Teresita Fernández Installation Will Grace The Reopening Of The Menil’s Fresco Building In Houston
6June 19, 2026
New York–based artistTeresita Fernándezhas beenrevealedas the first artist in a newcommissionsprogram for the reopening of theMenil Collection’s Fresco Building in late 2027. The historic structure, which has been closed since 2018, will be repurposed for semi-permanent, site-specific commissions. The reopening will coincide with the fortieth anniversary of inauguration of the Menil Collection’s main building. Rebecca Rabinow, the Menil’s director, said in a press statement that Fernández’s “ambitious, site-specific artwork will address themes of spirituality and the human condition.”
Founded by art patrons and philanthropistsJohn and Dominique de Menil, the museum currently occupies a 30-acre campus in Houston, which includes the Menil Drawing Institute, Cy Twombly Gallery, and Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall. The Fresco Building, formerly known as the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, opened in 1997. The structure was initially designed by architect Francois de Menil (John and Dominique’s son) to house two restored 13th-century frescoes, which were on loan from the Holy Archbishopric of Cyprus.
Fernández previously visited the Fresco Building—after being invited by Rabinow—when it was undergoing renovations in 2025. At the time, she was participating in the exhibition “What drawing can be: four responses,” at the Menil Drawing Institute. Fernández said in a press statement that this commission gives her “a unique opportunity, on a monumental scale, to continue to unravel the intimacies between human beings and matter as well as the more numinous landscapes we carry within.”
Her practice, which explores “how we construct notions of landscape and place,” often features immersive, large-scale installations and unconventional material experiments that touch upon Caribbean and Indigenous American histories. She received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2005 and her work has been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.