norteño tunes, reviving traditional forms of music with their expert instrumental skills and vocals. Lone Piñon’s newest release, Hot Carne Seca, was recorded in Los Angeles on special vintage equipment, without modern methods like overdubbing, in an attempt to keep the group’s sound as close as possible to the experience of its performances. The concert starts at 6:30 p.m., with openers Henry Cortez y Los Heartaches warming the crowd up.
3 Peep sick rides.
Albuquerque Lowrider Super Show
An entire world of cars rolls into at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Sunday during this annual lowrider show. Hosted by Artemis Productions, it sees more than 10,000 attendees and 500 exhibitors. “Coming to our car show feels like walking into a bag of Skittles,” says Joe Romero, owner of Artemis Productions. “It’s very colorful and there are so many different kinds of cars.” The rides are judged in categories that range from original cars, which look just like they did when they rolled off the lot decades ago, to radical custom cars. Entertainment includes music from New Mexico ensembles such as Cuarenta y Cinco, live tattooing, a hydraulics competition known as a car hop, and a kids’ area with remote control car racing. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with tickets available at the door, and here.
In Red River, more than 150 custom rides, classic cars, and hot rods set up at Brandenburg Park for a spectator’s dream. The show is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes some fun activities for kids.
4 Two-step back in time.
The third annual Wild West Frontier Festival invites you to step into a Western film at the Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood, on Saturday and Sunday. The event gives attendees a time-traveling experience complete with gunfights, frontier characters, and panning for gold in the 1800s-style town of Jamestown. Three stages packed with live music, a petting zoo, more than 70 Western vendors, and a Saturday-night barn dance make for many good reasons to grab your cowboy boots and hat and head out.
5 See Native art in action.
The Coronado Historic Site in Bernalillo hosts a monthly series of Indigenous artists demonstrating their crafts to offer a deeper understanding of how these traditions are maintained. This weekend, Dolores Lewis Garcia (Acoma) shows her process for creating Acoma polychrome pottery, which uses mineral paints and a hand-coiled style to create delicate vessels with thin walls and bold geometric patterns. See the demonstration from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more things to do, check out our online calendar of events.