Memory Decks
|
Think about your favorite or most meaningful places and spaces. Are there places in your home, neighborhood, or city that you enjoy visiting? What places bring you joy, comfort, rest, or curiosity? Are there spaces in your life that make you smile or bring back memories? This activity asks you to build a deck of cards honoring these places, spaces, and memories. Once you have your deck made, you’ll be able to revisit them. Use them in conversation, for planned meet-ups or to inspire spontaneous adventures. Create, collect, share, or trade them with your future self, a family member, or a friend. |
Piensa en tus lugares y espacios favoritos o que te resulten más significa-tivos. ¿Hay lugares en tu casa, tu barrio o ciudad que te guste visitar? ¿Qué lugares te provocan alegría, seguridad, descanso o curiosidad? ¿Hay espacios en tu vida que te hacen sonreír o te traen recuerdos? Esta actividad te propone crear un mazo de cartas como homenaje a esos lugares, espacios y recuerdos. Con este mazo, podrás volver a visitarlos. Usa las cartas en conversaciones, para reuniones programadas o para inspirar aventuras espontáneas. Puedes crearlas, coleccionarlas, compartirlas o intercambiarlas contigo mismo en el futuro, con un familiar o un amigo. |
Materials/Materiales:
Instructions / Instrucciones:
|
1. On side 1 of your index card: a. Label your card with a descriptive word or prompt of your choosing. (See suggestions for inspiration!) b. Visualize the space/place that comes to mind when you think of that word. Feel free to draw, collage, or print out and paste an image. 2. On side 2 of your index card: a. Describe your chosen location and share a memory of your time there. Consider why you feel like it embodies the descriptive word or prompt. 3. Continue to add to and build a deck of your memorable and meaningful spaces and places. 4. Revisit them through the deck or in real life! Share with others. Here’s a list of descriptive words or prompts to get you started. Feel free to make up your own! Visualize an existing space or place that feels:
|
1. En una cara de tu ficha: a. Etiqueta la carta con un término o apunte descriptivo. (¡Mira las sugerencias para inspirarte!) b. Visualiza el lugar o espacio que asocias con ese término. Siéntete libre de dibujar, hacer un collage o imprimir y pegar una imagen. 2. En la otra cara de tu ficha: a. Describe el lugar elegido y comparte un recuerdo del tiempo que pasaste allí. Considera por qué sientes que ese lugar encarna el término descriptivo elegido. 3. Continúa añadiendo fichas para formar un mazo con los lugares o espacios que son especiales para ti. 4. ¡Vuelve a ellos por medio de las cartas o en persona! Compártelos con otras personas. A continuación, encontrarás una lista de términos descriptivos que puedes usar para inspirarte. O elige cualquier otro que te guste. Imagina un lugar o espacio real que te haga sentir:
|
Artist Bios / Biografía del Artista:
|
Sabrina Dorsainvil (sab — ee — dee) is a first generation Haitian American artist, designer, and illustrator. As an artist, they often explore identity, intersectionality, queerness, difference, and collective emotion. They use reflective practices of storytelling, visual design, and public art as a way to celebrate our shared humanity. |
Sabrina Dorsainvil (sab — ee — dee), de nacionalidad haitiana estadounidense de primera generación, se dedica al arte, al diseño y la ilustración. Como artista, a menudo explora la identidad, la intersec-cionalidad, lo queer y la emoción colectiva. Además, recurre a prácticas reflexivas como la narración, el diseño visual y el arte público para celebrar nuestra humanidad compartida. |
|
Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab |
Comparte tu obra de arte en las redes sociales con la etiqueta #ICAartlab |
Marlon Forrester, StTrayvonFloyd23, 2021. Acrylic, gold leaf on canvas, 97 × 61 inches (246.38 × 154.94 cm). Courtesy the artist. © Marlon Forrester
StTrayvonFloyd23
|
Explore the images in Marlon Forrester’s painting StTrayvonFloyd23, part of If Black Saints Could Fly, featured in the 2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition at the ICA, by combining figurative and architectural structures through tracing, drawing, and coloring to create your own interpretation. After completing your artwork, visit the ICA to view Forrester’s vivid and detailed artwork in person. Painter Marlon Forrester celebrates how race, identity, and religion affect the Black male body through the sport of basketball. His paintings consider iconoclasts (someone who questions and refuses to conform to established beliefs), patterns from basketball courts, architectural structures related to religious buildings, and numbers that function as symbols of transformation. Each figure functions as a central axis point in his paintings and is framed by bold gestural lines that bend and weave through the background. He uses pointillist marks that create depth while optically mixing colors that bring a pulsating energy and life to the paintings. |
