5 posts tagged “ica”

The renewal of Spring brings a new crop of contemporary art exhibitions to town, along with some special museum events.  Here are a few of the things on the calendar for this month (notice the conflicting "meet the artist" events...).

Rose Art Museum (Waltham, MA)
John Armleder: Too Much is Not Enough (for a sneak-peak, read this)

April 25: Opening reception
April 26: Meet the Artist
April 28: Gallery Talk with curator Raphaela Platow
On exhibit April 25 - July 29, 2007

Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA)

April 26: Meet the Artist (Misaki Kawai, Space House)
On exhibit until July 8, 2007

Addison Gallery of American Art (Andover, MA)
William Wegman: Funney/Strange

On exhibit until July 31, 2007

Misaki Kawai is a Japanese-born artist currently working and living in Brooklyn, New York.  Her Space House installation is on exhibit at the ICA through July 8, 2007.  You could probably spend all day exploring the intricacies of the installation and still miss some of the details of her work.  To quote from the exhibit handout, Space House is "her free-floating home of tomorrow.  Here, space and time collide, as Kawai crosses a futuristic space community, a hippie commune, and a surrealist fantasia.  The installation consists of a main, multi-room home from which extends a series of additional living pods; all are connected by a monorail.  Inside the compound, there is a bevy of activity: this is a party house, a house of leisure (and maybe a bit of debauchery).  It comes complete with both the facilities one might expect in a luxury home--an exercise room, a hot tub--and a few rooms we have yet to see on MTV Cribs, like a karaoke room and a cat playroom.  In several spaces, Kawai includes homemade films.  For example, while lounging in the Jacuzzi, John Lennon watches a flat-screen television; playing is Kawai's own network, featuring weather reports, commercials, soap operas, and news made by the artist and starring her figures and dawings.  The artist creates a world within a world, making movies with her dolls, for her dolls.  Again, this depth of detail is captivating; it's as if Kawai wants nothing to break the spell within her microcosm."

It is very kawaii.

Also newly on exhibit at the ICA is work from Louise Bourgeois.  Her most recognizable works are probably those of her giant spider sculptures (I saw one outside the National Gallery in Ottawa a couple years ago), but the exhibit includes an impressive array of prints, drawings, paintings, carvings, castings, and mixed-media pieces.  Bourgeois in Boston runs through March 2, 2008.

I always "forget" that they don't allow photography at the ICA...

I was back at the ICA for the Streb performance (which was amazing -- such a display of creativity and strength) and managed to snap a picture of the piece I tried photographing the last time I was there, Josiah McElheny's work entitled Czech Modernism Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely.  I've also included the artist's audio commentary associated with the piece.

On Sunday I'll be seeing Streb vs. Gravity at the ICA.  Tonight, founder Elizabeth Streb gave a talk at the Museum of Science which was interesting and provided some insights into her background, the group, training, and performances.  A couple of the dancers were in the audience and talked about the training and discipline required to do things like fall from 25 to 35 feet in the air and landing on your stomach or back (he said now that they do 6 to 8 performances a week they use mats most of the time).  It should be an interesting performance.

Taking the T home, there was a "medical emergency" at Harvard Station, which meant shuttle busses the rest of the way to the Alewife.  Fortunately I was on a bus within 5 minutes, but travel on the surface roads was a little slow.  Leaving Davis Station, the bus driver asked if anyone knew how to get to Alewife.  Gotta love the T's preparedness and efficiency.

I sort of hoped the adventure would end there, but once in my car and leaving the garage I was almost hit by a cab.  Fortunately the driver responded to my horn.  The traffic lights were in blink mode at Fresh Pond, making the left turn onto the busy road a little interesting.  By the time I got to Route 2 I just wanted to get home, but fortunately I noticed the State Police officer on the side of the road (as I'd just made an impatient move to pass someone on the right) and didn't attract his attention.  Eventually I was home again, home again (jiggity jig).

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston was founded in 1936 as The Boston Museum of Modern Art. It was the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art.  Renamed to the ICA in 1948, the museum has presented contemporary art in all media and created educational programs that encourage an appreciation for contemporary culture.  On December 10, 2006, the ICA unveiled its new home on Boston's waterfront in a landmark building designed by award-winning architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. 

The new 65,000-square-foot building features gallery space that cantilevers 80 feet from the building's base, a 140-square-foot elevator with glass walls on two sides, and a digital media center on the underside of the cantilever that provides a view of the water with neither land nor sky in sight.  The museum is situated on 3/4-acres of land, with a 99 year lease at $1 per year.  The cantilever design allows the museum to extend over Boston's public HarborWalk (excuse me, HabbahWok -- a 47-mile continuous public walkway along the water's edge), thereby increasing the available gallery space.

Since re-opening, 65,000 people have visited the museum and 7000 have become members (compared with 1000 members last year).  Needless to say, museum staff are ecstatic.  One of the reasons I became a member was so I could get invited to special events, like tonight's New Member Orientation.  Sharing the museum with 100 people and getting a docent-led tour of the gallery space makes for a much more civilized and informative visit.

Pictured below are Anish Kapoor's Turning the World Inside Out and part of Sergio Vega's Tropicalounge, "a room-scale installation inspired by a 17th-century manuscript purporting to map the 'New Eden' of South America."  Please note that photography is not permitted in the galleries, theater, or mediatheque (the digital media center), which is why I don't have more pictures to share.

 

 

 

  

References:

• ICA History
• Design Highlights of the new ICA building
• arcspace article on the new ICA building
• Audio tours of current exhibitions

A couple other interesting scenes from the evening were taken at the Courthouse MBTA stop along the Silver Line.  Catenary?  This is a word that is appropriate for a sign warning you from life-threatening danger?  Watch out for the cross-bred Cat/Canary overhead.  The wires are alive.