MFAH Presents “Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic” in October, the First Large-Scale Survey in the U.S. of the Pioneering Argentine Artist
A sculptor, painter, poet, and theorist, Kosice introduced experimental ideas into his art, addressing the pressing issues of his day and imagining human habitats beyond Earth
HOUSTON—July 23, 2025—Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic, a large-scale tribute to the works of the Argentine experimental sculptor, painter, poet, and theorist, will open at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in October.
The exhibition marks the first time such a complete survey of the work of Gyula Kosice (born Ferdinand Fallik; Kosice, Czechoslovakia, 1924–Buenos Aires, 2016) has been presented outside Argentina. Comprising more than 70 two-dimensional works and kinetic sculptures made of acrylic materials, air pumps, water, light components, and neon gas tubes, Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic will be on view October 26, 2025 to January 25, 2026.
Kosice was a prominent figure in the international avant-garde of the mid-20th century, and co-founder of both Arturo (1944) and Madí (1946), two constructive-art groups based in Buenos Aires. His practice introduced original artistic ideas, including interactive sculptures, which questioned the relationship between object and spectator, as well as cutout frames, which transformed the painting into a ludic object. He also experimented with a wide range of materials, such as neon tubes and various types of plastics, many of which had rarely been used in art at the time, and was the first artist to ever incorporate water as an artistic medium. Like his contemporaries Julio Le Parc and Carlos Cruz-Diez, Kosice also incorporated light and motion into his work.
In the 1960s and 1970s plastic was seen as the material of the future, and its use in art production represented a radical transformation of the product’s function. Kosice’s pioneering use of plastic involved researching things like its durability, malleability, the use of adhesives, and polishing. In line with this approach, the exhibition is grounded in extensive material research into the use of plastic conducted by María Amalia García and Mari Carmen Ramírez, the curators of the show, who worked with scientists and conservation specialists affiliated with MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) and the MFAH.
Intergalactic focuses on Kosice’s experimental production, in which material research and movement were constant and essential features. The large-scale survey includes works that the artist created between 1950 and 1980, including acrylic sculptures, kinetic reliefs, and drops of water, most of which incorporated lights and were activated by aerators and motors. In exploring how art could utilize architecture and environmental science to address issues of climate change and socioeconomic inequality, Kosice’s work was especially prescient.
“Our 2009 acquisition of Gyula Kosice’s masterpiece, The Hydrospatial City, is witness to our commitment to acquire and display the extraordinary works of art that emerged in Latin America in the 20th century, by Kosice and his many contemporaries,” commented Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH. “We are delighted to co-organize this traveling exhibition with our partner institutions, and we welcome back The Hydrospatial City after its travels to MALBA in Buenos Aires and the Pérez Art Museum in Miami.”
“Gyula Kosice’s radical vision continues to challenge us, with novel ideas about society, the environment, and art that seem as forward-thinking now as they were more than a half-century ago,” commented Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham curator of Latin American art at the MFAH and director of the museum’s International Center for the Arts of the Americas. “Kosice’s fascination with technology, and his commitment to expressing the possibilities of a hopeful future, led to the groundbreaking works of art that we are presenting.”
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Kosice’s most ambitious work, The Hydrospatial City (1946–2004), from the MFAH collection. An experimental, room-size installation that was fundamental to the artist’s explorations throughout his six decades of production, The Hydrospatial City challenges the limits of earth-bound life by imagining self-contained pods for habitation in the atmosphere.
Kosice’s earliest iterations of the project, in 1946, were at first conceptual, as he sketched the work in manifestos, poems, drawings and brass maquettes that have since been lost. Kosice then began work on its current form: an ambitious installation of architectural sculpture consisting of seven lighted constellations and 19 hydrospatial habitat models. Imagining a livable, transparent utopia floating a kilometer and a half above the Earth, The Hydrospatial City is driven by hydrogen and oxygen extracted from water vapor in the clouds. Conventional divisions of the home—with functionally dictated rooms like kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms—are replaced with new forms of modular habitats. The nomadic hydrospatial life envisioned by Kosice paves the way for a new form of coexistence wherein a playful, emotional version of mankind is encouraged. In doing so, The Hydrospatial City reinvents the experience of community living.
Other highlights of the exhibition include works made of hydraulic pumps, acrylic Plexiglas, wood, aerators, water, and light.
Organization and Funding
This exhibition has been conceived and organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.
Major support is provided by:
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
Gyula Kosice: Intergalactic has been co-curated by María Amalia García, chief curator, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) and Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham curator of Latin American art and director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exhibition premiered in the U.S. at the Pérez Art Museum, Miami, where it is on view through September 7, 2025.
About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Spanning 14 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present collections of American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art, with its Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art. www.mfah.org
About the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the MFAH
The International Center for the Arts of the Americas, or ICAA, is the research institute of the Latin American art department at the MFAH. The Center’s mission is to pioneer research on the diverse artistic production of Latin American and Latinx artists from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States; organize research-based exhibitions; educate audiences about the field; and open new avenues of intercultural exchange and dialogue. Through this work, the ICAA seeks to bring about a long-term transformation in the appreciation and understanding of Latin American and Latinx visual arts.
About MALBA
MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, is internationally recognized as a reference point for Latin American Art and as a beacon of artistic and cultural life in Buenos Aires. Founded in 2001, it is a non-profit organization that preserves and exhibits one of the most important collections of Latin American art in the world, with more than 700 pieces by the region’s leading modern and contemporary artists. It also organizes an annual program of temporary exhibitions of Argentine, Latin American and international art, in collaboration with other regional and global institutions. Since its foundation, the museum has also functioned as an inclusive and plural space for the production of cultural activities, aimed at broad and diverse audiences. It has two major Film and Literature departments, and strong Education and Publishing programs. It receives an average of 500,000 visitors annually.
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