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ICA/BOSTON PRESENTS MAJOR, MID-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE OF MARK DION

First U.S. Survey of Internationally Recognized Artist Spans 30 Years
 

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents the first U.S. survey of the American artist in Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist. Dion has forged a distinct, interdisciplinary practice by exploring and appropriating scientific methodologies to question how we collect, interpret, and display nature. On view October 4, 2017, through December 31, 2017, the exhibition covers the last 30 years and brings together several hundred objects—including live birds, books, curiosity cabinets, plant and animal specimens, vintage photos, and much more—offering a rare look at the unique course of the artist’s practice. The exhibition is organized by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator, with Jessica Hong, Curatorial Associate, and Kathrinne Duffy, Research Fellow.

“Dion’s sculptures and installations are full of the wonder of the world, and he brings a welcome earnestness for what we, as a society, see, make, discard, discount, and prize. Dion combines this sense of amazement with a piercing awareness of what we risk when we squander our natural resources and contribute to their demise,” said Jill Medvedow, the ICA’s Ellen Matilda Poss Director. “We are particularly pleased that this exhibition, his first museum survey in North America, is just up the road from the beaches and marshlands of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Mark grew up and where his curiosity and treasure hunts began.”

Dion has created sculptures, installations, prints, drawings, and public projects that capture the imagination, but also critique the power assumptions within the scientific study of natural history—for example, the placement of “man” at the top of animal hierarchies. His work invites viewers to reexamine the history and development of human knowledge about the natural world, connecting these beliefs to environmental politics and public policy in the age of the Anthropocene.

“Using archaeological and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion acts as an intermediary between times and disciplines, and between the cultural and natural worlds, said Erickson. “His work reveals that nature, for all the resources and pleasures it gives us, is a primary area for the expression of power and ideology.”

Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist presents more than 20 of the artist’s most significant artworks, as well as a newly commissioned interactive sculpture and a salon titled The Time Chamber containing ephemera, journals, prints, and drawings. The exhibition’s organization was influenced by the methods Dion has developed over the past three decades. It begins with collecting as an activity foundational to knowledge, and then moves into fieldwork, excavation, and cultivation. Each approach has been necessary to the acquisition of information about the natural world. With these techniques as the exhibition’s organizing principle, visitors can better understand the genesis of Dion’s practice and, in turn, those of art history and the museum.

Exhibition Highlights
Playing with the scale differences present in Dion’s work, the exhibition includes immersive single-room installations, expansive galleries of sculptures, and an intimate salon room with three-dimensional models of major public artworks. In all of these works, Dion marries conversations of science with those of the art museum, revealing the interrelationships between the two as sources of knowledge and truth.

  • Seminal pieces The N.Y. State Bureau of Tropical Conservation (1992) and Toys ’R’ U.S. (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth) (1994) offer two strikingly distinct collections—a storeroom of natural specimens gathered from a Venezuelan rainforest; and a child’s dinosaur-themed bedroom—reflecting on consumption, extinction, and the global environmental crisis.
  • In Rescue Archeology (2005), a project not seen since its creation, Dion excavated the grounds of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, during a major expansion, salvaging and displaying fragments of wallpaper, mantles, and ceramics to uncover the museum’s material origins at a moment of irreversible change.
  • In the immersive The Library of the Birds of New York / The Library for the Birds of Massachusetts (2016/2017), Dion will place in a gallery a 20-foot cage that houses live finches and canaries commingling with the accessories of ornithology—nets, binoculars, and books—arranged around a tree. The library about birds becomes a library for them, a home and site of spectacle within the museum.

Catalogue
Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist will be accompanied by an illustrated publication, co-published with Yale University Press, with major essays by Erickson, James Nisbet, Sarina Basta, and Petra Lang-Berndt, as well as reflections by Lucy Bradnock, Andrea Barrett, Lisa Corrin, Denise Markonish, Alastair Gordon, Colleen Sheehy, and Sarah Suzuki, and an interview between Dion and the esteemed curator Mary Jane Jacob.

Symposium
A symposium inspired by Dion’s practice will take place on October 12 and 13, 2017. Artists and scholars will deliver talks about their work and invite discussion on the cultural history and future of nature through various disciplinary perspectives. The ICA is organizing this event in partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Lowell, and Boston; and Northeastern University.

Biography
Dion lives in New York City and received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford School of Art, Connecticut. He also studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1982-84 and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program from 1984-85. He has received numerous awards, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucida Art Award (2008) and the ninth annual Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2001).

Exhibition History
Dion’s work has been the subject of major exhibitions worldwide. Notable solo exhibitions include Mark Dion: Wayward Wilderness at Marta Herford in Herford, Germany (2015), Mark Dion: The Academy of Things at The Academy of Fine Arts Design in Dresden, Germany (2014), The Macabre Treasury at Museum Het Domein in Sittard, The Netherlands (2013), Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas at Musée Océanographique de Monaco and Nouveau Musée National de Monaco / Villa Paloma in Monaco (2011), The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project at Oakland Museum of California (2010-11), Systema Metropolis at Natural History Museum, London (2007), The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit at Miami Art Museum (now Pérez Art Museum Miami) (2006), Rescue Archaeology, a project for The Museum of Modern Art (2004), and his renowned Tate Thames Dig at the Tate Gallery in London (1999).

Major support is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Additional support is generously provided by Jane and Robert Burke, Steve Corkin and Dan Maddalena, Jean-François and Nathalie Ducrest, and Cynthia and John Reed.

Visitors can experience the art of summer at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) this season with an exciting line-up of exhibitions, performances, outdoor art, and events. Tickets for events and programs are on sale to members on Tuesday, May 9; and Thursday, May 11 for non-members. Visit www.icaboston.org for complete schedule and details.

MUSIC

HARBORWALK SOUNDS
JULY 6 – AUGUST 31 | 6-8:30 PM
On ICA Free Thursday nights, visitors can enjoy outdoor concerts on the waterfront as part of Harborwalk Sounds, a collaboration between the ICA and Berklee College of Music. These popular evenings include free admission to the galleries, free concerts by some of Berklee College of Music’s best bands, and summer-inspired food and drink.

