Take a little staycation adventure this month and grab a ticket to the first (of hopefully many!) art installation inside the Buffalo Bayou Cistern. If you’re unfamiliar with the Buffalo Bayou Cistern, you should read my recap of what it is and where to find that that I published when it opened earlier this summer (blog post here!). In short it was this abandoned and then rediscovered water receptacle inside the Buffalo Bayou Park by Downtown that is now open to the public for tours! It’s this huge underground cavern with hundreds of pillars and amazing echo acoustics.

The first art exhibit Rain by Magdalena Fernández just opened in the Cistern in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. I just got back from the thirty minute tour, and let me tell you –it was amazing! I wouldn’t recommend going with a hangover after your company’s holiday party since there are flashing lights and loud noises involved, but it’s a definite must-see exhibit for art and Houston lovers!

Before the tour, you line up inside this little tunnel and the curators give you some history about the Cistern and background on the art installation. I felt completely transported from Houston like I was on vacation and queuing up to go on an amusement park ride. It was so exciting!

Rain is a video light show that projects itself onto the walls and pillars of the Cistern. It’s accompanied by a meticulously edited compilation of finger snapping, clapping, and foot stomping that mimics the sound of rain. You spend the thirty minutes in the Cistern walking around the perimeter experiencing the sites and the sounds in the dark. It’s fairly meditative and the time passes by quickly. The projections kinda made me feel like I was inside the Matrix or a computer system. It was amazing how the the light moved along the pillars and reflected off the pools of water on the Cistern floor. The space was infinite and there was such incredible depth that seemed to go on forever!

My pictures do not do the experience justice. I highly encourage everyone to see it for themselves! The exhibit runs until June 4, 2017.  Get your tickets here.