Explora las imágenes de la pintura de Marlon Forrester StTrayvonFloyd23, parte de If Black Saints Could Fly (Si los santos negros pudiesen volar), que se exhibió en ocasión del Premio James y Audrey Foster 2021 en el ICA, al combinar estructuras figurativas y arquitectónicas a través de calcar, dibujar y colorear para crear tu propia interpretación. Después de completar tu obra de arte, visita el ICA para ver en persona esta obra de arte vívida y detallada de Forrester. El pintor Marlon Forrester rinde un homenaje a cómo la raza, la identidad y la religión afectan el cuerpo masculino negro a través del deporte del basquetbol. En sus pinturas, considera a los iconoclastas (quienes cuestionan las creencias establecidas y no se conforman con ellas), los motivos de las canchas de basquetbol, las estructuras arquitectónicas relacionadas con los edificios religiosos, y números que funcionan como símbolos de transformación. Cada personaje funciona como el punto de un eje central en sus pinturas, y lo enmarcan fuertes líneas gestuales que se entrelazan y doblan a lo largo del fondo. Aplica marcas puntillistas que crean profundidad a la vez que mezcla los colores creando un efecto óptico que aporta palpitante energía y vida a las pinturas. |
Materials/Materiales:
Instructions / Instrucciones:
|
1. Choose or draw a human figure. a. Either cut and glue the figure onto a piece of paper or trace the figure using the tracing paper. 2. Select one of the patterns of an architectural design provided by the artist. Option 1: Cut around the lines of the architectural design to create your own stencil. Option 2: Trace elements of the pattern using the tracing paper. 3. Draw the stencil design or trace on and around your figure, thinking about balance and symmetry. 4. Add color with colored pencils and/or markers. |
1. Elige o dibuja una figura humana. a. Corta y pega la figura en una hoja de papel o usa el papel de calcar para copiarla. 2. Selecciona uno de los motivos de un diseño arquitectónico que proporciona el artista. Opción 1: Recorta siguiendo las líneas del diseño arquitectónico para crear tu propio esténcil. Opción 2: Copia elementos del diseño con el papel de calcar. 3. Dibuja el diseño del esténcil o cálcalo sobre y alrededor de la figura, teniendo en cuenta el equilibrio y la simetría. 4. Añade color con lápices de colores y/o marcadores. |
Artist Bios / Biografía del Artista:
|
Marlon Forrester, born in Guyana, South America, is an artist and art educator raised in Boston. Forrester is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (B.A., 2008) and Yale School of Art (M.F.A., 2010). He is a resident artist with the African-American Masters Artist Residency Program (AAMARP) and an adjunct to the Department of African-American Studies in association with Northeastern University. |
Marlon Forrester, nació en Guyana, América del Sur, y es un artista y educador de arte que creció en Boston. Forrester se graduó en la Escuela del Museo de Bellas Artes (Licenciatura en Bellas Artes, 2008) y en la Escuela de Arte de la Universidad de Yale (Máster en Bellas Artes, 2010). Es artista residente del African-American Masters Artist Residency Program (AAMARP) adjunto al Departamento de Estudios Afroamericanos en asociación con ;Northeastern University. |
|
Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab, #MarlonForrester, #StTrayvonFloyd23 |
Comparte tu obra de arte en las redes sociales con #ICAartlab, #MarlonForrester, #StTrayvonFloyd23 |
Personal Histories
| We think of history as events written in textbooks, but most often our personal histories are written in the people and objects that surround us. These objects portray what we ourselves find important, the things we interact with every day, that we can’t live without. By making note of these objects through art, we preserve and exhibit their importance in our lives. |
Cuando pensamos en la historia, recordamos eventos descritos en libros de texto, pero con frecuencia nuestras historias personales están escritas en las personas y los objetos que nos rodean. Estos objetos retratan lo que nos parece importante, aquellas cosas con las que interactuamos a diario y sin las cuales no podemos vivir. Al poner en relieve estos objetos a través del arte, protegemos y mostramos su importancia en nuestras vidas. |
Materials/Materiales:
Instructions / Instrucciones:
|