SUMMER FRIDAYS AT THE ICA
Kickstart the weekend every Friday at the ICA. From July through Labor Day, every Friday offers waterfront music, dancing, and the best vibes in the city.  The museum’s popular First Fridays program (June 2, July 7, Aug 4) is rounded out with DJ nights featuring artists such as Devendra Banhart, Spinderella, and Baio (of Vampire Weekend).

FIRST FRIDAYS
The first Friday of every month from 5 to 10 PM is an evening of art, music, fun activities, specialty cocktails, and dancing all night. FREE for members. $15 for nonmember advance purchases / $20 day-of.

  • JUNE 2 | HOT HOT HOT: A preview of Boston Caribbean Fashion Week, a harborside cocktail, Island Creek Oysters, and an al fresco dance party with DJ Mikey D.
  • JULY 7 | SUMMER POP: The magnetic Ed Balloon, a Boston-based musician who splits R&B and rap with a heavy dose of glam-pop, plus a few ice-cold brews.
  • AUG 4 | WHITE HOT VOL 4: A harborside dance party, oysters on the half shell, and a refreshing cocktail to match white outfits.

DJ NIGHTS
FRIDAYS JULY 14–AUG 25*| 6:30–10 PM
$5 ICA members/$15 general admission unless otherwise noted
Big-name DJ dance parties, vibrant art installations, and the perfect waterfront setting.
*except August 4, a First Friday

DANCE

Simone Dinnerstein + Pam Tanowitz Open Rehearsal
JULY 15 | 2-5 PM, free with museum admission
This summer, Dinnerstein, Tanowitz, and seven dancers will occupy the ICA’s Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater for a weeklong Summer Stages Dance @ the ICA/Boston residency, before returning to the ICA to perform New Work for Goldberg Variations in December.

Skeleton Architecture, The Future of Our Worlds
JULY 23 | 3 PM, free with museum admission; tickets available onsite on day of performance
Skeleton Architecture will reconvene at the ICA this summer in conjunction with Summer Stages Dance @ the ICA/Boston, with 24 leading black performing artists from Boston and New York. Representing different generations and dance genres, the artists will gather for a weeklong investigation of the collaborative process, creative strategies, and improvisational practices that will culminate in an informal performance.

FAMILY + TEENS

PLAY DATES
Family Play Dates are the last Saturday of every month with themes and activities varying each month. In July, Play Dates cross the harbor for a day of fun in East Boston.

Making Bridges Together
SAT, JUNE 24 | 10 AM – 4 PM
Try contemporary art sleuthing skills in the galleries with the help of visiting assistants: how does the art on view connect to your lives? Design and construct small-scale bridges with the help of onsite architects and engineers as a guide, then “test” how the bridges bear weight. Don’t miss a family performance at 1:30 pm.

**Special East Boston Play Date
Creating Wonderful Worlds
SAT, JULY 29 | 10 AM – 4 PM
Visitors enjoy time at the ICA’s waterfront location, then celebrate the museum’s pending expansion to East Boston. BYO picnic and cruise across Boston Harbor for adventures in East Boston’s Piers Park from noon to 3 PM, including a family concert and sailboat rides.

ICA Seaside Adventures
SAT, AUG 26 | 10 AM – 4 PM
Gallery Games and family Pop-Up Talks, paint scenes of the sea en plein air, and enjoy a concert by the Farewells at 1:30 pm. To soak up the waning summer, bring a picnic, relax on the ICA grandstand overlooking Boston Harbor, and try outdoor family yoga and sketching activities for all ages.

SUMMER TEEN NIGHT
AUG 16 | 6–9 PM, Hosted by the Teen Arts Council, free for teens
Organized by teens for teens, the evening features teen-led art tours, art making activities, and youth performances in the coolest theater in Boston, the Barbara Lee Family Theater. See icateens.org for more details on activities.

FREE FUN FRIDAY
AUG 18 | 10 AM–9 PM
The seventh annual Free Fun Fridays program sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation allows the ICA to open its doors at no cost to visitors all day long, with activities for all ages. For a complete schedule of participating institutions, visit www.highlandstreet.org

EXHIBITIONS

OPENING THIS SUMMER
Dana Schutz
JULY 26 – NOV 26, 2017
Dana Schutz, a concise survey of the artist’s recent work, comprises 16 paintings, several at monumental scale, and five charcoal drawings, including two new ones. Schutz’s enormous new painting, Big Wave (2016), acquired by the ICA in December, is on view for the first time in the United States. Additionally, one new painting will premiere in this exhibition.

ONGOING
2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize
THROUGH JULY 9, 2017
The James and Audrey Foster Prize is key to the ICA’s efforts to nurture and recognize Boston-area artists of exceptional promise. First established in 1999, the James and Audrey Foster Prize (formerly the ICA Artist Prize) expanded its format when the museum opened its new facility in 2006. James and Audrey Foster, passionate collectors and supporters of contemporary art, endowed the prize, ensuring the ICA’s ability to sustain and grow the program for years to come. 

Nari Ward: Sun Splashed
THROUGH SEPT 4, 2017
Nari Ward: Sun Splashed is the largest survey of the artist’s work to date. Emerging alongside a notable group of black artists in New York City in the 1990s, Nari Ward (b. 1963 in St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica) actively engages with local sites—their histories, communities, and economies—to create spectacular, ambitiously scaled artworks out of unlikely materials. He derives inspiration from his immediate environment, incorporating found objects gathered in and around urban neighborhoods and embracing varied cultural references.

Steve McQueen: Ashes
THROUGH FEB 25, 2018
The ICA/Boston is pleased to present the U.S. debut of Ashes (2002–2015), a video installation by the artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen (b. London, UK, 1969). A standout from the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, Ashes presents footage on two sides of a freestanding screen. One side, originally shot on soft, grainy Super 8 film, shows a young, carefree fisherman named Ashes balancing playfully on a pitching boat against a horizon of blue sky and water. The other side shows a second projection, shot in 16mm film that chronicles Ashes’s unexpected fate. Never seen together, yet linked by a shared soundtrack, the videos conjure an easy vitality and a vivid description of place against the darker forces of society and fate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ICA Summer is presented in partnership with Converse

DANCE
New Work for Goldberg Variations was commissioned by Duke Performances/Duke University and Peak Performances/Montclair State University, co-commissioned by Opening Nights Performing Arts/Florida State University and Summer Stages Dance at the Institute for Contemporary Art/Boston, and received creative development support from the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) at Florida State University, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, and New York City Center.

