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The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents major premiere performances this fall: on October 14 and 15 at 8 PM, the Boston debut of five Big Dance Theater short works ($25 general admission; $15 ICA members + students); and on November 11 and 12 at 8 PM, and November 13 at 2 PM the return to the ICA of legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones for the U.S. premiere of A Letter to My Nephew ($40 general admission; $30 ICA members + students). Before each show there will be a 20-minute free talk to introduce the work, which will take place in the ICA lobby. All performances will take place in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater at the ICA, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston. Tickets can be purchased at www.icaboston.org or by calling 617-478-3103.
 
To celebrate Big Dance Theater’s 25th anniversary, artistic leaders Annie-B Parson—known for her work with David Bowie, David Byrne, and St. Vincent—and Paul Lazar theatrically reimagine the conventions of a repertory program. Inspired by disciplines of the concise—novellas, folk tales, diary entries, pencil drawings, thumbnail sketches—Big Dance performs five distinct short works, each a Boston premiere, that embrace the brief, granular, close-range, anecdotal, and microscopic. The first half of the show will focus on movement language and dance forms, while the second half will be more theater- and narrative-oriented. During intermission, one of the evening’s highlights, attendees will discover Big Dance’s unique blend of “dance theater” on an intimate scale with an onstage anniversary party, complete with hot dogs and beer. The company’s last project shown in Boston was its collaboration with Baryshnikov Productions on Man In a Case, featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov, at ArtsEmerson.
 
A Letter to My Nephew, Bill T. Jones’s latest work, makes its U.S. premiere in Boston and marks his return to the ICA for the first time since 2014. The work brings together two facets—the social/political and the deeply personal—and is based on the life of Jones’s nephew, Lance T. Briggs, a former dancer and model who was involved with drugs and prostitution before being paralyzed by illness. The emotional A Letter to My Nephew is a street scene or a still from the evening news that superimposes violent street battles in the U.S. and desperate immigrants rushing toward freedom in Europe over the image of a hospital bed untethered from reality. Composer Nick Hallett, baritone Matthew Gamble, and DJ Tony Monkey accompany the accomplished dancers of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company with a delirious mix of pop music, lullabies, house music, and more. Video design by Janet Wong turns the stage into a simulated battleground; through the fog, Jones’s words to his nephew come alive on stage.

First Republic Bank is proud to sponsor the ICA’s 2016–17 Performance Season.

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Media Contact: Lisa Colli; 617-480-4664; lcolli@icaboston.org

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents an extraordinary musical performance this fall on October 27. Australian singer/songwriter RY X (born Ry Cuming) will take center stage with his intimate, intuitive, and devotional songs composed with lush melodies and raw, emotional lyrics (8 PM; $20 general admission; $17 ICA members + students) in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater at the ICA, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston. Tickets can be purchased at www.icaboston.org or by calling 617-478-3103.
 
RY X will perform in support of his full-length debut album Dawn (released May 2016), which according to the New York Times “…floats in a gorgeous, dolorous haze.” The artist found commercial success with his single “Berlin,” which was used in a popular European advertising campaign for Sony TVs in 2013. He is also part of the electronic/house-influenced act Howling along with musician Frank Wiedemann, and is a member of the band The Acid with DJ Adam Freeland and composer Steve Nalepa. RY X often cites Jeff Buckley as one of his greatest influences and started writing music at 16 after discovering Buckley’s album Grace. In July 2010 as Ry Cuming he released a self-titled debut album, and briefly toured with Maroon 5, becoming their opening act in select venues.

First Republic Bank is proud to sponsor the ICA’s 2016–17 Performance Season.

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The collector and benefactor reflects on art, empowering women, and how her life’s work aligns with the ICA’s mission.

Barbara Lee has been instrumental in advancing the ICA and establishing The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women. Over the past ten years, Lee has donated more than 65 works of art to the ICA, by artists including Louise Bourgeois, Ellen Gallagher, Mona Hatoum, Eva Hesse, Marisol, Doris Salcedo, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, and many more. As the ICA prepared to open First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA, featuring an exhibition of work from The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women, we spoke with Lee about the personal and the political in art, collecting, and her support of the ICA.