Each day for 30 days, make a rubbing or a drawing of an object that was important to you that day. Write down the date. To make a rubbing, simply place your paper on top of a hard and flat object. Using the side of your crayon, rub lightly back and forth until the shape of the image appears. Remember that even the most common objects are important to our personal histories, like the things in our pockets or the ground that we walk on. Almost everything has a pattern and a texture. With practice, you can even combine textures and objects you find to make pictures! Here, you can see that I used the key to my front door and a heating vent to represent the canned pineapple I ate as a snack. Of course, your rubbings don’t have to actually look like something. Simple textures can be powerful triggers for your memory. When you’ve run out of paper, place all the sheets together in a grid on your floor. Looking at them together, see what you can remember about the history you’ve made each day! |
Durante 30 días, crea a diario un frottage o un dibujo de un objeto que fue importante para ti ese día. Anota la fecha. Para crear un frottage, tan solo coloca el papel sobre un objeto rígido y plano. Con un lado del crayón, frota ligeramente hacia atrás y adelante hasta que aparezca la forma de la imagen. Recuerda que hasta los objetos más comunes son importantes en nuestras historias personales, como las cosas que tenemos en los bolsillos o el suelo que pisamos al caminar. Casi todo tiene un motivo y una textura. Con la práctica, incluso puedes combinar texturas y objetos que encuentres para crear imágenes. Como puedes ver, aquí usé la llave de la puerta principal y una rejilla de ventilación para representar la piña en lata que comí como refrigerio. Por supuesto que no es necesario que tus frottages representen un objeto. Las texturas simples tienen el poder de desencadenar recuerdos. Cuando te quedes sin papel, reúne todas las hojas en el suelo para formar una red. Al verlas juntas, nota qué recuerdas acerca de la historia que creaste cada día. |
Artist Bios / Biografía del Artista:
|
Born and raised in Boston, Eben Haines makes work that investigates the life of objects and the constructed nature of history. Using a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, and drawings, recent works consider the inequity of existing historical systems that maintain housing insecurity. |
Eben Haines nació y creció en Boston, y crea obras en las que investiga la vida de los objetos y la naturaleza construida de la historia. Mediante una variedad de medios, entre ellos, la pintura, la escultura y el dibujo, sus obras recientes plantean la desigualdad de los sistemas históricos existentes que sustentan la precariedad de la vivienda. |
|
Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab |
Comparte tu experiencia en redes sociales con #ICAartlab |
Stop Motion Movie-making at Home
If you’re a storyteller or an artist, it’s easier than you think to bring your ideas to life with stop motion. Stop motion animation is a movie-making technique that brings objects to life on screen. This is done by moving the object in small amounts while taking a picture after each movement. When all the pictures are played in order, it shows movement. With a free and easy-to-use app, materials from around the house, and some patience and creativity, you can create your very own stop motion movie!
Materials:
Instructions:
1. Brainstorm and plan out your stop motion movie. Stop motion can be made out of anything, so the materials are up to you. What art supplies do you like to use? What toys do you like to play with? Stop motion is made by moving real life objects, so those objects are up to you. What will they do? What is the story? It’s a good idea to know ahead of time what your movie will be about.
2. Gather your materials. Will you be animating your favorite stuffed animal? What about animating pencil drawings on paper? Whatever you will be working with, gather your supplies and be ready to animate.
3. Install the Stop Motion Studio app on your touch screen device of choice. This app is available on all touch screen devices and is free to download and use. Make sure that the camera within the app is working and that nothing is blocking it.
4. Set up your device with the camera facing out and towards the items that you want to animate. It’s a good idea to prop up your device with either a built-in stand on the device’s protective case, or with books or any other sturdy object that will keep it from shaking or falling over.
5. Decide where your objects will be within the camera. Make sure that you can see everything clearly and that the camera is pointed right at whatever’s most important.
6. Look at the controls within the Stop Motion Studio app. The big red button will take a picture. It’s a good idea to take a test picture to make sure the camera is working.
7. Stop motion is a movie-making method that uses many, many pictures to create movement. Start by taking one picture, whether it’s a drawing, a toy, or a found object. That’s your first frame!