New Work for Goldberg Variations was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. General Operating support for Pam Tanowitz Dance was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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New Work for Goldberg Variations is part of Summer Stages Dance @ the ICA/Boston and is made possible, in part, with the support of Jane Karol and Howard Cooper, David Parker, The Aliad Fund, George and Ann Colony, and Stephanie McCormick-Goodhart.

the future of our worlds is part of Summer Stages Dance @ the ICA/Boston and is made possible, in part, with the support of Jane Karol and Howard Cooper, David Parker, The Aliad Fund, George and Ann Colony, Stephanie McCormick-Goodhart, Sharon Watson Beck, and Chayla M. Freeman.

FAMILY + TEENS
Play Dates are sponsored by Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation, and Holly and David Bruce.

The ICA’s Teen Arts Council and Teen Nights are generously sponsored by MFS Investment Management and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

ICA Teen Programs are sponsored by UNIQLO.

Teen Programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Award Number MA-10-16-0305-16.

Additional support is provided by the Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; the Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, Inc.; the Mabel Louise Riley Foundation; the Rowland Foundation, Inc.; the William E. Schrafft and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust; the Surdna Foundation; and The Willow Tree Fund.

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Free Fun Friday is sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation.

Summer Friday Fun Highland Street Logo

 

FIRST FRIDAYS
Support for ICA First Fridays is provided by  

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EXHIBITIONS
Support for Dana Schutz is generously provided by James and Audrey Foster, Barbara Lee, Ted Pappendick and Erica Gervais Pappendick, and David and Leslie Puth.

Steve McQueen’s Ashes is a gift of Tristin and Martin Mannion.

The 2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition and the Foster Talks are generously endowed by James and Audrey Foster.

The 2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition is supported by

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Organization of Nari Ward: Sun Splashed and its presentation at the Pérez Art Museum Miami has been made possible by Citi and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from the Funding Arts Network and Gander and White.

Ansell’s Sculptural “Fish Out of Water” Explores Migration, Flight, and Movement Themes;
Meet the Artist at April 29 ICA Play Date

Houston-based artist and educator Bennie Flores Ansell’s interest in migration, flight, and movement makes a bold appearance at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (ICA) this spring with the Boston debut of Fish Out of Water. This interactive installation with images of flying fish celebrates the many journeys made by the people of Boston—including the 27 percent of residents who are immigrants.

With Ansell’s work as a starting point, ICA visitors will be encouraged to reflect on their own personal family journeys and, using stencils, special papers and artists’ paint markers, create their own unique airborne creatures that tell a story. After personalizing their fish, guests will be encouraged to write the country or region from where their ancestors originated, and then add them to the installation. Participants can also try mirror symmetry drawing to create a colorful piece to take home.

As more and more visitors participate and add their creations to the Fish Out of Water installation, the fish will grow in number and soar together as one body throughout the museum’s Bank of America Art Lab walls, highlighting Boston’s rich diversity. The project will be open select hours during April School Vacation Week—Tuesday, April 18 through Friday, April 21 from 11 AM – 4 PM each day, and on subsequent weekends. Please note: Young children will need adult assistance for the project. The ICA will be closed on Monday, April 17 for the Patriots’ Day holiday.

Meet the Artist at ICA Play Date, Saturday, April 29
Visitors can meet and talk with Ansell at a forthcoming ICA Play Date with the theme “Uncovering Artists’ Stories,” as well as try related artmaking investigations. Families can also see the exhibition Nari Ward: Sun Splashed (opens April 26), which includes artworks made from soda pop bottles, shoelaces, shopping carts, and a fire escape, and speaks to issues around migration, identity, and spirituality. A special concert by Boston Children’s Chorus with music and stories from around the world will also take place. For ICA Play Dates, admission is free for up to 2 adults per family when accompanied by children ages 12 and under. Youth 17 and under are always admitted free to the ICA. All ages welcome; programs best-suited for ages 6 and older. Use #ICAFishOutofWater to share photos and experiences.

Play Dates are sponsored by Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation, and Holly and David Bruce.

About the Artist
As a very young child, Ansell made a long journey from the Philippines to the United States. Her family’s personal experience traveling across vast oceans and continents encouraged her to further explore ideas of migration, flight, and movement in her later work as an artist. These ideas are important to Ansell, who believes that this early experience formed her view of herself, as well as how others regard her. Ansell’s intricate installations look like maps, topographical views, and swarms of butterflies, but upon closer inspection reveal surprising hidden imagery. The artist’s work has been exhibited at the International Center for Photography, NY; the Seattle Art Museum, WA; the San Diego Museum of Art, CA; and the Berkshire Museum, MA. Her most recent installation was exhibited at the 2016 Daegu Photo Biennale in South Korea. Read a Q+A with the artist

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) announces its 2017 ICA Reads selection: Damian Duffy and John Jennings’s Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation. The book is an interpretation of Octavia Butler’s bestselling classic that has quickly become a bestseller itself. An artful take on the book club, ICA Reads presents a book of critical and societal importance and an opportunity to gather for discussion and meet the author(s).

More than 35 years after Kindred’s release, the powerful story continues to draw in new readers with its unforgettable strong female protagonist, Dana, and her deep exploration of the violence and loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and its complex and lasting impact on the present day. A unique introduction for those unfamiliar with Butler’s masterful work, adapted by academics and comics artists Duffy and Jennings, the graphic novel powerfully renders her mysterious and moving story, spanning racial and gender divides in the antebellum South through the 20th century. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz describes Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation as, “A glorious tribute to Octavia Butler’s masterpiece. Extraordinary.” For more information visit.

Held up as an essential work in feminist, science-fiction, and fantasy genres, and a cornerstone of the Afrofuturism movement, Kindred has sold more than 500,000 copies. The intersectionality of race, history, and the treatment of women addressed within the original work remain critical topics in contemporary dialogue, both in the classroom and in the public sphere. Frightening, compelling, and richly imagined, Kindred offers an unflinching look at our complicated social history, transformed by the graphic novel format into a visually stunning work for a new generation of readers.

