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Why a Mouse? Public Art in Houston

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Why a Mouse? Public Art in Houston Cite Pall 1990 17 the building that he thought were reason- • « i • able or necessary. "I suppose they take that to say that everything that is put there is totally with my approval, which is of course not so at all," he rejoins. For many architects, Johansen's Mummers has been a compelling and influential source, occupying a special niche in the history of 1960s design. Is it inconceivable 8858 pi that in 50 years' time there will be a move- ment to restore the Mummers' original «H» Hi appearance? The case of the Mummers and the recent furor over the now-canceled \ \ 7»"nnin Kimbell Art Museum addition underscores the need for landmark recognition of significant buildings that are fewer than I1IIII3III 50 years old by the National Register. The llllllli ^•t arts council would do well to consider M IIIP1I. ii l l l l l i r during its renovation that this intervention is bin i he beginning of a new act in the continuing history of this much-loved and much-maligned building. The vulnerability of monuments of modern architecture is an issue that has recently been addressed in Kurope at the inaugural conference of Docomomo, held in September in The Netherlands; this ? European pressure group was formed to grapple with the problems of documenta- tion and conservation of important modern buildings. The need for a similar Claes Oldenburg, Houston exhibits public art in all its organization in the United States is all too Geometric Mouse X, 1971. Central Library Building, varieties, functions, and range of meanings. apparent. If and when it is formed, perhaps Houston Public Library, 600 Surveying public art here is remarkably its first conference could be held in McKinney. easy, much easier than one might expect in 1 Oklahoma City. " • Why a view ol Houston's reputation for urban sprawl and traffic congestion. These Many thanks to the people who provided conclusions will not surprise Cite readers visual materials or other special assistance and longtime Houston residents. The with this article: Drexel Turner, John Mouse? overall value of public art in Houston Johansen, Karen Merrick, Liz Hickman, and cannot be obscured even by the easily Margaret Culbertson. solicited - and thought-provoking - PUBLIC ART accounts of the controversies that attach Notes themselves to virtually every piece. 1 Mary Jo Nelson, "His Life Plethora of Crises. 13 Mary Jo Nelson, "Culture Zone Plan Will Assemble IN HOUSTON I Idc.ii-. I Ihallcngcs. Iriiimpfis." Sunday Oklahoma'!. Many Arts Agencies Downtown," Sunday Oklaho- 1 he city may sprawl and the freeways may 18 April 1982. news section. Mummers Stage man, 13 January 1985. business section. be dogged, but public art is concentrated designer David Hays founded the National Theater 14 Mary Jo Nelson, "Old Buildings, History Disappear inside the Loop, south of I-10, within the for the Heal in 1967 in Watcrlord, ( lonnccticul, and as (;ity t Sets New Laiok," Sunday Oklahoman, 7 July overlapping zones of the museum district, 19K.(, teal estate section. William Howze V ism joined him as a member of its staff. Seism died the Texas Medical Center, the universities, in I486 oi cancer. 1 5 |ohu Pastier, "Something Klse Altogether in and downtown, If rime is limited, it is 2 Mary Jo Nelson, "lor He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Oklahoma City," AIA Journal 71) (August 1981). Sunday Oklahoman, 24 March l*)ttS, real cstare pp. 40-46. possible to sec a wide range of work, section. The Oklahoma chapter til the AIA did at 16 "TheTwentieth Annual P/A Design Awards," without too much driving, in less than two least declare it as one of Oklahoma's ten best Progressive Architecture 54 (January 1973), pp. 70-73. hours - especially with the help of the buildings in 1983, Mary jo Nelson, "Architects Select 17 Mary Jo Nelson, "Urban Renewal Project) to Top SI Cultural Arts Council of Houston's State's 'Best' Buildings," Sunday Oklahoman, 16 Billion." Sunday Oklalmman, 30 November 1986. brochure A Cultural Guide to Houston, the I iS 1 c• 11• • johansen, 75, is currently teaching a seminar ai October 1983, business section. American Institute ol Architects Houston the Pratt Institute and is a critic in its graduate 3 I he prototype lor the program was the Ford Architectural Guide by Stephen fox, and Foundation's Program for Theater Design, a group ol program, Tie lectures in the I .5. and abroad. He has models for innovative theater proposals, including retired irom active practice, but he prefers to say thai the University of Houston's pamphlet Art one by David Hays and Peter Blake, that was he has "graduated" into the investigation of purely on ('ampus. The list that accompanies this prepared and circulated as a traveling exhibition conceptual design work. Tie describes this body of article attempts to bring the works men- under the title The Ideal Theater; Tight (oncepts by work .is "experimental - using advanced technologies tioned in those guides together in one place projected 40 or 5(1 years into the future." See John [lie American federation ot Arts, which also issued a with w o r k s tin o t h e r lists p r o v i d e d by Paul catalogue under that title (New York. 1962). M. Johansen, "The New Modernity," Architecture and Urhanism, no. 228 (September 1989). pp. 47-58. Winkler of the Menil Collection, William •' Robert 1 lughes, "Inward a New Slang," Time, 31 ('amfield ol Rice University's Department May (971, p. 68. 