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For more than two decades, you’ve been a member of the ICA’s Board of Trustees and one of its most ardent supporters and advocates. How did you choose to de­vote yourself to the ICA in this way?

The ICA’s vision powerfully aligns with my own. The museum has a spirit of independence, defies expectations, and chal­lenges the status quo—all the things that embody my life’s work to empower women. I have a longstanding passion for the ICA as the innovative, groundbreaking art institution in my hometown. I’m proud to have helped cultivate its place as a leading contemporary art museum in the world.

What have been your guiding principles in collecting and gifting works of art?

Over time, I’ve shifted my collecting focus from iconic images of women to iconic images by women. I’ve invested in women artists who are pioneers, whose work is an important influence on other artists working today.

My collection is personal and political. It showcases women’s explorations of female identity, highlights my own values, and reflects my 25-year history with the ICA. The museum’s exhibitions introduced me to the work of many of the artists in my collection.

Despite decades of activism, female artists are still underrepresented in the majority of museum collec­tions—an imbalance you’ve sought to reduce. Why did this issue jump to the fore for you personally? What impact do you believe it would have if women creators were equally represented in the cultural sphere?

Work by women artists reflects my own experience and values. The Guerrilla Girls’ activism awakened me to the reality of how few women are represented in museum exhibitions and collections. One of their posters perfectly captures the senti­ment of their work: “Do women have to be naked to get into a museum?”

In the 1990s, two parts of my life came together when I realized women were underrepresented in both the world of politics and the world of art. Art imitates life. Women haven’t been fully valued in society; when they are depicted in art, they are often objectified. Just as women have fought to have a seat at the table in politics, so too have they struggled to be taken seriously as artists.

There is a palpable shift when courageous leaders like Ellen Matilda Poss Director Jill Medvedow support the work of underrecognized artists.

This is the first time that this group of works will be on display together. What does that mean for you? Are there any you’re especially looking forward to seeing?

Celebrating ten years as a collecting institution is a dream come true. We set out to accomplish a cultural shift for Boston and beyond, and First Light supports this important achievement.

The piece I most look forward to seeing is Cornelia Parker’s Hanging Fire (Expected Arson). I acquired this sculpture knowing it would not fit in my home, and hoping the ICA would choose to become a collecting institution. The charred remains of an actual suspected arson are suspended in mid-air like a phoenix—signifying beauty rising from destruction.

Any favorite moments from this decade on the waterfront?

I will always remember the excitement of putting that first shovel in the ground to build this museum. The shovel is hanging in my office as a reminder of that day. It’s thrilling to see how far we’ve come. And this is just the beginning.

 

Barbara Lee photo by Goat Rodeo Productions

Initiative Highlights Notable Bostonians Revealing Their Own Personal Collections; Invites Public to Share Their Important Objects and Stories

Although many of us may not define ourselves as “collectors,” we all value and accumulate something. From ticket stubs and bottle caps to love letters, teacups, or records, many of us have a favorite object or things, something we hold dear. To celebrate this uniquely human behavior of collecting and connecting, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) launches The Object Project, a community-wide initiative designed to encourage Bostonians to reflect on an object or objects of significance in their life and share them with the ICA and others through a photograph or video.
 
“Art is all around us, is an important part of our everyday lives, and The Object Project aims to showcase that,” said Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director. “We want to hear from the community, we want to incorporate your voices: what you collect and why these collections are important to you.”
 
The Object Project kicks off with interesting insights into the personal collections of a diverse array of Bostonians including: Chef Jeremy Sewall of Island Creek Oyster Bar; Marcyliena Morgan, Executive Director of the Hiphop Archive at Harvard; Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy for Mayor Marty Walsh; artists Rachel Perry and Caleb Cole; ICA teen and designer/editor Sienna Kwami; comedian and musician Angela Sawyer; gallery owner Camilo Alvarez; and musician Danny Mekonnen. These stories will be available at icaboston.org/objectproject.