The Artist’s Voice: Damian Duffy and John Jennings, Thursday, May 4, 7 PM
ICA visitors can meet Duffy and Jennings and join a timely and thought-provoking conversation about Kindred and its lasting impact. Book signing to follow (copies available for purchase at the ICA store). Free admission, first come, first served; tickets available at the box office two hours prior to start of program.

About the Authors

  • John Jennings is Associate Professor of Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo and has written several works on African-American comics creators. His research is concerned with the topics of representation and authenticity, visual culture, visual literacy, social justice, and design pedagogy. He is an accomplished designer, curator, illustrator, cartoonist, and award-winning graphic novelist, who most recently organized an exhibition/program on Afrofuturism and the Black Comic Book Festival, both at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
  • Damian Duffy, cartoonist, writer, and comics letterer, is a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and a founder of Eye Trauma Studios (eyetrauma.net). His first published graphic novel, The Hole: Consumer Culture, created with artist John Jennings, was released by Front 40 Press in 2008. Along with Jennings, Duffy has curated several comics art shows, including Other Heroes: African American Comic Book Creators, Characters and Archetypes and Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics, and published the art book Black Comix: African American Independent Comics Art and Culture. He has also published scholarly essays in comics form on curation, new media, diversity, and critical pedagogy.
  • Octavia Estelle Butler (1947–2006), often referred to as the “grand dame of science fiction,” was born in Pasadena, California, on June 22, 1947. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena City College, and also attended California State University in Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles. Butler was the first science-fiction writer to win a MacArthur Fellowship (“genius” grant). She won the PEN Lifetime Achievement Award and the Nebula and Hugo Awards, among others.

Path from ICA to East Boston

 

Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA), announced today that the museum has signed a letter of understanding to expand its artistic programming across Boston Harbor to the Boston Shipyard and Marina, located in East Boston. Pending permitting and final design, the new space is projected to open in summer 2018 and will be called the Watershed. The ICA will present artworks and public programs seasonally in the newly renovated 15,000 square-foot space while continuing year-round programming in its Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed facility in Boston’s Seaport District.  

“Our location on Boston Harbor places us in a unique position to activate the waterfront. With this project, the ICA will make a cross-harbor connection that is central to our notion of art, civic life, and urban vitality,” said Medvedow. “The Watershed represents an exciting and creative mode of growth for the museum. It takes art beyond our walls, building upon a decade-long history of public art projects that bring together landscape and contemporary art, as well as ongoing partnerships with East Boston youth communities.” 

The Watershed will be a raw, industrial space for art unlike any other in Boston. In addition to a flexible space for exhibitions, programming, and workshops, the Watershed will house an orientation gallery introducing visitors to the historic shipyard complemented by a waterside plaza that will serve as a gathering place with stunning harbor views. Admission to the Watershed will be free for all.

“Boston’s waterfront and harbor are one of the most unique aspects of our City, and I’m pleased the ICA is supporting our creative community in this welcoming East Boston space,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “The Watershed will offer Boston a new, engaging space for art and discovery, and I welcome their investment in Boston’s diverse artists, residents, and visitors.”

“We are thrilled to be working with the ICA on this ambitious and visionary endeavor that will connect the two neighborhoods we call home – East Boston and South Boston – through art and across the Harbor,” said Tom Glynn, Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which owns the property. “The Watershed will connect communities with Boston’s dynamic working waterfront and shine a light on its vital role in our city’s history and future.”

At the Watershed, the ICA will welcome visitors to experience immersive artworks by artists engaged with the issues of our times. The new facility is a central component of ICA’s recently completed five-year strategic plan, A Radical Welcome, designed to advance the leading center for the vibrant intersection of contemporary art and civic life in Boston. For more on the ICA’s strategic plan, visit icaboston.org

Award-winning firm Anmahian Winton Architects (AW) has been engaged to execute the renovation of the facility. The design will embrace the history of the building’s original design and use. Transportation from the ICA to the Watershed will be available by boat from docks adjacent to the ICA, and on the MBTA Blue Line.

Including the renovation and programming over the next five years, the project is expected to cost approximately $10 million.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents a wonderful musical event with New York-based Talea Ensemble performing Gérard Grisey’s Talea, the Boston premiere of Center for New Music Director Joshua Fineberg’s L’abîme, and the U.S. premiere of Tristan Murail’s Liber Fulguralis. A co-production of the ICA/Boston and the Boston University Center for New Music, Talea will take center stage on April 13 at 8:00 PM in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater at the ICA, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston. Tickets ($15 general admission; $10 ICA members + students) can be purchased at http://www.icaboston.org or by calling 617-478-3103.

Talea has given many important world and U.S. premieres of new works by composers including Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, James Dillon, Pierluigi Billone, Hans Abrahamsen, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Stroppa, and Fausto Romitelli. The ensemble has performed at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Wien Modern, Contempuls, Spectrum XXI Festival, Nevada Encounters of New Music (NEON), La Ciudad de las Ideas (Mexico), Art Summit Indonesia (Jakarta), and the International Contemporary Music Festival of Lima, Peru. Radio broadcasts of performances have been heard on ORF (Austria), HRF (Germany), and WQXR’s Q2.

As an active collaborator of new music, Talea has joined forces with the Austrian Cultural Forum, Consulate General of Denmark, Korean Cultural Service NY, Italian Cultural Institute, and the Ukrainian Institute. Assuming an ongoing role in supporting and collaborating with student composers, Talea has served as ensemble in residence at Harvard University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Ithaca College, Cornell University and New York University. Talea has recorded works on the Living Artists Label, Gravina Musica, Tzadik, and New World Records.

This program is made possible in part by the FACE Contemporary Music Fund, a program of FACE with major support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, Institut français, and the Florence Gould Foundation.

Largest Exhibition of The Artist’s Work to Date Speaks to Issues Around Politics, Spirituality, Identity, and Migration
 

Press are welcome to preview the exhibition on Tuesday, April 25. Please contact Lisa Colli, lcolli@icaboston.org or 617-480-4664, to RSVP or if you need additional information or images.

On April 26, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) opens Nari Ward: Sun Splashed, the most significant exhibition of the artist’s work to date. Ward (b. 1963 in St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica) actively engages with local sites—their histories, communities, and economies—to create spectacular, ambitiously scaled artworks out of unlikely materials.