8. Move your object slightly, or make a small change in what the camera sees. Stop motion takes time, so move slowly! The more pictures you take, the slower your movement will be. The fewer pictures you take, the faster it will be.
9. Continue moving your object slightly and taking a picture after each movement. The triangle button below your big red button will play back what you have so far.
10. Keep taking pictures, and see how far you can go. Can you make multiple seconds of animation? Can you tell a whole story?
Ariel Grubb is an animator and artist that lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. Ariel teaches at Lesley University in the Animation and Motion Media Program, animates licensed characters for animated Candyrific Fanimation toys, and works as a freelance stop motion and experimental animator. Ariel is inspired by animals, nature, and fantasy worlds.
Photo by Gretjen Helene Photography.
Photo by Gretjen Helene Photography.
Panoramic Personality Portraits
Make a panoramic portrait that captures the various personalities of you and your family members! Choose an interesting background, use fun clothing accessories, and dive into your characters using the panoramic mode on your smartphone camera! Explore personalities, identities, and feelings through this fun family activity.
Materials:
What is a panoramic photograph?
A panoramic photograph has a wider view than a typical photograph. Panoramic mode is a common setting on many digital cameras (including most smartphone cameras) and is often indicated by a curved or pinched rectangle symbol. Using the panorama setting, you can slowly move the camera across a scene to capture a wide area in your photograph. This is often used to capture vast landscapes and scenes surrounding the photographer.
Instructions:
1. Choose someone to be the photographer. Open the camera app on your device and search for the panoramic mode. Take a few test photographs to understand how panoramic mode works. While taking the picture, move the camera slowly from left to right to make a smooth panoramic photo.
2. Everyone else in your group will be in the photograph together. Each person should choose two feelings to express in the photo, for example “excited” and “curious.” Brainstorm how to express these feelings in the photo and consider using props, facial expressions, and/or poses to show the feelings.
3. Choose a setting or background for the photograph. Will you be outside or inside? What will you stand in front of? Choose an area where the photographer can be 5-10 feet away from everyone in the photograph, and decide where the photographer will be positioned.
4. Once the photographer is ready, the group should gather to the left of the photographer and pose for their first emotion, for example “excited.” The photographer will start taking the panoramic photo then announce when everyone should move to perform the second emotion.
The group should move behind the photographer, then pose in their second emotion (“curious”) to the right of the photographer. It’s important for the photographer to slowly move the camera from left to right to allow the group time to get into their second position. And it’s important for the group to move behind the photographer for best results. You may need to practice the timing and take a few test photos as a group before making your final photo.
5. Switch and Repeat: Let someone else in the group be the photographer and/ or choose different emotions and props to incorporate into your portraits.
Don’t have panoramic mode? You could still create personality portraits by taking one photo of your first emotion and another photo of your second emotion, and viewing them side by side! Try a whole collection of emotion photos to show the array of emotions you feel and personality traits you have!
Gretjen Helene is a visual artist and enthusiastic human who strives to embellish her world and other’s experiences with learning, healing, creativity, curiosity, gratitude, and joy. Her artistic endeavors are vast— as every arising opportunity is an exciting challenge— and so her work is not always consistent with a specific technique, style, or signature, but consistent is her motto: “The grass is greener where you water it.”
Napoleon Jones-Henderson, TCB, 1970. Wool. 72 x 48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm). Courtesy the artist. © Napoleon Jones-Henderson
Arcmanoro Niles, Still Trying To Figure Out Forgiveness (So I Can Say This Is The Way That I Used To Be), 2020. Oil, acrylic, and glitter on canvas, 63 × 42 inches (160 × 106.7 cm). Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Image courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London. Photo by Stan Narten. © Arcmanoro Niles
Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, Swinguerra, 2019. Two-channel video (color, sound; 21:16 minutes), dimensions variable. General Acquisition Fund, Fotene Demoulas and Tom Coté Art Acquisition Fund, and Anonymous Art Acquisition Fund. Courtesy the artists and Fortes D’aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. © Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca
Rose B. Simpson, Root A, 2019. Ceramic, glaze, linen, jute string, steel, and leather. 71 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 16 inches (181.6 x 52.1 x 40.6 cm). Rennie Collection, Vancouver. Courtesy the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco. © Rose B. Simpson
Jordan Nassar, Al-Fasul Al-Arba’a (The Four Seasons), 2021. Hand-embroidered cotton on cotton, 17 1/2 × 40 1/2 inches (44.5 × 102.9 cm) (framed). Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. © Jordan Nassar
Oscar Murillo, Frequencies, 2013–ongoing (Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2016). Ballpoint pen, fountain pen, graphite, felt-tip pen, highlighter, permanent marker, paint, crayon, staples, natural pigments, debris and other mixed media on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Frequencies Foundation. © Oscar Murillo
ICA/Boston presents advance exhibition schedule through 2023
(Boston, MA—November 16, 2021) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents its advance schedule of exhibitions through 2023. Upcoming exhibitions include solo exhibitions of Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Jordan Nassar, Rose B. Simpson, and Guadalupe Maravilla, the exhilarating video installation Swinguerra by Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, and a major thematic exhibition exploring the influence of childhood on the work of visual artists.