Those wanting to participate in The Object Project can:
  • Take a photo of their special object and post it with their story on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with the hashtag #ICAobjectproject; or
  • Use a smartphone or the video function on a computer to create a video of 90 seconds or less and email it to objectproject@icaboston.org. The ICA will post a selection of video submissions on its website and at the museum in the Poss Family Mediatheque.
The Object Project was developed to complement two ICA exhibitions focused on collections:
 

First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA (August 17, 2016 – 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.
 

First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA is sponsored by

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This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional support is generously provided by Fiduciary Trust Company, Chuck and Kate Brizius, Katie and Paul Buttenwieser, Karen and Brian Conway, the Robert E. Davoli and Eileen L. McDonagh Charitable Foundation, Jean-François and Nathalie Ducrest, Cynthia and John Reed, and Charles and Fran Rodgers.
 

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Major support for The Artist’s Museum is provided by Barbara Horwich Lloyd, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Additional support is generously provided by Steve Corkin and Dan Maddalena, Tristin and Martin Mannion, Ellen Poss, Charlotte and Herbert S. Wagner III, Anonymous, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.

Four impressive (and supremely cool) ICA teens active in this week’s Teen Convening share their experiences working with the ICA, finding themselves, making art + meeting Whoopi Goldberg. These teens have got it going on.

Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the ICA, has been known to say that the ICA Teens are the heart and soul of the institution. The members of the ICA Teen Council work on site several times a week for years, and their faces are as familiar around the offices as those of the staff. Students in the Fast Forward program may spend more after-school time here than anywhere else.

Their engagement with the ICA combines hard work (organizing huge events), artist encounters (meeting or making art with artists, choreographers, authors, and musicians), creative projects (making films), and amazing opportunities (meeting Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, and Harvey Weinstein at the White House).

This week, four standout ICA teens will take active roles in the 8th annual National Convening for Teens in the Arts , the ICA’s groundbreaking opportunity for teens from around the country to gather and work toward increasing and improving teens’ role in museum settings, serving as emcees and moderating panels. We asked each of them to share their thoughts on the Convening and some of their most memorable experiences with the ICA.

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Name: Amireh 
Hometown/neighborhood: Cambridge, MA
School: Homeschooler
Plans for after graduation: To take advantage of the possibilities

This year’s Convening is called After the Bell, and is about alternative spaces that contribute to teens’ education. How has the ICA contributed to your education? What does this space mean to you? What can teens get from spaces like the ICA that they might not get in school?

The ICA is a great reminder of how I can learn outside a traditional classroom. We never have homework or tests when we’re at the ICA, but I still learn a lot. Having the experience to lead tours in the galleries, plan events, and give formal presentations in front of large audiences has helped me to develop skills not often taught in school.

What can young people stand to gain from regular exposure to making, seeing, and talking about art?

When we spend time in the galleries with Teen Arts Council or museum visitors, the conversations we have are always different. Spending time engaging with art, whether it be making art, seeing art, or talking about it, opens up new ideas and possibilities.

Spending time engaging with art, whether it be making art, seeing art, or talking about it, opens up new ideas and possibilities.

What are you most excited about for this year’s Teen Convening?

Since I also attended last year’s Teen Convening, I know that there are so many exciting things to look forward to. However, my favorite part is seeing all the presentations the different museums give. It’s interesting to know what other teen programs are doing across the country and to be able to use it as inspiration for our own events.

What is the weirdest or most memorable thing you’ve ever done at the ICA?

On the Teen Arts Council everyone jokes about living at the ICA, but for one night this past year we all did! Having a sleepover at the ICA is definitely the most memorable and weirdest thing I have done at the ICA. It was also a perfect ending to our Teen Arts Council meetings for the year.

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Name: Beatrice
Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain
School: Boston Latin Academy
Plans for after graduation: Going to the Philippines for a month, camp counseling for two weeks, then college. 

This year’s Convening is called After the Bell, and is about alternative spaces that contribute to teens’ education. How has the ICA contributed to your education? What does this space mean to you? What can teens get from spaces like the ICA that they might not get in school?

The ICA’s year-long film program, Fast Forward, has been the only source of art education in my high school career. My creativity now has a constructive home to manifest in, thanks to the support of museum educators who are passionate about film and work to make class a safe space. My life isn’t separate from my work when I’m in the ICA, so after the bell on Friday afternoons I go to class in the museum’s digital studio and I feel like I can really be myself and share my ideas. 

