Solar-powered containers to host FotoFest

Three solar-powered Mobile Grid juiceBOX containers were delivered Oct. 2 to a patch of land between Tudor Fieldhouse and the Moody Center for the Arts construction site, where they will be configured to host a part of Houston’s biennial FotoFest, organized by Rice’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS). The containers were donated to the university by MetaLab principal and Rice School of Architecture alumnus Joe Meppelink ’00 (below) and the president of Mobile Grid, Joey Romano. They will be home to a pair of environment-themed art exhibitions for six weeks beginning in mid-March. The exhibitions will feature the debut of works commissioned by CENHS: Judy Natal’s “Another Storm is Coming” and Marina Zurkow’s “Dear Climate.” Architecture and engineering students of the Rice Building Workshop are working in collaboration with the artists to design and prepare the venue for its opening. (Photos by Jeff Fitlow)