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Advance tickets are recommended and are available for visits through October. Book now

Please Note

Select galleries are currently closed for the installation of Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s—Today, opening Oct 5.

Artists Cicely Carew, Venetia Dale, and Yu-Wen Wu—the featured artists in the ICA’s 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition—come together for a conversation on art and life in Boston as visual artists. Hear about their creative practices in this public program moderated by Assistant Curator, Anni Pullagura.

2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize is on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston from August 24, 2023, to January 28, 2024.

Artist Ethan Murrow transformed the ICA’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall with a monumental drawing using a familiar writing tool—Sharpie. To celebrate the work, Murrow, Professor of Painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, joins ICA Assistant Curator Ruth Erickson in an engaging conversation exploring his ideas, inspirations, and influences.

This program is made possible, in part, with the support of Ronald and Ronni Casty.

Celebrated American photographer Sara VanDerBeek joins Eva Respini, the ICA’s Barbara Lee Chief Curator, in this evening dialogue that explores the many artistic contributions of her father Stan VanDerBeek, alumnus of Black Mountain College. Learn more about Stan’s work during and after his tenure at Black Mountain in this unique introduction by his daughter that will also reflect his influential role on her own practice.

This program is presented in collaboration with Northeastern Center for the Arts and the After Black Mountain College: Community & Collaboration symposium.  

For Theater Piece No. 1 x 50, in association with the exhibition Leap Before You Look, the ICA collaborated with five area artists of various disciplines to celebrate the first Happening. The artists were asked to respond to the college’s history and connect it with contemporary practice. Their actions will be presented in the galleries during the exhibition. Hear directly from the artists on their intensive participation in this distinct project honoring the legacy of Black Mountain College.

Artists Helen Miller and Joshua Hart of ARE (Aesthetic Relational Exercises) lead visitors through simple artistic exercises in response to artworks found in Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957. Previously featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Dia Art Foundation, ARE’s workshops encourage visitors to experience works of art through artmaking. No previous art experience required. Capacity is limited; pre-registration recommended.

*A limited number of full scholarships are available for Boston Public School teachers with advance registration. For more information, contact Lenny Schnier at lschnier@icaboston.org or 617-478-3136.

All performances are sold out.

The ICA/Boston presents Walkthrough, by leading contemporary artist Walid Raad, as part of his first comprehensive museum survey in the United States. Central to the exhibition is the importance of performance, narrative, and storytelling in Raad’s oeuvre. The artist will give 55-minute presentations in the ICA’s West Gallery multiple times over the duration of the exhibition. Raad’s current ongoing project, Scratching on things I could disavow, examines the recent emergence in the Arab world of new infrastructures for the visual arts—art fairs, biennials, museums, and galleries—alongside the geopolitical, economic, and military conflicts that have consumed the region.

Walkthrough is free with museum admission; advance tickets are required. Online tickets include museum admission. (Students at member universities may reserve tickets at the Box Office at 617-478-3103.)

Please note that access to portions of the exhibition Walid Raad will be restricted during Walkthrough performances for a total of 90 minutes per performance. Please plan your visit accordingly.

At the request of the artist, no one will be admitted after the performance has begun, so please arrive at the performance prior to the time indicated on your ticket. Unclaimed seats will be redistributed 15 minutes before the performance begins. Walkthrough is 55 minutes long and attendees should plan to stay for the entire duration.

For visitors unable to attend during a performance, an audio recording of Walkthrough will be available on the ICA Mobile Guide starting February 24.

Artist Diane Simpson’s retrospective presents sculptures from the past 35 years that address issues of gender and abstraction, among others. Hear more about Simpson’s work and her creative process in this engaging and informative lecture.  Dan Byers, the ICA’s Mannion Family Senior Curator, will be on hand to facilitate questions from the public immediately following the artist’s presentation. 

Every Fri night from 6:30 to 8:30 PM!

Get a different perspective on contemporary art from individuals that study the ICA’s exhibitions every day—the Visitor Assistants (VAs). Pop-Up Talks—15-minute conversations in front of works of art—are led by a team of VAs identifiable on the gallery floor by their Ask Me buttons. Stop by and hear what works they’ve chosen to reflect on in these surprising gallery conversations.

This event is sold out.

Former Facebook employee Nicholas Felton spends much of his time thinking about data, charts, and our daily routines; his Personal Annual Reports present a tapestry of graphs, maps, and statistics reflecting his year’s activities. In his Feltron Annual Report of 2013, for example, Felton gathered over 94,000 data points, including data from 44,041 text messages, 31,769 emails, and countless social media posts. Join Felton as he introduces his creative process in this lecture organized in conjunction with AIGA, the professional association for design. 

AIGA discount available at the ICA Box Office only. Please call 617-478-3103.

This year ICA Reads highlights the “raw, beautiful and dangerous” writing of National Book Award–winning author Jesmyn Ward and her moving memoir Men We Reaped. Join one of our art and book discussions to explore issues of race, gender, and history, among other themes, found in the book and in art at the ICA. This program is co-facilitated by Emily Alyssa Owens and ICA educators.  

Emily Alyssa Owens received her PhD from the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Later this year, she will begin her post as Assistant Professor of History at Brown University. Owens is currently working on a book on the cultural history of sex and slavery, exploring the affective and economic dimensions of the lives of women of color in the 19th century who sold (or were sold for) sex. 

Meet the author April 10!