All exhibition dates are subject to change. For more information and to confirm schedule, please contact Margaux Leonard at mleonard@icaboston.org or 617-478-3176.
Napoleon Jones-Henderson
Feb 17, 2022–Jul 24, 2022
For more than fifty years, Napoleon Jones-Henderson (b. 1943 in Chicago) has created works that strive to highlight, celebrate, and empower the communities where he lives. Jones-Henderson is a longstanding founding member of the influential artist collective African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). His work translates AfriCOBRA’s aesthetic principles—to create images inspired by the lived experience and cultures of people of the African diaspora in an accessible graphic style with shining Kool-Aid colors—into woven tapestries, mosaic tile works, shrine-like sculptures, and varied works on paper. Often focused on themes of Pan-Africanism and racial justice, Jones-Henderson’s work aims to be self-affirming and reflective, with an eye toward both a fraught past and a liberated future. The artist integrates forms from African ritual sculpture and Southern vernacular architecture and incorporates reverential references to jazzman Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concerts,” musician Stevie Wonder, and writer June Jordan, among others. Made in close collaboration with the artist, this concise survey draws together a suite of Jones-Henderson’s works in various media across his entire career, centered around his magisterial woven textiles. Jones-Henderson has been based since 1974 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he has been an influential community member, educator, and mentor. This is his most comprehensive solo museum exhibition in Boston. This exhibition is organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.
A Place for Me: Figurative Painting Now
Mar 31, 2022–Sep 5, 2022
A Place for Me celebrates a new generation of artists at the vanguard of contemporary painting. David Antonio Cruz (b. 1974 in Philadelphia), Louis Fratino (b. 1993 in Annapolis, MD), Doron Langberg (b. 1985 in Yokneam Moshava, Israel), Aubrey Levinthal (b. 1986 in Philadelphia), Gisela McDaniel (b. 1995 in Bellevue, NE), Arcmanoro Niles (b. 1989 in Washington, D.C.), Celeste Rapone (b. 1985 in Wayne, NJ), and Ambera Wellmann (b. 1982 in Lunenburg, Canada) are propelling figurative painting’s recent revival by depicting what they love—their friends, lovers, and family; studio spaces and homes; and the scenes that make up their everyday. Evoking intimacy, community, and the personal in the power to represent oneself in painting, these artists consider the politics of seeing and being seen and how the process of painting might register care, tenderness, fragility, empathy, and resilience. They have each developed unique approaches to representing others, approaching their sitters with the insights of their own subject positions and a wide range of painterly techniques. Colorful, surprising, and full of life, A Place for Me is a testament to the vitality of contemporary figurative art, reflecting a multitude of styles and approaches to painting through a cross-section of contemporary painting today. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator, with Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.
Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca: Swinguerra
Mar 31, 2022–Sep 5, 2022
Collaborating since 2013, Bárbara Wagner (b. 1980 in Brasília, Brazil) and Benjamin de Burca (b. 1975 in Munich) create works in video, photography, and installation that explore contemporary histories of underground dance and musical genres. Frequently made in collaboration with cinematographer Pedro Sotero, their moving-image works (which the artists refer to as “documentary musicals”) often center on urban subcultures in the South Atlantic diaspora. A recent acquisition on view for the first time in Boston, Swinguerra (2019) focuses on queer communities of color in Recife, Brazil, with an emphasis on transgender and nonbinary performers. Their mixed dance styles recall Brazil’s colonial and slave trade history, where music and dance functioned as discreet methods of organizing politically under oppressive regimes. Fast-paced, athletic, sexy, dreamlike, and dynamic, Swinguerra is an exhilarating and unforgettable viewing experience, illustrating how dance and music offer rich sources of agency, resistance, and community. Organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.
