Client: Buffalo Bayou Partnership

Overview

“Haha Real” is an original media and sound installation by New York City-based artist Rachel Rossin commissioned by Buffalo Bayou Partnership with project management and curatorial collaboration by Weingarten Art Group for Buffalo Bayou Park’s Cistern, a former underground reservoir in Houston, Texas and now public space and arts venue.

Rossin is known for her use of technology, not only as a tool or medium, but as a subject matter that helps us examine our collective attention and autonomy. “Haha Real” transforms the vast industrial relic of the Cistern into a unique world, drawing on innovative technologies and taking visitors on a journey inspired by the classic children’s story “The Velveteen Rabbit” invoking themes of transformation, love, and loss in our technologically driven world.

Created by blending video-game software, hand-drawn animation, and AI techniques, Rossin invites audiences to circumnavigate the Cistern in pursuit of the project’s protagonist, an incandescent rabbit, across holographic screens designed by Rossin that are suspended throughout the space and hovering above the water. As the story unfolds, the Cistern itself is cast as the anthropomorphized antagonist. This site-specific installation is on view February through November 2024.

Goals

The Cistern is as dramatically enticing to artists as it is challenging. Built in 1928, its raw and historic nature scale, columns, and acoustics, not to mention the presence of water, all combine for ambitious, practical, and aspirational thinking.

The curatorial goal is to partner with artists whose work will reveal the space in new ways, while giving them opportunities to advance their own practices.

Process

To explore this unique art space, Rossin started by digitally mapping the Cistern and creating a virtual three-dimensional simulation in which she could design, create, animate, and score the piece from her studio in New York City.

The visual content unfolds over 8 holographic LED screens installed and suspended throughout the Cistern, hovering above the water and thus creating a doubling effect from the reflection.

Dramatic lighting design, including programmable lights at the base of the columns and spotlights “searching” for the rabbit protagonist, makes for a theatrical and engaging experience as the narrative unfolds.

For the sound, Rossin and her collaborator Frewuhn integrated the Cistern’s inherent 17-second reverb into the installation. The musical score and the spoken word create a visceral experience that can be physically felt as the sound reverberates through the space.

Over the course of 9 months, Rachel’s team, comprised of producer Julia Simpson and technical director Rob Ruth, collaborated to plan, design, test, and perfect this complex installation with Fenris, who provided local installation and technical support. Weingarten Art Group provided curatorial and project management services alongside the staff at Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern.

Additional Information

The term “Haha” was first used at the turn of the 18th century to refer to an awe-inspiring feature of European gardens: a sunken fence that creates an optical illusion of unbounded space that inspires viewers to exclaim “Ah ah!” The perceptual vastness provoked by the Cistern, a contemporary “Haha,” is both reflective of, and respite from, the chaos of today’s persistent technological quickening. Also of note is the immersive soundscape created by Frewuhn, a Houston musician, who adds to the awe-inspiring experience. The soundscape includes an original song and spoken-word narrative written by Frewuhn in close collaboration with Rossin. Project photography is by Lawrence Knox and video is by Zainob + Mathew Create.