The worlds of rock -n-roll and fine arts have always seemed to be running down parallel tunnels, never really coming together. However, the medium of performance art has brought managed to trick these seemingly two different mediums into the same room.

Arthouse at the Jones Center has given a place for Austin bands to rehearse as part of their current performance art installation, “Rehearsal at the Astoria.” The exhibition invites musicians and fans to become one together in a piece of performance art.

British artist Graham Hudson was invited by Arthouse to bring an exhibit to the gallery. An Englishman who was fond of the Astoria Theater (a live music venue that featured such acts as The Rolling Stones, Madonna, and U2), Hudson noticed that the history of Arthouse was very similar to that of the Astoria Theatre in London — they were both movie theaters at one time — and decided to re-create that same atmosphere stage, performers, and all in and turn it into an art piece.

Tired of seeing bands only a in an error free live setting, Hudson wanted to see the emperor without his clothes on.

“The artist(Grand Hudson) wanted to see the music process with the wires hanging out,” said Virginia Jones, public relations coordinator at the Arthouse.

“He wanted to play with the idea of merging music, performance art, and the public, and it seemed like a good fit for Austin.”

Instead of reconstructing an exact duplicate of the Astoria, Hudson’s installation, which took about two weeks to build, is more of a ghostly, bare-boned structure with scaffolding.

But who gets to expose museum attendees to their music? Arthouse put together a council from festival organizers to music venue owners to help select the participating bands for the “Rehearsal at the Astoria,” setting up a call on the website asking bands from any genre to submit their name.

“If they were organized, we considered them and picked them by availability,” said Jones. “We were trying to be as democratic as possible.”

Nevertheless, several intrepid local bands left the comfort of their practice space to participate and become part of a one of a kind exhibition.

“We decided to do it because we thought it would be a good exposure,” said Chris Rodriguez, bassist for The Nouns. “It was a little bit weird, the set up being that it was open to the public since most of the rehearsals are closed off.”

“We were not sure what to do, if we should do a straight rehearsal, if we should even interact with the crowd. Normally, people aren’t even at our rehearsals,” Rodriguez stated.

That is where the magic of the exhibit happens — by putting musicians and fans in situations that they’ve never experienced, a window for new experience is opened
“Rehearsal at the Astoria” will end its run on April 10. People can view the rehearsal schedule at the Arthouse website, arthousetexas.org/article/graham-hudson. However, it is also encouraged to document the process.