Rose B. Simpson
Aug 11, 2022–Jan 29, 2023
The art work of Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983 in Santa Clara Pueblo, NM) encompasses ceramic sculpture, metals, performance, installation, writing, and automobile design, offering poignant reflections on the human condition. Her figurative ceramic sculptures—for which she is best known—often incorporate metal, wood, leather, fabric, and found objects, and express complex psychological states, spirituality, women’s strength, and post-apocalyptic visions of the world. Part of a multigenerational, matrilineal lineage of artists working with clay, Simpson calls forth Indigenous knowledge and curative aspects of working with clay to heal generational trauma and foster an internalized notion of sustainability. An enrolled member of the Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico, Simpson draws on processes of producing clay pottery in practice since the 6th century, connecting tradition and knowledge with her own place in the world today. From intimately scaled works, to monumental standing figures, this tightly conceived exhibition will feature a presentation of the artist’s signature ceramic sculptures alongside new works. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.
Jordan Nassar
Aug 11, 2022–Jan 29, 2023
Jordan Nassar’s solo exhibition—his first in Boston—presents a selection of his intricate embroidered and mixed media works. Nassar (b. 1985 in New York) draws on traditional Palestinian craft techniques to investigate ideas of home, land, and memory. His work, which he creates in collaboration with Palestinian embroiders and craftspersons, combines geometric patterns with abstracted landscapes, imbued, in the artist’s words, “with yearning, while hopeful and beautiful.” Through complex patterning and a unique attendance to form and color, the painterly aesthetic of Nassar’s embroidery allows the artist to explore relationships between craft and history in new contemporary dialogues. Organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.
To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood
Oct 6, 2022–Feb 26, 2023
To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood surveys how artists have reflected on and contributed to notions of childhood from the early twentieth-century to the present. Bringing together an international and intergenerational group of approximately thirty artists working from the early 20th-century to today, the exhibition takes as a starting point how artists have long been inspired by children—by their imagination, creativity, and unique ways of seeing and being in the world. Artists have made artwork that depicts and involves children as collaborators, that represents or mimics their ways of drawing or telling stories, that highlights their unique cultures, and that addresses ideas of innocence and spontaneity closely associated with children. The works in To Begin Again offer distinctive viewpoints and experiences, revealing how time and place, economics and race, and representation and aesthetics fundamentally shape how we experience and understand early human development. The exhibition underscores that while there is no single, uniform idea of childhood, it is nevertheless the ground upon which so much of society is built, negotiated, and imagined. Artists included are Njideka Akunyili Crosby (b. 1983 in Enugu, Nigeria), Jordan Casteel (b. 1989 in Denver), Henry Darger (b. 1892 in Chicago; d. 1973 in Chicago), Karon Davis (b. 1977 in Reno, NV), Mary Kelly (b. 1941 in Fort Dodge, IA), Paul Klee (b. 1879 in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland; d. 1940 in Muralto, Switzerland), Tau Lewis (b. 1993 in Toronto), Oscar Murillo (b. 1986 in Valle del Cauca, Colombia), Rivane Neuenschwander (b. 1967 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Faith Ringgold (b. 1930 in Harlem), Sable Elyse Smith (b. 1986 in Los Angeles), Mierle Laderman Ukeles (b. 1939 in Denver), and Cathy Wilkes (b. 1966 in Belfast, United Kingdom), among others. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue, featuring the voices and perspectives of a variety of artists, scholars, and writers. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator, with Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.