Sun Splashed includes artworks made from soda pop bottles, shoelaces, shopping carts, and a fire escape—materials that speak to the artist’s distinctive experimentation and resonate with social, political, and cultural meaning. Working in sculpture, collage, photography, video, installation, and performance, Ward captures the makeshift qualities of everyday life and imbues his production with a visceral relationship to history and the real world. The exhibition focuses on vital points of reference for Ward including his native Jamaica, citizenship and migration, and African-American history and culture, to explore the dynamics of power and politics in society. The exhibition is organized by Pérez Art Museum Miami Associate Curator Diana Nawi. The Boston presentation, on view through September 4, is coordinated by Ruth Erickson, ICA Associate Curator, with Jessica Hong, Curatorial Associate.

“The ICA first introduced Nari Ward to Boston audiences in the 1998 exhibition, The Quiet in the Land, and again in 2000 as part of a public project, Art on the Emerald Necklace. Then, as now, Ward uses familiar materials in resonant ways to reflect on the ideas, experiences, and artifacts of community, democracy, and homeland,” said Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the ICA.

“Emerging alongside a notable group of African-American artists who rose to prominence in the 1990s, Ward takes on a massive and tactile approach to art-making and has expanded contemporary definitions of installation, assemblage, and site-specificity,” said Erickson. “His deft use of found objects imbues his work with an instinctive connection to the past as well as the present, allowing him to challenge viewers’ perceptions of familiar objects and experiences.”

Exhibition Highlights
 

Sun Splashed features approximately 43 works, including:

  • Happy Smilers: Duty Free Shopping, 1996—An immersive architectural installation that includes a real fire escape, found domestic appliances wrapped in firehoses, and an audio track.
  • Savior, 1996—A 10-foot tall sculpture that transforms a quotidian shopping cart through intricate assemblage and wrapping.
  • Glory, 2004—A trenchant installation centered on a tanning bed made from oil barrels incised with the American flag.
  • Naturalization Drawing Table, 2004—An interactive installation based on Ward’s experiences of becoming a U.S. citizen that gives visitors a better understanding of the bureaucratic process. When activated (on select days), participants will be able to have passport photos taken, fill out a facsimile of an INS naturalization form, have it notarized, and then return it to the artist to keep and display. Upon completing the ‘naturalization’ process, the participant will receive a set of prints from Ward.
  • Mango Tourist, 2011—A play on a form the artist has returned to in many works, the snowman, these larger than life sculptures transpose these frozen figures into tropical “tourists” made from foam, electrical detritus, and mango seeds.
  • We the People, 2011—A large-scale installation in which the opening phrase of the United States Constitution is transcribed onto the wall using hand-dyed shoelaces. Ward will work with participants in the ICA’s Teen Arts Program to install the work at the museum.
  • Homeland Sweet Homeland, 2012—A densely textured work that transcribes the Miranda Rights—the rights of citizens when interacting with police officers and prosecutors—into a seemingly domestic wall hanging that upon closer inspection contains all manners of collaged found elements including barbed wire, metal spoons, and embroidery.
  • Canned Smiles, 2013—Two tin cans, one labeled “Jamaican Smiles” and one labeled “Black Smiles,” which reference a seminal 1961 work of conceptual art by Italian artist Piero Manzoni and play with structures and limitations of ideas around national and racial identity.
  • Land, 2002-14—A large-scale sculptural “tree” made of hundreds of tricycle and stroller wheels that will be installed on the ICA’s first floor. Speakers play a soundtrack of wheels moving across surfaces, adding a sense of mobility to the piece. The sculpture’s wheels and lack of roots serve as metaphors of migration, especially pertinent today as masses of people traverse the globe seeking new roots in foreign lands.
The Artist’s Voice: Nari Ward and Tania Bruguera, Thursday, April 27, 7PM

The relationship between art and politics is continually redefined by today’s artists living in an increasingly divisive social and political landscape. In this special engagement, guests will hear from two extraordinary artists—Ward and Tania Bruguera—who have taken different approaches to responding to their important roles as artist and citizen. Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) considers herself an ‘initiator’ and has developed various long-term collaborative projects, such as Migrant People Party and the Institute of Artivism Hannah Arendt. She recently announced her candidacy for presidency in Cuba. Ward and Bruguera will be joined by ICA curator Ruth Erickson in this important and timely discussion. Free admission, first come, first served; tickets available at the box office two hours prior to start of program.

Concurrent Socrates Sculpture Park Exhibition (Queens, NY)

New York’s Socrates Sculpture Park is concurrently presenting a solo exhibition of Nari Ward on view April 29-September 4, 2017. The exhibition, Nari Ward: G.O.A.T., again, will feature a series of six newly commissioned outdoor artworks that will traverse the five-acre park and bring new insight into the artist’s ongoing exploration of identity, social progress, the urban environment, and group belonging. Nari Ward: G.O.A.T., again is organized by Socrates Sculpture Park and curated by Jess Wilcox, Director of Exhibitions. Founded in 1986 as an open space dedicated to producing and presenting contemporary public art, Socrates is located on the East River waterfront of Long Island City, Queens, New York. Visit http://socratessculpturepark.org/nariward for more details.

Organization of Nari Ward: Sun Splashed and its presentation at the Pérez Art Museum Miami has been made possible by Citi and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from the Funding Arts Network and Gander and White.

Support for the Boston presentation is generously provided by the Residence Inn.

Residence Inn Marriott

 

Featuring Sonia Almeida, Jennifer Bornstein, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, and Lucy Kim

New ‘Foster Talks’ Expand Dialogue and Invite Engagement
 

Press are welcome to preview the exhibition on Tuesday, February 14. Please contact Lisa Colli, lcolli@icaboston.org or 617-480-4664, to RSVP or if you need additional information or images.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents the 2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition with major work on view for the first time in Boston from Sonia Almeida, Jennifer Bornstein, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, and Lucy Kim. While they explore a range of subjects—from forms of body modification and genetically engineered mice, to worlds of visual communication and commercial fishing—each artist makes the human body central to their project, using rigorous processes to explore its social, psychological, personal, and historical resonances. Their engagement with contemporary media and subjects nonetheless reimagines age-old forms and concerns: death masks, grave rubbings, communication through signs and symbols, and the attempt to capture plainly nature’s indescribable enchantment and brutality.

On view from February 15 through July 9, the exhibition is organized by Dan Byers, Mannion Family Senior Curator, with Jeffrey De Blois, Curatorial Associate.

