Final Component of New MFAH Campus Opening Soon

The massive $450 million redevelopment project concludes when the art-filled Nancy and Rich Kinder Building opens Nov. 21.

Final Component of New MFAH Campus Opening Soon

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has announced an official opening date for the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. The third and final component to open as part of the $450 million campaign to redevelop the Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus, the Kinder Building opens on Nov. 21, following the new Glassell School of Art and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation.


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.

2_Nancy and Rich Kinder Building from above; Photo by Peter Molick, Thomas Kirk IIINancy 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 MolickAtrium 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.

Art + Entertainment
Our Favorite Restaurants Now!

Gulf Red Snapper at The Annie

These CityBook partners are among the best eateries in the most deliciously diverse city.

Keep Reading Show less
Food

'Is that how you treat your house guest'

ARTIST KAIMA MARIE’S solo exhibit For the record (which opens today at Art Is Bond) invites the viewer into a multiverse of beloved Houston landmarks, presented in dizzying Cubist perspectives. There are ornate interior spaces filled with paintings, books and records — all stuff we use to document and preserve personal, family and collective histories; and human figures, including members of Marie’s family, whose presence adds yet another quizzical layer to these already densely packed works. This isn’t art you look at for 15-30 seconds before moving on to the next piece; there’s a real pleasure in being pulled into these large-scale photo collages, which Marie describes as “puzzles without a reference image.”

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian cocktail

SPOOKY SEASON IS starting early this year with the release of the Beetlejuice sequel in theaters on Friday. Houston cocktail bar and pizza joint Betelgeuse Betelgeuse is celebrating the film with two weekends of events and specials.

Keep Reading Show less
Food