Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University  Announces New Temporary Public Art Installations for 2026–27

Sept. 10 Tent Series returns with new commissions by Keliy Anderson-Staley, Preston Gaines, and Dario Robleto; Oct. 22 Platform presents Sharmistha Ray’s Entangled Portals

at Fondren Library.

“For several years—through initiatives like the Tent and Platform Series—the Moody has brought site-specific works into the daily lives of the Rice community, creating, in turn, an invitation for guests to explore more of campus,” said Joel Thompson, Interim Divisional Lead and Deputy Director of the Moody Center for the Arts. “The roster of artists we’re presenting this academic year reflects our sustained investment in creative experimentation.”

Guests are invited to the opening celebrations for Anderson-Staley, Gaines, and Robleto on September 10, 6 – 8 pm, at the Tents (across from Herring Hall) and for Sharmistha Ray on October 22, 6-8 p.m. at Fondren Library. See more details below.

Opening Reception September 10, 2026, 6-8 p.m.

On view through July 31, 2027 | Loop Road, across from Herring Hall

Keliy Anderson-Staley’s “Wilderness no longer at the edge of things draws” on decades of letters, drawings, and photographs documenting the off-grid Maine homestead where the artist was raised. The two-part installation pairs a collage of scanned archival materials— including her father’s notes and a hand-drawn map of the property—with a projected video that comes on at night, tracing the cabin’s history from its construction in the late 1970s to its destruction by fire in 2019.

Dario Robleto’s Ancient Beacons Long for Notice (film still), is a film still from his video work, which examines the Golden Record, humanity’s curated self-portrait for potential extraterrestrial contact, against a newly rediscovered document — the earliest known audio recording of warfare from 1918. Robleto’s work raises questions about the ethical implications of preserving and omitting knowledge.

These commissions were organized by Moody Associate Curators Noor Alé and Claudia Mattos.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 10, 2026, from 6:00–8:00 pm on Loop Road across from Herring Hall, with remarks from all three artists and light refreshments.

Opening Reception with Dance + Vocal Performance, October 22, 2026

On view through January 29, 2027 | East Entrance, Fondren Library

Drawing on recurring symbols, geometric forms, and diagrams found throughout the archive, Entangled Portals also reflects Ray’s long-standing interest in alienness and belonging. As a queer, nonbinary immigrant artist, Ray reframes the figure of “the alien” as a metaphor for inhabiting multiple worlds and identities at once — proposing mathematics, geometry, and pattern as a universal language capable of connecting across difference rather than marking distance from it.

Entangled Portals is organized by Noor Alé, Associate Curator at the Moody Center for the Arts, in partnership with the Woodson Research Center at Fondren Library, and made possible by the Moody Center for the Arts Founders Circle.

An opening reception will be held Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 6:00–8:00 pm at the Fondren Library East Entrance, featuring a performance by New York-based dancer Jasmine Hearn and Houston-based vocalist jonh r. stronks, with remarks from the artist to follow. The performance is made possible through the support of Rice University’s Department of Religion, Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and Fondren Library.

About the Moody Center for the Arts

Inaugurated in February 2017, the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University is a state-of-the-art, non-collecting institution dedicated to transdisciplinary collaboration among the arts, sciences, and humanities. The 50,000-square-foot facility, designed by acclaimed Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan, serves as an experimental platform for creating and presenting works in all disciplines, a flexible teaching space to encourage new modes of making, and a forum for creative partnerships with visiting national and international artists. The Moody is free and open to the public year-round.

Website: moody.rice.edu

Social Media: @theMoodyArts

Phone: +1 713.348.ARTS

Address: Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University

6100 Main Street, MS-480, Houston, TX 77005

(University Entrance 8, at University Boulevard and Stockton Street)

Hours & Admission

Exhibition spaces are open to the public and free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Events and programs are open to the public. For schedule, registration links, and prices as applicable, visit moody.rice.edu.

Directions & Parking

The Moody Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Rice University and is best reached by using Campus Entrance 8 at the intersection of University Boulevard and Stockton Street. As you enter campus, the building is on the right, just past the Media Center. There is a dedicated parking lot adjacent to the building. Payment for the Moody Lot is by credit card only.

For campus maps, visit www.rice.edu/maps.

About Rice University

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as the best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.