Chinati Foundation

We are thrilled to share the dates for ‘Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape,’ the latest in a series of symposia presented by Chinati.

Part I (Marfa, April 4–7, 2025) will explore the relationship between art, architecture, and land at Chinati by focusing on one of the most significant examples of their integration: the former artillery sheds that house Donald Judd’s 100 untitled works in mill aluminum. Considering both the history of the buildings and their broader influence on museum architecture, Part I will focus on current efforts to restore the structures, preserve Judd’s architectural interventions, protect the art, and care for the surrounding landscape.

Part II (Houston, November 14–15, 2025) will extend these conversations to address pressing challenges in contemporary art and architecture practices. Through panels and discussions, participants will explore the tensions between environmental and art conservation, imagining future strategies for sites of ecological precarity and cultural significance. The symposium will coincide with an exhibition staged in the new Rice University Architecture Gallery, running September 4 through December 2, 2025.

In Marfa, Judd considered the specific legacies of a place that is neither urban nor rural—a type of environment that American cultural historian and literary critic Leo Marx termed “the middle landscape.” Judd’s work at Chinati invokes multiple understandings of historicity, frames the sites of work in relationship to their earliest uses, and provides opportunities for artists to determine the installation of their art within this context.
‘Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape’ will investigate art and architecture practices in socially, politically, and ecologically turbulent times, while imagining productive and sustainable futures of maintenance and repair, adaptive reuse, and environmental conservation.

This symposium is hosted collaboratively by The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati and Rice School of Architecture. Generous support has been provided by Lee and Mike Cohn and Lori and Alexandre Chemla.

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Countdown to Chinati Weekend 2024 ✨

This October, Kim Gordon will kick off the Chinati Weekend festivities with a free solo performance on Friday, October 11 at Saint George Hall. Doors at 8:00 p.m. Performance at 9:00 p.m. All are welcome.

On Saturday, October 12, our annual benefit dinner at the Arena will continue into the night with an after-party featuring music by Veteranas & Rucas, Quecholatanrica, and PROXYGENTE, an experimental ruido-cumbia project by Mateo Galindo and Jon Lujan.

Tickets and tables are available at the link below, along with a full weekend schedule. We look forward to celebrating with you!

https://chinati.org/chinati-weekend-2024/