A visit to The Chinati Foundation, in Marfa, Texas, is a completely unique experience. This small contemporary art museum is housed on the grounds of a former Fort, located in a small town in the middle of the West Texas Desert, just a short drive away from the United States’ border with Mexico. Founded by the sculptor and architect Donald Judd, after his re-located to Marfa in the wake of his growing dissatisfaction with the New York art scene, Chinati houses several permanent installations by a variety of contemporary artists, many of whom were friends or associates of Judd’s. The Foundation also sponsors a variety of programs that showcase its involvement in both the local community and the contemporary art scene, including several residencies for both emerging and established artists, internships for college-aged and graduate students, summer art classes for young students, and an annual Open House weekend with talks on art-related subjects and other events.

A voyage to Chinati is not without its difficulties. The nearest major airport is in El Paso, approximate 2 1/2 hours away, although there is a train station in the next town over, Alpine. Generally, travelers come by car, either on a road trip, or having flown to El Paso and traveled to Marfa from there. Because the trip is so long, it’s important to make arrangements to see the museum in advance. Access is available only by guided tours, which are available only Wednesday - Sunday. Reservations can be made at http://www.chinati.org/visit/visiting.php The tours are relatively inexpensive, only $10, or $5 for students/seniors, but are quite lengthy. Divided into two parts - a morning tour, and an afternoon tour - each part of the tour involves around an hour and forty-five minutes of walking out in the mercurial West Texas weather. It’s important to come prepared, in comfortable shoes.

The tour will take you through an assortment of buildings associated with the former fort, from former mess halls, to a converted stable, to the barracks the soldiers used to sleep in, as well as what used to be an artillery shed. The art you will see at Chinati includes rectangular aluminum boxes, groupings of concrete “works,” installations of fluorescent light, an exhibit meant to resemble an old abandoned Soviet elementary school, and obscure barely visible pencil mark drawings by an Icelandic artist. Even for those who are not interested in contemporary art, the experience of seeing such a strange mix of art and setting is worth having.

Marfa itself is full of odd sights - from the ruined hospital associated with the fort (which is easily accessible to the public), to the renowned “Marfa Lights,” which have their own viewing station, to the luxury trailer park - El Cosmico - for hipsters looking for a unique place to spend the night, which is just across the street from a real trailer park where actual Marfans live year-round. There is a strange clash of cultures visible in Marfa, between the New York art culture and the West Texas surroundings. If you’re ever traveling down I-10 between Austin and El Paso, I highly recommend you take a detour - it’s just a left on US-67, and about eighty miles travel will take you right into the center of town. There’s not much there, so what there is is hard to miss.