“This year’s James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition shines a light on four Boston-area artists working at a national and international level, but whose work has only received limited exposure here at home,” said Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the ICA. “We are grateful to Jim and Audrey for this opportunity to share such exceptional work with our audiences.”

Central to the exhibition, this iteration of the James and Audrey Foster Prize features a new program, Foster Talks, enabling audiences to engage more deeply with the work and practice of the Prize winners. Over the course of the exhibition, each artist will present their work in conversation with an important figure who has influenced their art. The conversations will be followed by a free reception, open to the public.

“The 2017 Foster Prize artists demonstrate the creativity, strength, and talent of Boston’s art community,” said James Foster, Chair of the ICA Board of Trustees and Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Charles River Laboratories.

ICA Advisory Board member Audrey Foster added, “Through the exhibition and particularly with the addition of the Foster Talks, we hope ICA audiences will gain a greater appreciation for and connection to these incredible artists and their work.”

The James and Audrey Foster Prize is key to the ICA’s efforts to nurture and recognize exceptional Boston-area artists. First established in 1999, the Foster Prize (formerly the ICA Artist Prize) expanded its format when the museum opened its new facility in 2006. James and Audrey Foster, passionate collectors and supporters of contemporary art, endowed the prize, ensuring the ICA’s ability to sustain and grow the program for years to come.

Foster Talks

These are in-gallery conversations that will address the work, as well as diverse influences on the creative process. Talks are free, but capacity is limited. Tickets can be reserved starting March 1. Visit www.icaboston.org for more information.

  • Thursday, March 16, 7 PM: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel with Dennis Lim, Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center.
  • Thursday, April 20, 7 PM: Lucy Kim with Melissa Doft, plastic surgeon, and Stephen Marino, Kim’s personal trainer.
  • Thursday, May 11, 7 PM: Jennifer Bornstein with Rhea Anastas, art historian, critic, curator, and Associate Professor in the Art Department at the University of California, Irvine.
  • Thursday, June 8, 7 PM: Sonia Almeida with Ulrike Müller, artist.
Foster Prize Artist Bios and Works

Sonia Almeida was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and lives in Arlington, MA. Almeida received a B.A. from Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa and a M.F.A. from Slade School of Fine Art, University of London. She has received numerous awards and grants, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and an Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has been widely exhibited at institutions nationally and internationally, including the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge; Culturgest, Portugal; Serralves Museum, Portugal; and Witte de With, Netherlands.  

Sonia Almeida’s paintings repeatedly explore disparate yet connected themes and visual languages brought together within a single work. Her interests in non-verbal forms of communication, symbolism and abstraction, and the slippages of translation are interwoven across this body of work. Her paintings move from the traditional flat support of plywood, to two-sided paintings attached to the wall with hinges, as well as tapestries, and hand-made artist’s books. In each instance motifs repeat—for instance a digital image of a face in relief or images taken from a YouTube tutorial on how to render ribbons in 3D in Photoshop—against the repeated interplay between foreground and background, and layers of painted surface that Almeida improvises as she paints.

For this exhibition, Sonia Almeida presents a body of recent works alongside an earlier painting YRMB, 2011–12. Several of the paintings employ non-verbal sign systems, including the alphabet made with the human body, Raven’s Progressive Matrices—a test used to measure abstract reasoning ability, spatial awareness, and memory—and Belgian-born French artist and poet Henri Michaux’s drug and trance-induced mark-making.

Jennifer Bornstein was born in Seattle and lives in Cambridge, MA. Bornstein received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, before participating in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. She has received numerous awards and grants, including a DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm fellowship and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. Her work has been widely exhibited at institutions nationally and internationally, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

Jennifer Bornstein often makes works that combine subjects and media from different times and places, employing media such as video, 16-millimeter film, sculpture, etching, and other approaches to printmaking. Bornstein’s work for the exhibition brings together videos, a series of hand-made plaster sculptures, and a group of encaustic (wax) rubbings (frottage) on kozo paper. The videos depict mice interacting with her sculptures, miniature “film sets” built according to standardized instructions for conducting psychological tests in laboratory research environments. Bornstein combines the traditional, at times elegiac process of frottage—a technique often used to take impressions of text and texture from gravestones—with a very contemporary protagonist, the genetically-modified mouse negotiating sculptures derived from lab tests.

Many of the objects depicted in the rubbings belonged to Bornstein’s father, who passed away in 2013. A scientist specializing in collagen research, he genetically engineered these particular mice to have a mutation causing unusual and extreme physical flexibility. To create the rubbings of clothing and other soft objects, Bornstein covered each article in resin to harden its surface. For this presentation, she combines the rubbings of her father’s belongings with two related bodies of work: rubbings of architecture, in which she memorialized various spaces and details of the Dia Art Center in New York City on the eve of that building’s transformation into luxury lofts; and her most recent group of rubbings focused on technology.

Lucien Castaing-Taylor was born in Liverpool, UK, and Véréna Paravel was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland; they are based in Cambridge, MA, and Paris, France. Castaing-Taylor’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the British Museum, London, and has been exhibited at Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Paravel’s films have won Best First Feature and the Best First Feature Jury award at the Festival del Film Locarno and the Punto de Vista Award for Best Film. Foreign Parts (with J.P. Sniadecki, 2010) was a New York Times Critics’ Pick.

Anthropologists and artists working in film, video, and photography, Castaing-Taylor and Paravel’s collaborative and individual projects uniquely challenge the conventions of documentary filmmaking. In 2006, Castaing-Taylor founded the Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL), an experimental film center at Harvard University whose collaborative output in a variety of media—including film, video, phonography, and photography—innovatively draws from the fields of aesthetics and ethnography. Many of the projects realized through the SEL are collaborative in nature, and employ various media for in-depth explorations of their particular subjects, which range from shepherds and their flocks in the American West to an auto parts junkyard in Queens, New York. Castaing-Taylor, Paravel, and the SEL were included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial.

Their film Leviathan will be shown in a gallery in Boston for the first time. Shot aboard a commercial fishing vessel nearly two hundred miles off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts—the former whaling capitol of the world immortalized as the port of departure for the Pequod in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick (1851)—Leviathan plunges into the world of industrial fishing from multiple, embodied points of view. Castaing-Taylor and Paravel synthesize numerous perspectives and experiences by affixing compact, waterproof GoPro cameras to fishermen’s bodies and to wooden poles that are plunged into the water and hoisted up high above the boat, capturing sights and sounds that allow the viewer to viscerally experience the sensations present on the boat.

