Celebrating the Lunar Landing with SkyWaves Houston

A new art exhibit recently opened at River Oaks District. “SkyWaves” is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing. Created using mylar, the material used for space blankets - it reflects heat and is also wind- and waterproof - the exhibit immediately places any viewer in the context of the lunar landing. What’s more “space” than shiny silver floating shapes? 

The exhibit is the brainchild of creative studio MATTER, which does large creative projects across the country. The exhibit took more than 2400 hours to complete with help from a total of 15 people. It includes an outdoor installation with rectangular pieces hung together to form draped, cloud-like structures, as well as an indoor installation with floor-to-ceiling poles of mylar and mylar wall backdrops.

Holly Kurisky pictured in front of the Instagram-worthy mylar backdrop in the indoor section of the exhibit. (Photo: Haley Kurisky) 

The outdoor installation blows in the wind and looks beautiful with movement, while the indoor portion stay still but allows the viewer to get up close and look at the reflective material. The rectangular mylar pieces are meant to represent small flags (there are more than 1,000 of them in the exhibit!), paying tribute to the American flag placed on the moon 50 years ago. 

The project is the product of a partnership between the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston and River Oaks District. CAMH, located in the Museum District across from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is free to visit, and will be hosting several free workshops at the Skywaves installation later this fall to get viewers involved with the piece. The workshops will include crafts with mylar, like creating mylar buttons, to get attendees involved and working with the same material as the exhibit. The exhibit and workshops are a part of CAMH’s effort to get more involved with the Houston community at large, two CAMH volunteers mentioned to me. Big outdoor installations outside the museum are rare for the museum, so this exhibit is especially unique and special. 

 

Two CAMH representatives (from left) Beth Pere and Bridget Hovell, helped at the official opening of the SkyWaves exhibit. They said CAMH is striving to be a part of more projects in the greater Houston community. (Photo: Haley Kurisky) 

River Oaks District is also trying to incorporate more art into the area. The space where Skywaves is being hosted right now was previously a gallery and may continue to exhibit art in the future. Rachel Boyd from Public Content said the goal for River Oaks District is that the Skywaves installation becomes an Instagrammable spot for shopping center patrons and that Houstonians travel across the city to take pictures of the exhibit. 

The exhibit is free and non-ticketed and will remain at River Oaks District through October.