VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Blaffer Art Museum present WORKac: all cultural. This fall, Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston is planning several offsite exhibitions and evening programs while the main campus museum is closed for a major renovation. The exhibition WORKac: all cultural opens Sept. 30, 2011 and is on view in the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture Gallery through Oct. 30, 2011.

The exhibition WORKac: all cultural allows a closer look at the firm Blaffer charged with the museum’s transformation. On view will be renderings, models, and images of seven other culturally significant projects designed by Work Architecture Company (WORKac).

On Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. a panel of experts composed of two architects and two museum clients will debate the opportunities and challenges of private and public museum commissions in “Translating the Museum.” The discussion will feature Jim Furr, managing principal at Gensler; Cindi Strauss, curator for modern and contemporary decorative arts and design and assistant director for programming at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dan Wood, cofounder of WORKac; and Heidi Zuckerman-Jacobson, director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum.

The panel is being moderated by Ronnie Self, associate professor at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture. A reception in celebration of the exhibition and the panelists will be held immediately following “Translating the Museum” on Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 7 until 9 p.m. Admission to the exhibition and panel is free and open to the public.