Lucy Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, and lives in Cambridge, MA. She received a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and a M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the MacDowell Colony, and is the recipient of the Boston Artadia Award. She is a founding member of the collaborative kijidome, and is currently Lecturer in Fine Arts at Brandeis University. In addition to an upcoming commission for The Great Hall of the Institute of Fine Arts — New York University, New York, Kim has had solo exhibitions at Lisa Cooley, New York; and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York. Her work is included in the collection of the Kadist Foundation in Paris, among others.

Lucy Kim’s wall sculptures debuting in the exhibition capture with casting the likeness of three people whose work alters the human body: plastic surgeon Dr. Melissa Doft; Kim’s personal trainer Stephen Marino; and geneticist, molecular biologist, mathematician, and director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Eric S. Lander.

With these works, Kim breathes new life into the tradition of “death masks,” casts taken of a face just after death to commemorate the deceased. Her meticulously constructed life masks, repeated into patterns, record her subjects in repose, eyes closed during the arduous process of the cast’s creation. In doing so, each artwork registers an uncanny transitional state, lifelike yet frozen, unique yet multiplied, between image and object, distorted yet descriptive.

When Kim met Dr. Doft she became interested in people and jobs that shifted cultural perceptions of the body through different means of manipulation. Her three subjects shape DNA, muscles, and tissue and skin. In each of these professionals’ ability to change the body’s physical appearance, and thus its social and cultural impact—from policy, health, and psychology, to desire, insecurity, and self-confidence—Kim finds analogs for her own explorations into the relationships between physical experience and perception.

The exhibition and Foster Talks are generously endowed by James and Audrey Foster.

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Recently Acquired, Immersive Work Premieres February 15

Press are welcome to preview “Ashes” on Tuesday, February 14 from 5-6 PM. Please contact Lisa Colli, lcolli@icaboston.org or 617-480-4664, to RSVP or if you need additional information or images.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents the U.S. debut of Ashes, a momentous video installation by award-winning British artist Steve McQueen.  This powerful, immersive work tells the story of Ashes, a charismatic young fisherman from Grenada, and his unexpected fate. On view from February 15, 2017 through February 25, 2018, Ashes was a standout at the 2015 Venice Biennale and was acquired by the ICA earlier this year. Steve McQueen: Ashes is organized by Dan Byers, Mannion Family Senior Curator, with Jeffrey De Blois, Curatorial Associate. The ICA introduced McQueen to Boston audiences with a film presentation in 1995.

“Steve McQueen is one of Britain’s most influential artists, known for his film and video installations, as well as feature films such as ‘Hunger’ and ‘Twelve Years a Slave,’” said Byers. “Ashes is a remarkable work of art and expands on McQueen’s subjects of the political body, and the ways in which bodies can be confined and defined by history, labor, and the legacies of colonialism and globalism. We’re fortunate to have this piece as part of our collection to share with visitors, and expect its visual and visceral power to make an indelible impression for years to come.”

Ashes is composed of two films projected simultaneously on either side of a hanging screen. One side, originally shot on soft, grainy Super 8 film, shows a young, carefree fisherman named Ashes balancing playfully on a pitching boat against a horizon of blue sky and water. He is surrounded by the open air and sea, completely at home in his world. McQueen met Ashes in Grenada while filming another work in 2002. The other side, shot in 16mm film, shows a second projection made eight years later and chronicles Ashes’s unexpected fate. Never seen together, yet linked by a shared soundtrack, the videos conjure an easy vitality and a vivid description of place against the darker forces of society and fate.
 
“Life and death have always lived side by side, in every aspect of life,” said McQueen. “We live with ghosts in our everyday.”

Steve McQueen’s Ashes is a gift of Tristin and Martin Mannion.

About Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen was born in London in 1969. His work has been collected by museums throughout the world, including: Tate Gallery, London; MoMA, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; and the Musée National d’Art Moderne George Pompidou, Paris. His film Five Easy Pieces showed at the ICA/Boston in 1995, one of his earliest screenings in the U.S. McQueen represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2009. A recent and highly acclaimed survey of his work was co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Schaulager, Basel. McQueen won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for his feature Hunger, the only British director to be granted the prize, and the FIPRESCI prize for Shame at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. 12 Years a Slave was awarded three Oscars at the 2014 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Having been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, 2002), McQueen was created Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honors for services to the Visual Arts. He lives and works in Amsterdam and London.

 

All Are Welcome for ICA 10 – Commemorating 10 Years in 10 Days with Activities, Performances, Programs, and Free Community Day

2016 is a milestone year for the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA), one of the oldest museums in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It’s the 80th anniversary of its founding in 1936, and on December 10 the ICA will mark 10 years on Boston’s waterfront in its iconic Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed building. A 10-day celebration, ICA 10, will kick off on Thursday, December 1 with $10 admission and special programming for 9 days, culminating in a Free Community Day on Saturday, December 10 (more details are below or at www.icaboston.org/ica-10).

“When we opened the doors of the new ICA 10 years ago, we knew we were at the beginning of an amazing chapter in our story, as well as in the evolution of the Seaport District,” said Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the ICA. “Public access to the arts and all that art museums offer—inspiration, education, history, economic vitality, and community—are more urgent now than ever for building vibrant cities, celebrating diversity, and strengthening social cohesion and democracy. We’re celebrating this moment with 10 days of activity and engagement with art and artists, everyone is welcome, and we want to see and hear from our members, visitors, partners, and friends.”

PIONEER + CULTURAL ANCHOR

Founded in 1936 as the Boston Museum of Modern Art—a sister institution to New York’s MoMA—the ICA was conceived as a laboratory where innovative approaches to art could be championed. The museum eventually parted ways with MoMA and changed its name to the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1948. As the ICA’s reputation grew around the nation, it paved the way for other institutes and museums of contemporary art as well as artists’ spaces and alternative venues.

