HOUSTON, TX.- Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will reopen its doors to the public at noon on Thursday, February 18, 2021, following a closure since March 16, 2020, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. During this prolonged closure, CAMH has not only redesigned the exterior plaza at the intersection of Montrose and Bissonnet, but guests will be welcomed into a completely restored and renovated Brown Foundation Gallery as well.

To ensure the health and well-being of its visitors and following the City of Houston’s guidance, the Museum will operate at a reduced visitor capacity and has implemented several new safety protocols. All staff and visitors will be required to wear face masks, follow physical distancing measures, and pass a non-invasive temperature screening to gain entry into the Museum. For more information on CAMH’s reopening policies and new hours of operations, please visit camh.org/visit.

“Our incredible staff has been working diligently behind the scenes to provide a safe environment for CAMH’s visitors. I am excited to welcome our community back, but do so understanding that we have a great responsibility to open safely,” said Hesse McGraw, Executive Director at CAMH. “We are pleased to present a new exhibition, Wild Life: Elizabeth Murray & Jessi Reaves and to bring back the wildly popular Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, which was forced to close within a week of opening, back in March of last year.”

Wild Life: Elizabeth Murray & Jessi Reaves brings together paintings by Elizabeth Murray (b. 1940, Chicago; d. 2007, New York) and the work of New York-based sculptor Jessi Reaves (b. 1986, Portland, OR; lives in New York). Although Murray and Reaves are generations apart, this exhibition highlights each artist’s simultaneously lyrical, playful, and rigorous engagement with the decorative, domestic, and bodily.

Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses is a two-part interdisciplinary exhibition orbiting around the legacy of the late Houston legend DJ Screw. Until his death in 2000, DJ Screw distorted songs by musical artists, creating “chopped and screwed” versions of the original by slowing tempo, reducing pitch, chopping lyrics, and layering freestyles by Houston-based rappers. Known for his signature stretched sound, he also displayed deft skill evident in his transitions, sampling choices, and beat juggling.

For those unable or not yet ready to visit in-person, CAMH will continue to inspire, educate, and cultivate curiosity through its Museum From Home virtual offerings, including the CAMH Connects videos, the CAMHouston Mobile App, social media channels, and our virtual Drop-In Experience activities for artists of all ages.