Mother Nature does her thing
‘Flowers and People, Cannot Be Controlled But Live Together — A Whole Year per Hour’
Editor’s note: Molly Glentzer, the Chronicle’s ever-busy, nearly omnipresent arts writer, recently began posting daily examinations of singular art pieces on the Gray Matters website. Here is one of Glentzer’s recent observations. Read the daily installments at houstonchronicle.com/local/ gray-matters/. The artists: teamLab Where: Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, through Aug. 13.
Why: TeamLab’s interactive installation reminds us that nature doesn’t stop for anyone once her mind is set — even when there is no sunshine present. As visitors enter the dark, padded room, they’re engulfed in an animated vision of a garden on overdrive, and it reacts to their presence. If you stand still, you can watch seeds sprout, grow into plants, blossom and fade around your feet. Stand there for an hour, and four seasons cycle through. Inspired by pre-modern Japanese art and the annual spectacle of cherry blossoms — which, by the way, also are ahead of their normal schedule this year in Washington, D.C. — the installation aims to make us think about human intervention in the ecosystem.
Of course, you also could just step outside.