Throughout its history the ICA has been at the forefront internationally in identifying and supporting the most influential artists of its time and bringing them to public attention. More recently, the ICA has been pivotal in establishing the careers of artists and performers including Vanessa Beecroft, Shepard Fairey, Trajal Harrell, Faye Driscoll, Cildo Meireles, Cornelia Parker, Cindy Sherman, Bill Viola, Kara Walker, and Rachel Whiteread.

In 2006 the ICA was the first art museum built in Boston in more than 100 years and a pioneer in the transformation of Boston’s waterfront. Since that time, the museum has become a cultural anchor in the Seaport District and enjoyed a significant number of milestones including:

  • Establishing a permanent collection of 20th- and 21st-century artists—notable for Barbara Lee’s gift of the Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women;
  • Hosting a dynamic schedule of nationally-acclaimed exhibitions, performances, and artist talks;
  • Creating a national model for teen arts education, investing in urban adolescents as future leaders, artists, and electorate. With more than 7,000 teens participating in ICA teen education programs annually, this initiative was recognized with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program award from the White House in 2012; and
  • Welcoming more than 2 million visitors to the waterfront over the past decade.
ICA 10 DETAILS

The festivities will kick off on Thursday, December 1 with $10 admission for 9 days, culminating with a Free Community Day on Saturday, December 10. Throughout the 10-day celebration, visitors will enjoy the galleries and exhibitions, art-making activities, performances, staff-led spotlight tours, and even become part of visual art on view in the museum. In addition, in conjunction with its sponsorship of ICA Teen Programs, UNIQLO will present a few special surprises and giveaways at the Free Community Day.

For the complete schedule of events, visit www.icaboston.org/ica-10. Celebration highlights include:

All Weekdays

  • $10 admission and ICA staff-led spotlight talks (1:30 PM)

Thursday, December 1 (Free admission 5–9 PM)

  • Island Creek Oyster Bar (ICOB)/Row 34 Chef Jeremy Sewall book signing for Oysters: A Celebration in the Raw and The New England Kitchen (6–8 PM)
  • Island Creek Oyster pop-up raw bar and free shucking demonstrations (6–9 PM)

Friday, December 2

  • Turn back the clock for holiday fun at First Fridays: “Snowball ’06” ($10/free for members, 5–10 PM)

Saturday, December 3

  • Choreographer Heidi Latsky returns with body positive “movement installation” ON DISPLAY, in recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (12–1:30 PM and 3–4:30 PM)
  • Artmaking in the Bank of America Art Lab (2–4 PM)

Sunday, December 4

  • Teen Takeover: Teen Arts Council pop-up talks; a drop-in collective audio project; and The Current, a new program where teens discuss social issues through the lens of contemporary art (10 AM–4 PM)

Monday, December 5 (ICA is closed)

  • Go Digital: ICA followers can vote online for their favorite ICA event of the past 10 years and be registered for a chance to receive a private tour of First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA

Thursday, December 8 (Free admission 5–9 PM)

  • Behind the Scenes: The Artist’s Museum tour with Mannion Family Senior Curator Dan Byers (6 PM)
  • Trunk show featuring three Boston-based studios/artists: Pilgrim Waters, Porcelain and Stone, and Keith Maddy (6–9 PM)

Friday, December 9

  • Gillian Wearing site-specific mural opens on the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall in the ICA’s State Street Corporation Lobby; plus Spotlight talks (7 and 8 PM)
  • Films in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater (5:30–8 PM)

Saturday, December 10: FREE COMMUNITY DAY

  • Artmaking in the Bank of America Art Lab: visitors can see themselves projected around the building as part of a special site-specific installation by Boston-based artist Susannah Lawrence (10 AM–4 PM)
  • Talks + Tours: Visitors can go behind the scenes to learn more about the building on its 10th birthday;
  • Performances:
    11:30 AM: Branches Steel Orchestra – Dorchester’s Branches Steel Orchestra brings the traditional calypso music of Trinidad and the West Indies, as well as modern classics of pop, R&B, spirituals, jazz, soca, and reggae;
    1:30 PM: Dances from Everyday Cabaret – Some of the region’s best performers come together in this entertaining revue showcasing a variety of popular styles. With Peter DiMuro, Artistic Director of Public Displays of Motion & Executive Director of the Dance Complex, as emcee and guide;
    3:30 PM: Music from the African Diaspora – Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory students from Africa, Brazil, and the U.S. share an intoxicating music mix;
  • The Object Project: Guests can become part of a podcast, looking at idiosyncratic relationships to possessions and collecting, by talking about a beloved object (12–4 PM);
  • Hearts for Art: Visitors can show some love for works in the ICA collection;
  • Free hot chocolate, coffee, and ICA cookies (10 AM–noon, while supplies last); and
  • Giveaways, Japanese calligraphy, and more, courtesy of UNIQLO (sponsor of ICA Teen Programs).
EXHIBITIONS

Two special exhibitions will be on view during the celebration, including:

First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA (through January 16, 2017) – Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the ICA/Boston’s move to its iconic waterfront building, this exhibition celebrates the museum’s first decade of collecting, is drawn entirely from the ICA’s collection, and features significant new acquisitions. Conceived as a series of interrelated and rotating stand-alone exhibitions, First Light highlights major singular works from the collection, including a monumental cut-paper silhouette tableau by Kara Walker, work from the Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women, groupings of work by artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Nan Goldin, and thematic and art-historical groupings featuring the work of artists as diverse as Paul Chan, Sharon Hayes, Sherrie Levine, and Cornelia Parker. A new multi-media web platform with artist interviews and commentary from current and former curators was created to mark the occasion.

The Artist’s Museum (November 16, 2016–March 26, 2017) – This exhibition departs from the impulse to collect and connect, bringing together photography, film, video, installation, sculpture, and sound works that use artworks, images, and history as material for new works. These multilayered projects reimagine the lives of other artworks, demonstrating how social history, personal connections, and ideology shape our relationships to objects, images, and the cultures they produce. Among the artists featured in The Artist’s Museum are: Rosa Barba, Carol Bove, Anna Craycroft, Christian Marclay, Xaviera Simmons, Rosemarie Trockel, and Sara VanDerBeek. Engaging the realms of dance, music, popular culture, natural history, image archives, and design–as well as art history–the twelve artists address a constellation of issues such as gender, sexuality, technology, and digital culture, charting forms and themes across cultures and through time.

The ICA invites its social media followers to use #ICA10 to share their thoughts, experiences, and photos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.