6 Months of Digital Rain Forecast Inside Buffalo Bayou’s Underground Cistern

2iPM009 rendered in Buffalo Bayou Cistern

The Cistern, Buffalo Bayou Park near Sabine St. at Memorial Dr., Houston, 77007The rendering up top shows the sort of scene that visitors can expect if they wander into the 1920’s leaking-water-reservoir-turned-public-art-space buried alongside Buffalo Bayou after December 10th (and before next June): Venezuelan artist Magdalena Fernández’s 2iPM009 projection, adapted from flat-walled origins to fill the 2-acre space (and going by the name Rain). As for what they’ll hear — that’d be an accompanying soundtrack of snaps, claps, and other meteorologically-inspired noisemaking from Slovenian choir Pertuum Jazzile. The original piece is part of the Museum of Fine Arts’s permanent collection; the adaptation will be the first temporary art installation in the column-studded space, which opened for tours in May.

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Entry to the cistern will still be free on Thursdays (though you’ll still need a timed reservation), but the price of entry will jump up from $2 to $10 when the installation is up and running (that’s $8 for students, seniors, and kids ages 9 through 17). Reservations can be made online, and the regular historical tour will still be offered for $5 a few times per week; you can also try your luck with that reverse periscope that peers into the space.

Images: Jean C. Giallorenzo (rendering of Rain: Magdalena Fernández at the Houston Cistern); Swamplot inbox (photo)

Only Light Flooding Expected