The Bayou City is celebrating the sights and sounds of rain through art. There is just one more thing to love about our diverse metropolis, and it’s at the Buffalo Bayou Park’s historic Cistern which is now open to the public. If you appreciate fine art, then you will be captivated by the richness of Magdalena Fernández’s inspired creativity. Her piece is called 2iPM009, or Rain, (#CisternRain), is from the Venezuelan artist’s video series Mobile Paintings.
Imagine you, your family, and friends walking into a deep, dark cistern with the only thing separating you from the long drop to the bottom is a sturdy metal rail that will serve as your guide as you slowly walk the circumference. Then, you hear the rain and loud thunder but, you are still dry! Next, the reflections of light off the water at the base will show on the more than 200, 25-foot high, concrete columns in the form of various sized geometric shapes. You may ask yourself, how did Fernández achieve the precise reverberation? Rain is the kind of storm you will embrace.
2iPM009 is an abstract video-projection piece, which is 1 minute and 56 seconds in length; that suggests a rain-soaked night. For nearly 20 years, Fernández has been using digital media to deconstruct the geometric abstraction of 20th-century masters such as Piet Mondrian and Joaquin Torres-Garcia. In 2iPM009, Fernández starts with a basic geometric unit that refers to those that Mondrian used a century ago in his Composition in Line (1917), from the 1914-15 Pier and Ocean series. She then multiplies that unit through its exponential projection onto the walls of the exhibition space, transforming the fundamental unit into a rainy night sky using light, sound, and movement.
The soundtrack is an acoustic montage that Fernández has meticulously edited, of sounds made by members of the a cappella Slovenian choir Pentium Jazzile, who snap their fingers, slap the palms of their hands against their legs, and stamp their heels on wood to evoke both the drumming and gentle patter of rain. With ingenuity and humor, the artist constructs a language that, though concrete and deeply rooted in Constructivism and its legacy, challenges and transcends those parameters.
Buffalo Bayou Park project, is a 160-acre site west of downtown Houston. Recognizing the historical and architectural significance of the highly unusual space, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP), took a bold step to repurpose the Cistern into a magnificent public space that would house an ambitious program of changing art installations. Houston-based architecture and engineering firm Page designed a corresponding ground-level entry structure which provides a transition for visitors from the park outside to the subterranean Cistern.
Improvements to the existing pedestrian walkway included a new guardrail. The overall structure remains in its original form. In May 2016, BBP opened the Cistern to the public as a distinctive industrial site, and over 16,000 visitors have since experienced the space. “This is the most visually stimulating and auditory art installation in a unique alternative art environment,” said Geraldina Interiano Wise, an artist with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership Board, and recently formed public art committee.
About Magdalena Fernández
Venezuelan Magdalena Fernández (b. 1964, Caracas) has been active since the early 1990s, aligning her artistic approach with abstract-constructivist tenets of stylistic purity and economy of design. By the mid-1990s Fernández developed a series of elongated stainless-steel sculptures set on the ground; viewers interact with the works by penetrating the exhibition space. The artist has continued to explore the interaction between audience and exhibition space through the use of digital media and animation to incorporate light, sound, and movement. Her works have been exhibited internationally and are part of the main museum collections, including those of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Galeria de Arte Nacionao, Caracas.
Be sure to visit the website at http://buffalobayou.org/visit/destination/the-cistern/. Reservations are required so, please do so online. There are special rates for youth ages 9 and up, and seniors. Students receive a discount with the proper I.D. For safety reasons; The Cistern is not designed to receive visitors younger than nine years old. Teens are encouraged to bring their friends for Snap-Chat videos because they capture the nuances of the light installation entirely.
