Houston is a city known for its big scale and connected systems, and it recently welcomed a notable new book into its lively art world. The book, "Intimate Confession Is a Project," is edited by Jennifer Teets, who grew up in Houston. This publication is a key part of the work started by the art show of the same name, which was on view at the Blaffer Art Museum here in Houston from October 2023 to March 2024. The book's official launch at Basket Books & Art on April 29, 2025, was an important event, helping to share the project's thoughtful ideas about how our private lives are linked to the large systems around us.
"Intimate Confession Is a Project" explores the interesting idea that intimacy—our personal, close connections—and infrastructure—the basic physical and organizational structures like buildings and roads—are deeply connected. It suggests that these large systems, which seem distant and just for practical use, can actually feel like an "intimate holding cell." They have a big effect on the lives passed down through families and the culture we share. This idea is especially meaningful in Houston, a city where vast infrastructure and unique buildings are part of personal stories and neighborhoods. The book acts as both a helpful guide and a catalog for the art show. It includes work from eleven artists and writings from important thinkers and poets. Some of these contributors have strong ties to Houston's world of ideas and art.
This project grew from Jennifer Teets's work as a curator, where she often looks at how science, technology, everyday materials, and human experiences come together. "Intimate Confession Is a Project" continues these interests, using the ideas of intimacy and infrastructure to show how the places we build and the ones that just exist shape how we relate to each other. The book includes many different artistic views and scholarly ideas, which helps show the many sides of this connection. It gives readers a rich picture made up of various insights.
The book launch at Basket Books, a key spot in the Houston art scene, was a fitting place to celebrate this publication. The event included a conversation with Jennifer Teets and some of the people who wrote for the book, such as artist Anna Mayer and poets Michael D. Snediker and Roberto Tejada. All of them have important links to Houston. Their being there highlighted the project's strong local connections and how it matters to the discussions happening in the city's culture. The talk shed light on where the ideas for the book came from, its aims to connect different fields of study, and how the ideas and feeling of the art show were put into the book.
"Intimate Confession Is a Project" shows how powerful working together can be and how important it is to look at the hidden structures that affect our most personal areas of life. Having the book launch in Houston emphasizes the city's role as an active place for art and new ideas, where important talks about our built surroundings and shared human experiences keep happening. The book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in modern art, city studies, and the detailed ways that intimacy and infrastructure are tied together in today's world. It offers fresh ways of looking at the very foundations of our lives here in Houston and elsewhere.
On a personal note, I am honored to have been a part of this project through the Blaffer Art Museum, documenting several of the works within the book. These images endeavor to offer complementary perspectives on the book's core themes. Through composition and subject, they engage with notions of space, intimacy, and the underlying structures—both tangible and intangible—that shape our environment, perhaps subtly echoing the character of Houston's notable architecture.
The book can be purchased by going to Basket Books & Art (115 Hyde Park Blvd, Houston, TX 77006) or at www.inventorypress.com/product/intimate-confession-is-a-project.