19 Elliott & Associates" work has been published in 5 Sec "John M. Johansen Declares Himself," Archita several interiors magazines, and Architecture briefly of Art and Art History, and Marti Mayo, haul Forum 124 (January-February 1966), pp. 64-67, cited the firm's work ill May 1988 and August 1990, director of the BlafFer Gallery at the in which he compare his designs to contemporary and reviewed ,i bank design in the October 1991) University of Houston. developments in the arts. See also Abby Suckle, ed,, issue. See also Architects of the United State* oj liy Their Own Design (New York: Whitney Library ol America, i'5W"-/!W(Melbourne. Australia: Images Design, 1980), pp. 66-77, lor ins discussion of Publishing Croup, 1989), pp. 52-53. It is easier to point to examples of public electronic circuitry and ad hocism. Another possible 20 h is not surprising thai johansen moved quickly. He art than to define it: the water wall adjacent influence was Johansen's trip to the Gulfed Mexico in has witnessed the demolition ol two of his houses, to Transco lower; Claes Oldenberg's the 1960s to study the prefabricated Grand Isle island one in New' Canaan and one in Westport, ( onnccti- Geometric Mouse A'in Iront of Houston mine; interconnecting towers and bridges were cut. See Susan R. Winget. "Donahue's Demolition." Public Library's Central Building; Rufino subsequently proposed for New York in his 1966 1'rogressive Architecture, September 1988, p, 24; see Tamayo's mural America in the second- "Leapfrog City" concept. See johansen, "New Ibwn," also 1'rogressii'r Architecture, May 1962, pp. 181 -86. floor banking hall of Bank One, 'Texas. Architectural Torum 127 (September 1967), pp, 44- The Mechanic Theater in R.ihimntc underwent a 53. Johansen's explorations in the 19604 certainly major modification ol lis ihrust stage without Public art is found in places where one paralleled those ol the Metabolists. and he admired Johansen's collaboration, and he later found himself might come upon it in the course of the work ol'Archigram (Hughes, "Toward a New to be the butt of a critique of the altered building. routine activities, even driving around Slang," p. 6H. See Allen Freeman and Andrea O. Dean, "Evaluation: town. It is a manifestation of the belief that *> "Statement on the Oklahoma Theater Center," John A Troubled Theater Anchors Baltimore's Downtown," art is good for us, that works of art enrich Architecture67 (February 1978), pp. 32-37. M. johansen to author, 28 September 1990. our lives by heightening our sensitivity to 21 Mary Jo Nelson, "Arts Council Bows to Architect's 7 See Peter Blake, "I he Mummers Theater," Architec- our surroundings and making LIS aware of tural Forum 134 (March 1971), pp. 30-37. The Withes," Sunday Oklahoma,!, 17 April 1988, their expressive qualities. We are sur- Mummed was cited in Nikolaus Pevsner's A History business section, of Building Type [Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 22 Andrea Oppenheimer Dean, "Renewing Our Modern rounded by concrete anil steel. What is I njversin Press, I l)~r>l and in Arthui Drcxlcr's Legacy," Architecture 79 (November 1990), p. 69. their expressive potential? Look at the Transformations in Modern Architecture(New York: 23 The combined compositional analogies ol electronic works of Mark di Suvero - not in a Museum ol Modem Art, 1979). From 1970 to 1972 circuitry and arteries derives from Johansen's museum but in a park, in the context of the Mummers was published in Architectural Record, interpretation of Marshall Md.uhan's book the city, in the midst of daily life. This Understanding Media, which states thai with Architecture dAujourd'htti, I'Architetturit, Architectural aspect of public art, its location in places Detign, the AIA journal, and CutaMla, Johansen was electronic communication "we have extended the recognized as one of 45 international "Cre.ii Builders central nervous system iisell in a global embrace people do not frequent deliberately to see of the 1960s" in 1970. See Japan Architect, no. 165 abolishing time and space." Sec Johansen, "John M. art, is at the heart of all the controversies (July 1970), p.
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