from nyc with love

New MFAH Judaica exhibit showcases exquisite works from world-renowned New York museum

Beginning with an exhibit this July, Houstonians will be able to see a striking collection of Judaica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The MFAH announced a partnership with the The Jewish Museum, New York that will not only an ongoing presence of Judaica at the museum, but will also bring several exceptional objects to Houston over the coming years.

Opening July 10, "Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York" will feature over 140 objects from the Jewish Museum's world-renowned collection, examining Jewish ceremonial objects from antiquity to the present and exploring their artistic, ritualistic, and cultural significance. Unfolding across three galleries and with works from Western Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia, the exhibit explores the practice of the Jewish faith in synagogues, the home, and beyond.

On display will be items such as an 18th-century Bavarian pinewood Torah arc. Used for housing Judaism's central text, the Torah, this arc is nearly 10 feet high and is an echoes the colorful decoration of Bavarian homes. Another gallery centers around the history and significance of the menorah, the lamp used in the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.

"With this significant partnership with The Jewish Museum, New York, and access to their extraordinary collections, we are able to amplify the cultural and artistic history of Judaism," said Gary Tinterow, MFAH director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair in a press release announcing the partnership and exhibit.

"Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York" and the partnership with The Jewish Museum are part of MFAH's World Faiths Initiative, a program of interfaith projects based on the museum’s collections and exhibitions and funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc.

A centerpiece of that initiative will be the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Gallery for Judaica which, beginning in 2023, will house ongoing presentations centered on objects on loan from the Jewish Museum.

The exhibition is on display July 10 through September 18. For hours, tickets, and more information, visit the MFAH site.

Josef Kohn, Menorah, 1872–1921.

Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York Menorah

Photo courtesy of Jewish Museum of New York

Josef Kohn, Menorah, 1872–1921.

museums

join the club

New immersive art and nightlife venue lights up downtown Houston

Photo courtesy of Art Club

Art Club, a new kind of art space and nightclub, opens at POST. (Layers by Setup)

From Meow Wolf to Artechouse to a family-fun stroll around Discovery Green, new large-scale, immersive art installations and whole art venues seem to be popping up in Houston at a fantastic rate these days. Next up is Art Club, a merging of audio and visual immersive art with a new nightclub experience at downtown mixed-use development Post Houston.

Opening December 7, “X,” as in the Post's X-atrium, will mark the art-clubbing spot for this new venue dedicated to those looking for a unique nightlife experience as well as art lovers who seek the very latest in internationally-acclaimed multimedia art. The two-story, 28,500-square-foot venue will house both connecting galleries featuring cutting-edge immersive light and sound art installation. It will also include lounge and black box theater spaces. These clubbing and concert spaces can also double as galleries that will be outfitted with a full bar and the latest in audio-visual equipment for DJs to create new sound and visual worlds.

The Art Club concept comes from Post director Kirby Liu, who was partially inspired by Day for Night, the Houston music festival that integrated large art installations and immersive light and sound sculptures into the music programming. The 2016 and 2017 iteration of the festival was staged at the Post – then still known as the former Barbara Jordan Post Office – before its massive renovations. Along with the music, the festival offered large-scale laser and light installations within the cavernous spaces.

Yet, this Art Club certainly appears to be its own concept with a vision for downtown Houston very much focused on 2025 and beyond.

“With the exception of Houston, thriving downtowns of major cities are almost always anchored by a museum,” Liu said in a statement. “Art Club is a fusion of art museum, performing arts venue, and entertainment facility. By melding these elements together, our goal is to establish a new museum and nightlife destination unlike anything the city has seen before.”

For its first season, Art Club will showcase 13 exhibits and installations from a wide range of national and international artists working in equally diverse mediums of sculptural and multimedia material, including light, sound, lasers, video and even water. The lineup includes: Shoplifter / Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, media.tribe, Lachlan Turczan, Lumus Instruments, Daniel Anguilu with Taylor Knapps, Reynier Leyva Novo, Skyler Smith, Boris Acket, TUNDRA, Aka Chang, and Nerdy Artist Union.

This first season of works will likely run from nine months to a year before a new round of artists are selected. Art Club designers say that first-time visitors will likely need at least 90 minutes to fully explore the artwork and spaces. Along with the installations and exhibits, Art Club will feature performances from local favorites as well as national and international star DJs.

As CultureMap previously reported, POST will also be the new home for TOMO, the distinctly Houston magazine and design shop that offered global publications difficult to find anywhere else in the city. TOMO will now reopen inside the Post and also act as the museum store for Art Club, offering Art Club merchandise collaborations and exclusive, limited-edition design goods and well as its curated magazine selection.

Photo courtesy of Art Club

Art Club, a new kind of art space and nightclub, opens at Post Houston.

Art Club will offer single admission tickets but also a membership allowing year-round, unlimited visits and discounts on concert tickets.

visual-art post houston nightlife