Barbara Kruger
Nov 5, 2022—Jan 21, 2024
For more than 40 years, Barbara Kruger (b. 1945 in Newark, NJ) has been a consistent, critical observer of contemporary culture. In the early 1980s, Kruger perfected a signature style of words and images extracted from mass media and recomposed into memorable, graphic artworks. Her iconic works, such as Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987, and Untitled (Your body is a battleground), 1989, combine cropped, black-and-white photographic images with provocative short texts printed on solid-colored bars. Often these works address viewers directly with personal pronouns—like “you” and “me”—while confounding clear notions of who is speaking. Kruger’s prodigious work has come to represent debates on women’s rights, identity, consumerism, and capitalism raging since the 80s. Rigorously composed, her works have occupied a range of media and spaces, including walls, billboards, video projections, and an array of consumer products. Since the 1990s, Kruger has also created large-scale installations of her text-based art, transforming lobbies, elevators, and buildings with her signature aesthetic and pointed content. Continuing in this vein, Kruger will create a brand-new work for the ICA that speaks, as her work has done for more than four decades, to contemporary social and political dynamics. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator.
About the ICA
Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. The Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, East Boston, MA 02128. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
A Place for Me: Contemporary Figurative Painting
Support is generously provided by Katie and Paul Buttenwieser and Ellen Poss, and an Anonymous donor.
Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca: Swinguerra
Swinguerra was acquired through the generosity of the General Acquisition Fund, Fotene and Tom Coté Art Acquisition Fund, and Anonymous Art Acquisition Fund.
Simone Leigh, 2021. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Shaniqwa Jarvis. Artworks © Simone Leigh
U.S. Pavilion Launches New Website Dedicated to Artist Simone Leigh
Site Includes Additional Project Details and Behind-the-Scenes Images of the Artist Preparing for the U.S. Pavilion Presentation at the Biennale Arte 2022
(Boston MA—November 4, 2021) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is pleased to announce the launch of a new website dedicated to internationally renowned artist Simone Leigh and her exhibition at the forthcoming Venice Biennale. Leigh will represent the U.S. at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, on view from April 23 to November 27, 2022. The 2022 U.S. Pavilion is co-commissioned by Jill Medvedow, the Ellen Matilda Poss Director, and Eva Respini, the Barbara Lee Chief Curator at the ICA, and curated by Respini.
For the U.S. Pavilion, Leigh has created a new series of figurative sculptures in bronze and ceramic that furthers her commitment to highlighting the labor and resilience of Black women across global histories. Drawing upon artistic traditions from within Africa and the African diaspora, Leigh uses a strategy that she terms “the creolization of form,” merging disparate cultural languages linked through histories of colonization. With these works, Leigh weaves together references to 19th century West African art, the material culture of early Black Americans, and the colonial history of international expositions.
The new website features a short video of the artist at work by acclaimed visual creator Shaniqwa Jarvis. The video offers a brief glimpse behind-the-scenes as Leigh creates new artworks for the Biennale.
The website also offers an overview of the robust educational initiatives that accompany the 2022 U.S. Pavilion. The ICA has partnered with Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, on a two-semester long seminar to engage students with Leigh’s practice and the history of the U.S. Pavilion in Venice. In Italy, the ICA is working with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice to organize a professional development program for middle and high school educators in the Veneto region. This workshop, modeled after the ICA’s nationally recognized teen arts education program, provides educators the tools to explore the work of Simone Leigh and create curriculum designed to inspire, empower, and educate their students.
Please visit the U.S. Pavilion’s newly launched website for more information about the artist, the ICA, and the Biennale Arte: www.simoneleighvenice2022.org
To stay updated on the 2022 U.S. Pavilion on social media, follow @icaboston on Instagram, @ICA.Boston on Facebook, and @ICAinBoston on Twitter and look for the hashtags: #SimoneLeighVenice #SimoneLeigh #BiennaleArte2022.
About Simone Leigh
Over the past two decades, Simone Leigh (b. 1967, Chicago, IL) has created an expansive body of work in sculpture, video, and performance that centers Black femme interiority. Inflected by Black feminist theory, Leigh’s practice intervenes imaginatively to fill gaps in the historical record by proposing new hybridities. Leigh’s sculptural works join forms derived from vernacular architecture and the female body, rendering them via materials and processes associated with the artistic traditions of Africa and the African diaspora. The collaborative ethos that characterizes Leigh’s videos and public programs pays homage to a long history of Black female collectivity, communality, and care.
In 2019, Leigh was the first artist commissioned for the High Line Plinth, New York. Recent exhibitions include The Hugo Boss Prize 2018: Simone Leigh, Loophole of Retreat at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2019); the 2019 Whitney Biennial; Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon (2017) at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Psychic Friends Network (2016) at Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London; Hammer Projects: Simone Leigh (2016–17) at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; inHarlem: Simone Leigh (2016–17), a public installation presented by The Studio Museum in Harlem at Marcus Garvey Park, New York; The Waiting Room (2016) at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and Free People’s Medical Clinic (2014), a project commissioned by Creative Time. Leigh’s work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; Cleveland Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the ICA/Boston, among others.
