The trapezoidal concrete-and-glass building designed by Steven Holl Architects is specifically dedicated to installations from the MFAH collection of 20th- and 21st-century art. It contains several different galleries, beginning with a flexible black-box gallery that will house immersive installations. The inaugural works include a James Turrell piece called Wedgework, and Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Light Room. Photos of these two artists' immersive pieces, many of which have spent time in Houston, frequently go viral on social media. The street level also touts a café space, where Moon Dust (Apollo 17), a 2009 installation of suspended lights by American artist Spencer Finch, will hang.
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building from above; Photo by Peter Molick, Thomas Kirk III
On the second floor of the Kinder Building, various galleries are dedicated to subjects like Latin American Modernism or decorative arts, crafts and design. And upstairs on the third floor, five different thematic galleries present art of varying disciplines from the 1960s to present-day. Inaugural exhibitions include LOL!, with more than 50 works incorporating humor, as well as Border, Mapping, Witness, with pieces incorporating maps and borders, both literal and figurative.
Atrium view of the ceiling of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building; Photo by Peter Molick
The Museum has announced that general admission to all three gallery buildings, including the Kinder Building, will be free for opening weekend; the Kinder Building will remain free to the public through Nov. 25.
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Subject #1 and Subject #11 by Karen Navarro at 712 Main