The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Teen Council opens its 14th Biennial exhibition, Out of Stock, in the Houston area on Apr 11, 2025. Out of Stock is organized by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston(CAMH) and curated by Teen Council’s cohort consisting of 14 members. The cohort collaborated with the Teen Council, Tour Program Coordinator and Teen Council Associate. Their exhibition includes a wide array of artworks from sculptures to oil paintings.
The main inspiration for the Teen Council’s exhibition was to find something in common among all the different members and something for them to be able to relate to. While the exhibition was an exploration of identity; the members wanted to bring something new to the scene. They changed their angle and approached from the perspective of what makes teen exploration so important, how teens interact with the world through the art of consumption.
“As we were planning, I began to think of the artworks that have impacted me the most as an audience member, [such as] Teresa Serrano’s La Piñata, a work shown at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and I realized that it was works like these, works in mediums I had never seen before, that served as my main inspiration. I wanted the exhibition to stay with people the way Serrano’s work stayed with me,” Kerah Rouge — a member of the Teen Council — said.
In the planning process, the Teen Council work together as a team. They began with specific plans for outreach which includes the assembling of contact information for people who are willing to submit to the council’s open call or spread the message.
“In terms of the open call and the questions included, they came as a result of a collaborative conversation based on us considering our personal relationships with consumption and how we personally consume,” Rouge said.
This process continued until all submissions were reviewed. Subsequently, the council members worked on the vinyl texts, press releases and brainstorming for their open night.
“Because there were so many moving parts at this point, we split into groups to work on these different tasks [with] the vinyl text [as] the most collaborative of all. The main writers of the pamphlet were Mia Ramos, Ray Tian, Topher McCord and Sophia Zhao. As a cohort, we also began [to] decide the visual identity of the show, which included wall colors, fonts and where the actual wall text would be located,” Rouge said.
Through discussions with the CAMH graphic designer and the council, the exhibition began to take shape, with careful attention to what it means to the members and what their true purpose is behind the exhibition. The visitors who visited the gallery gained cognizance of how the consumption of everyday objects that are normally taken for granted has impacted society.
“There are many pieces in the show that touch on the environmental and societal repercussions from our own and others’ decisions, and technological consumption, as we continue to rapidly progress into a society marked by our technology usage, which many in today’s society have some sort of connection to,” Rouge said.
The Out of Stock exhibition stands as a resonant exploration of identity, youth and the culture of consumption.
Through the collective efforts of the council members and other associates, they crafted an exhibition that not only showcased the art pieces from different teens in Houston, but also challenged viewers to reconsider the intentions behind their consumption and the consequences that follow.
“Because this is something that we are all so intimately connected to, I want this gallery to be the reason that people start to think about the intentions behind their consumption and the consequences that could follow,” Rouge said.