The works that comprise Leigh’s exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion will be featured in her first museum survey exhibition at the ICA in 2023, which will subsequently tour to museums throughout the United States. The exhibition will be accompanied by the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to Leigh’s work.
About the ICA/Boston
Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About La Biennale di Venezia
Established in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is acknowledged today as one of the most prestigiuos cultural institutions. La Biennale stands at the forefront of research and promotion of new contemporary art trends and organizes events in its specific sectors of Arts (1895), Architecture (1980), Cinema (1932), Dance (1999), Music (1930), and Theatre (1934), alongside research and training activities. The International Art Exhibition is considered the most prestigious contemporary art exhibition in the world, introducing hundreds of thousands of visitors to exciting new art every two years. The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (April 23–November 27, 2022) is directed by Cecilia Alemani.
About the U.S. Pavilion
The United States Pavilion, a building in the neoclassical style in the Giardini della Biennale, Venice, opened on May 4, 1930. Since 1986, the U.S. Pavilion has been owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and managed by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, which works closely with the U.S. Department of State and exhibition curators to install and maintain all official U.S. exhibitions presented in the Pavilion. Every two years, museum curators from across the country detail their visions for the U.S. Pavilion in proposals that are reviewed by the National Endowment for the Arts’s Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions (FACIE), a group comprising curators, museum directors, and artists, who then submit their recommendations to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Past exhibitions can be viewed on the Peggy Guggenheim Collection’s website at https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/
About the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) builds relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through academic, cultural, sports, professional, and private exchanges, as well as public-private partnerships and mentoring programs. These exchange programs improve foreign relations and strengthen the national security of the United States, support U.S. international leadership, and provide a broad range of domestic benefits by helping break down barriers that often divide us, like religion, politics, language and ethnicity, and geography. ECA programs build connections that engage and empower people and motivate them to become leaders and thinkers, to develop new skills, and to find connections that will create positive change in their communities. For more information, please visit https://exchanges.state.gov/us
Media Contacts
In Massachusetts
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Colette Randall, crandall@icaboston.org, 617-478-3181
Margaux Leonard, mleonard@icaboston.org, 617-478-3176
Nationally and Internationally
Polskin Arts & Communications Counselors
Alison Buchbinder, alison.buchbinder@finnpartners.com, 646-688-7826
Meagan Jones, meagan.jones@finnpartners.com, 212-593-6485
Simone Leigh is presented by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston in partnership with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
With warmest thanks, the ICA/Boston gratefully acknowledges the following philanthropic partners for their magnificent support.
Major support is provided by the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Lead corporate support is provided by eu2be.
Generous support is provided by Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser, The Girlfriend Fund, and Wagner Foundation.
Leadership gifts are provided by Amy and David Abrams; Stephanie Formica Connaughton and John Connaughton; Bridgitt and Bruce Evans; James and Audrey Foster; Agnes Gund; Jodi and Hal Hess; Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation; Barbara and Amos Hostetter; Kristen and Kent Lucken; Tristin and Martin Mannion; Ted Pappendick and Erica Gervais Pappendick; Gina and Stuart Peterson; and VIA Art Fund.
Essential support is also provided by Suzanne Deal Booth; Kate and Chuck Brizius; Karen and Brian Conway; Steven Corkin and Dan Maddalena; Jennifer Epstein and Bill Keravuori; Esta Gordon Epstein and Robert Epstein; Negin and Oliver Ewald; Alison and John Ferring; Helen Frankenthaler Foundation; Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman; Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation; Peggy J. Koenig and Family; The Holly Peterson Foundation; Cindy and Howard Rachofsky; Mark and Marie Schwartz; Kim Sinatra; Tobias and Kristin Welo; Lise and Jeffrey Wilks; Kelly Williams and Andrew Forsyth; Nicole Zatlyn and Jason Weiner; Marilyn Lyng and Dan O’Connell; Leslie Riedel and Scott Friend; Eunhak Bae and Robert Kwak; Barbara H. Lloyd; and anonymous donors.