MFAH’s New Nancy and Rich Kinder Building to Open Nov. 21; Exhibitions Announced

by Christopher Blay September 22, 2020
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building from above; Photo by Peter Molick, Thomas Kirk III

Nancy and Rich Kinder Building from above. Photo by Peter Molick, Thomas Kirk III

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has announced the new opening date of the new Nancy and Rich Kinder Building: Saturday, November 21, 2020. The building was previously scheduled to open on November 1.

First up in the Steven Holl Architects-designed building (the third gallery building on the MFAH’s Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim campus) will be works from the collections of Latin American and Latino art; photography; prints and drawings; decorative arts, craft, and design; and modern and contemporary art.

The atrium of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building; Photo by Peter Molick

The atrium of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Photo by Peter Molick

Dedicated to presenting works from the Museum’s international collections of modern and contemporary art, the Kinder Building will celebrate its opening weekend with free general admission to all three of MFAH’s Sarofim campus buildings, including the Kinder Building, through Wednesday, November 25.

“In the dynamic spaces that Steven Holl Architects has designed for the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, our distinctive holdings of modern and contemporary art will soon have the showcase they deserve,” states Gary Tinterow, MFAH’s Director. “This area of our collection continues to grow rapidly, thanks to the exceptional endowment for acquisitions provided by our donors, with the late Caroline Wiess Law at the forefront. We are thrilled that we can now present recent purchases and our historic acquisitions in depth and breadth, bringing our audiences a wealth of recognized masterpieces as well as discoveries by lesser-known artists.”

Atrium view of the ceiling of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building; Photo by Peter Molick

Atrium view of the ceiling of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Photo by Peter Molick

As we reported last November, highlights of the Kinder Building will include a street-level black-box gallery permanently devoted to installations. Among the three inaugural works will be The Hydrospatial City (1946–72), a hovering, utopian vision for an architecture in outer space by Argentinean artist Gyula Kosice; Caper, Salmon to White: Wedgework (2000), a light- filled environment by American artist James Turrell; and Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009), an infinity light room by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

Gyula Kosice, La ciudad hidroespacial (The Hydrospatial City)

Gyula Kosice, La ciudad hidroespacial (The Hydrospatial City)

 

Yayoi Kusama: Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009)

Yayoi Kusama: Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009).

For the Kinder Building, the MFAH’s curatorial department will highlight the history of photography; decorative arts, craft, and design; prints and drawings; European and American 20th-century painting and sculpture; and Latin American Modernism in the second-floor galleries. On the third floor, thematic exhibitions highlighting art from the 1960s onward will be the main feature, including the exhibitions Collectivity; Color into Light; LOL!, featuring more than 50 works that use humor as a strategy; and Border, Mapping, Witness, and Line into Space.

Along with the highlighted installations and exhibitions mentioned above, there will also be eight major site-specific commissioned works to  be inaugurated at the time of the opening. They are from artists El Anatsui, Byung Hoon Choi, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ólafur Elíasson, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Cristina Iglesias, Jason Salavon, and Ai Weiwei. Also to be featured are recent acquisitions from Magdalena Abakanowicz, Glenn Ligon, Martin Puryear, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Doris Salcedo, and Kara Walker.

For more on the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, please visit the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s website here.

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