Experience Anri Sala’s Time No Longer at Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern

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A newly commissioned artwork by multimedia artist Anri Sala (b. 1974 Tirana, Albania), Time No Longer offers an other-worldly experience of film and sound within this vast, subterranean reservoir on the edge of downtown Houston.

The installation incorporates a film projected onto a massive translucent screen, depicting a weathered turntable floating in a space station, tethered only by its electric cord.

The soundscape is a new arrangement of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written while the composer was incarcerated in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany during the Second World War.

This arrangement, composed in collaboration with André Vida and Olivier Goinard, also references another remarkable musical event.

In 1986 Ronald McNair, one of the world’s first Black astronauts, had planned to play and record a saxophone solo on board the Space Shuttle Challenger. This would have been the first original piece of music recorded in space had not that journey been suddenly and tragically curtailed. 

Visitors will encounter the work in 360 degrees by making their way around the full perimeter of the 87,500-square-foot Cistern, hearing, feeling and watching it through the Cistern’s 221 supporting columns. 

The installation will be on view through December 12, 2021.

  • Tour times:
    • Monday – Thursday at 10am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 5pm
    • Fridays and Sundays at 10am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, 6pm
    • Saturdays at 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, 6pm
  • Tickets:
    • $12 / adults
    • $8 / seniors (65+), youth (9-17) and students (18+ with valid ID)
    • Free on Thursdays, but reservations are still required.
  • A number of parking options are available around Buffalo Bayou Park.
  • Children under the age of 9 are not permitted in the Cistern.

Tickets must be purchased in advance. Masks and physical distancing are required when visiting the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern. This tour is limited to the art installation. Please register separately for Cistern history tours.

The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern is located at 105 Sabine near downtown Houston.

Get tickets at https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/buffalobayou/items/288936/calendar/2021/04/?full-items=yes.

Photos: V. Sweeten

ART & MUSIC