The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) has officially announced the return of one of its most beloved large-scale commissions: Ernesto Neto’s SunForceOceanLife. Now reopened, the mind-bending installation is set to transform Cullinan Hall into a suspended playground of magical proportions.
The sprawling, colorful labyrinth is a hand-crocheted art piece suspended 12 feet above the ground. As an interactive piece, visitors are invited to step inside the structure and navigate its network of walkways floating above the museum floor.
Each section underneath the SunForceOceanLife is filled with soft plastic balls that shift with every step, forcing visitors to find your “inner zen” and focus on balance toward the center of the spiral.
“Ernesto Neto created this site-specific piece as a tribute to the life-giving forces of the sun and the ocean. Inspired by crochet, which he learned from his grandmother, the piece transforms this traditional Brazilian craft into a massive, enveloping structure that engages the body and the mind,” says Wortham Curator of Latin American Art and Founding Director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), MFAH, Mari Carmen Ramírez.
Ernesto Neto’s SunForceOceanLife exhibition is presently on display at MFAH’s Cullinan Hall of the Caroline Wiess Law Building until September 7, 2026. MFAH is located at 1001 Bissonnet St. The museum is open from 11 am – 5 pm Tuesday and Wednesday; 11 am – 9 pm Thursday and Friday; 11 am – 6 pm on Saturday; and from 12:30 – 6 pm onSundays. The museum is closed Mondays.
Because the nature of the installation allows for only a limited number of “explorers” at a time, we highly recommend snagging your tickets in advance.
Elsewhere at MFAH, the museum is presently hosting Frida: The Making of an Icon exhibit at Level 2 of the Law Building from now until May 17, 2026.
