Those Aren't Party Streamers at Discovery Green
The Hopscotch installation for Arcade at Discovery Green.
Image: Joel Luks
Millions of streamers suspended from treetops and lampposts at Discovery Green have everyone wondering the same question: Are we supposed to be celebrating something? Don’t worry, you didn’t miss a memo—these streamers are for you, Houston. Yes, you.
They’re part of Discovery Green’s newest art installation, Arcade. Strips of tablecloth, shower curtains and painters drop cloths stream down from handmade nets in three separate groupings, waving and reacting to changes in weather and light. It’s a work of art everyone can enjoy, says curator and project manager Lea Weingarten.
The streamers are the brainchild of Texas-based artists Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsom of The Color Condition. Each streamer is looped through a handmade net and tied in place, just like the strokes you would take when making a hook rug, the artists say. With over a million streamers, this is the largest installation the duo has ever done.
Image: Joel Luks
The title, Arcade, is a play on words for the renovation of Avenida Plaza downtown. The art bridges the gap between the adjacent George R. Brown Convention Center’s indoor activities and Discovery Green. Each of the three installations within Arcade has its own title. “There’s a little nostalgia in each of the titles,” Newsom says; Hopscotch, Double Dutch and Red Rover reference games we all used to play outside.
One of the artist's helpers puts the finishing touches on one of the installations.
Image: Joel Luks
Sliger and Newsom say that when they were first asked to do the installation, one phrase kept ringing in their ears: Red Rover Red Rover, send Discovery Green on over. And then they had it—an engaging exhibition with playful titles to get people outside and enjoying the newly-renovated Avenida Houston.
Arcade. Free. 1500 Mckinney St. Thru Nov. 15.