What can young people stand to gain from regular exposure to making, seeing, and talking about art?

Art can challenge, affirm, and open up the thoughts of a young person who is viewing it. Art is a way of being exposed to experiences other than one’s own that the viewer would normally not have access to. Young art viewers can make connections and learn about themselves while seeing the work of others. 

Art is a way of being exposed to experiences other than one’s own that the viewer would normally not have access to.

What are you most excited about for this year’s Teen Convening?

I’m so excited to meet the other teen museum representatives in person! I’m kind of obsessed with them already from just talking with them on the online forums leading up to the conference… I hope they have fun at Teen Night. 

What is the weirdest or most memorable thing you’ve ever done at the ICA?

Another Fast Forward student asked me to act in his film… I did it and it was cool to see how other people shoot their films, but at the screening it was so strange and cringe-inducing watching my moving image on the screen acting as a cool girl punk singer. 

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Name: Nick
Neighborhood: East Boston
School: MassArt
Plans for after college graduation: Travel cross-country

This year’s Convening is called After the Bell, and is about alternative spaces that contribute to teens’ education. How has the ICA contributed to your education? What does this space mean to you? What can teens get from spaces like the ICA that they might not get in school?

The ICA has provided me with an education in film that my high school could not. Being a part of the Fast Forward program was such an enriching experience that it influenced my major in college. This space has provided me with many opportunities that stem from challenges I wished to face. I was pushed to make ideas like “movie about pizza”—something that has substance and is interesting. Allowing me and encouraging me to bring ideas to life, no matter how ridiculous, the ICA has been a place where I have really developed as a person and understood what it’s like to create art.

What can young people stand to gain from regular exposure to making, seeing, and talking about art?

I think being regularly exposed to art allows young people to recognize art around them much more easily. Being encouraged to analyze something one might not fully understand or be comfortable with can help in so many other different aspects of life. I’m not saying everything is art, but it probably could be.

I did yoga with Whoopi Goldberg at the White House.

What are you most excited about for this year’s Teen Convening?

I’m excited to meet the other teens and learn about what their lives are like and see how they connect and relate to mine.

What is the weirdest or most memorable thing you’ve ever done at the ICA?

Because of the ICA, I was “punched in the face” in the same spot that Martin Sheen landed on when he was thrown off the roof in The Departed, and I did yoga with Whoopi Goldberg at the White House.

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Name: Sienna
Hometown/neighborhood: Lower Mills
School: Boston Latin Academy
Plans for after graduation: College

This year’s Convening is called After the Bell, and is about alternative spaces that contribute to teens’ education. How has the ICA contributed to your education? What does this space mean to you? What can teens get from spaces like the ICA that they might not get in school?

The ICA has contributed the art education that my school didn’t provide. Without it, I would have no real connection to the art world. I’ve learned how to give tours, how to plan events, how to work in groups, and I even had the chance to do job shadowing! Learning about art careers and meeting artists is the best art education I could have. Museum spaces have always seemed exclusive and far removed, but the ICA encourages teens to jump into the museum space and feel comfortable in it. There’s something enriching about talking to an artist about their work, while you’re standing in the middle of piece or having artists talk to teens, as teens. Teens can definitely get an immersive look at the contemporary art world at the ICA. They can meet artists, see their work, and have in depth discussions about the pieces with the artist! They can make the museum space their own and remove the air of exclusivity that sometimes surrounds museums.

Learning about art careers and meeting artists is the best art education I could have.

What can young people stand to gain from regular exposure to making, seeing, and talking about art?

We can stand to gain a new perspective. As simple as that is, it’s really important. Interacting with art, especially if you don’t interact with it normally, can give you new ideas, different outlooks on life, and more creative ways to solve problems.

What are you most excited about for this year’s Teen Convening?

Meeting all the visiting teens, our presentations, and, of course, Teen Night!

What is the weirdest or most memorable thing you’ve ever done at the ICA?

Being a cherub for Yanira Castro’s Court/Garden performance.