a 14 minute tour

Museum of Fine Arts takes Houston to Paris cathedral with new virtual tour

Lovers of art and architecture around the world mourned when a 2019 fire destroyed significant portions of the exterior and interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the most beloved landmarks in all of France. After five years of intense rebuilding and repair, Notre-Dame is set to open again this December. For those who can’t make it to the reopening, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has a very special virtual trip planned this holiday season with their just announced monumental installation, the “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

Set within the MFAH’s vast Cullinan Hall, this animated, 14-minute, immersive presentation will surround visitors with images of Notre-Dame, simulating the experience of walking through the medieval cathedral. Viewers will go on a virtual journey from the outside of Notre-Dame as day turns to dusk, then move into the candle-lite interiors and stained-glass windows. The immersive video will also replicate the fire and its aftermath before revealing the cathedral’s newly reconstructed spire, topped with a cross and a golden rooster, a national emblem of France and a symbol of Christianity.

“It is difficult to exaggerate the role Notre-Dame plays in the public imagination, from its iconic architecture, emblematic of the Northern Gothic style, to its magnificent stained-glass rose windows,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Gary Tinterow said in a statement. “When fire erupted five years ago, millions of people around the world grieved the loss of a monument that had personal significance to each of them. Happily, the cathedral has been restored, and now Houstonians will be among the first to experience the reconstructed building that rose from the ashes.”

“Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” was created by Ars Electronica Futurelab, in partnership with French start-ups Iconem and Histovery. To create a virtual 3D model of Notre-Dame, the installation uses point cloud data compiled by the late Belgian art historian and Vassar College professor Andrew Tallon, who created 3D laser scans of the cathedral in 2010 that proved instrumental in guiding the reconstruction of the cathedral as well as additional scans and 3D material by Histovery.

Over the years, we’ve come to expect perception-defying immersive artworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston every summer, but this “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” November surprise looks to be a perfect place to take any visiting art, history, or Francophile friends and family for the holidays.

The "Notre-Dame Immersive Experience" will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from November 23, 2024, through January 5, 2025.

Still image of digital rendering of Notre- Dame Cathedral, Ars Electronica.

Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

paint the town

Houston chosen for new expansion of prestigious Miami art fair

Courtesy of World Red Eye

Untitled Art is a contemporary art fair that takes place annually in Miami Beach.

One of the country’s leading contemporary art fairs has chosen Houston for its next expansion. Untitled Art, will take place September 19-21, 2025 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Founded in Miami 12 years ago by collector and entrepreneur Jeffrey Lawson, Untitled Art showcases the work of emerging and established artists. Known for its cutting-edge programming featuring noteworthy galleries and nonprofits from around the world, each fair features a series of curated galleries designed to offer a narrative flow for viewers.

“We’ve been in Houston now for the last two years, having conversations with all the different institutions, collectors, and art advisors to put this together,” Lawson tells CultureMap. “Texas – and Houston specifically with its vast resources, great cultural wealth and standing as a gateway to Latin America – offers myriad opportunities to a growing brand like Untitled Art.”

Lawson sees the Bayou City as a natural place to expand. In 2022, the city saw $1.3 billion in arts-related spending. And Lawson points out that the city’s increased emphasis on the arts, along with expansions at the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, among others, demonstrate a commitment to arts and arts programming.

“It's just a really excellent place that's growing pretty rapidly in a really positive way,” Lawson says of the city.

Untitled Art Fair Director Michael Slenske echoed those sentiments.

“Over the past decade and a half, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Houston’s art landscape evolve firsthand, and there’s seemingly no limit to the potential of the city’s cultural infrastructure,” he says.

Untitled Art aims to engage new audiences across the city, state, and region. It will also add yet another cultural touchstone to one of the country’s largest, most diverse, and fastest growing cities.

While plans for the art fair are still being put in place, attendees can expect several things. First, they’ll see art from hundreds of artists and exhibitors. (This year’s annual Untitled Art in Miami, slated for December 4 through 8, features more than 170 exhibitors.) Those works showcase several media, including painting, sculpture, mixed media, even performance or video. All of the artists are working in contemporary arts.

Exhibitors will be a blend of local artists and participants from Untitled Art’s extensive network of galleries across the U.S. and beyond. Some of the participants confirmed for Houston’s inaugural edition include Seven Sisters from Houston; 12.26 from Dallas; Martha's from Austin; Various Small Fires/VSF with locations in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Dallas; Half Gallery of New York and Los Angeles; and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. A full list of exhibitors will be announced in the spring. Lawson, Slenske, and Untitled Art executive director Clara Andrade will select all of the participating artists.

In addition to being able to go through each participant’s gallery, fair attendees can take part in curator-led tours or watch Untitled Art’s podcast being recorded. Leading up to the fair, Untitled Art will host a series of activities and installations around the city and state designed to show how art can be accessible to all. What those activities will be is still in the works.

Lawson stresses that Untitled Art is for everyone, from collectors to the curious.

“The bulk of the people that come to the fair are not buying art. They're coming to see great art from all over the world,” he says. “They're coming to participate in a cultural event. That's exciting. They're coming to look at what artists are making and what people are doing.”

The announcement of Untitled Art’s expansion to Houston comes in the wake of several significant expansions across Houston galleries and institutions in recent years, and on the heels of the Houston arts community being honored as the first Spotlight city at the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) annual Art Show in New York in late October.

Local partners in the 2025 Houston fair include Discovery Green, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), the University of Houston School of Art, and the historic art-focused hotel, La Colombe D’Or.