We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's a quick, three-item list for each day of the long weekend. Enjoy!
The To-Do List
Feb. 17-19, 2012
1. Figuring Color at the ICA
The Boston Globe called our show a "sensuous antidote to winter." Plan a mini getaway with family and friends, and immerse yourself in a little color therapy! Take a quick video tour of the exhibition led by ICA Curator Jenelle Porter here.
2. Shapeshifting at PEM
Native American art from 200 B.C.E. to the present! See how Native American ideas have crossed time and space to be continuously refreshed with new concepts and expressions. On Saturday, Feb. 18, the museum is organizing a full day of dance performances, art making and demonstrations.
3. 2012 Academy Award-Nominated Short Films at the ICA
It's Oscar season at the ICA! Don your tux (or not) and check out this year's nominees in animation, live action and documentary. Screenings are family-friendly -- for those looking to get a head start on February vacation week. Monday, Feb. 20 (11 am: Animation, 1 pm: Live Action, 3:15 pm: Documentary Program)
Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of this romantic day, we wanted to share two works from our new exhibition Figuring Color that celebrate love and sensuality. No chocolate is involved, but there is some candy.
Kathy Butterly
Like Butter, 1997
clay and glaze
Courtesy of the artist
Several of Kathy Butterly’s works in Figuring Color highlight her affinity to fleshy colors. Ranging in palette from warm peaches to cool pinks and sickly blushes, her objects are remarkably figurative, even within their abstraction. Like Butter (which makes punning reference to the artist’s surname) possesses what appear to be shapely hips and an enticing skirt. The work is defiantly seductive and overtly sexual—even quite naughty if the mind so inclines. Butterly made this piece early in her relationship with her husband, and it expresses the passion and sensuality of those heady days of romance.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
“Untitled” (Lover Boys), 1991
candies in clear cellophane
Glenstone
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Gonzalez-Torres said that “if a beautiful memory could have a color, that color would be light blue.” “Untitled” (Lover Boys) (1991) is a sculpture composed of hundreds of white and blue candies poured onto the gallery floor. This generous and joyful pile of candy is something of a dual portrait of the artist and his life-partner Ross Laycock, who died of AIDS-related illnesses. Ideally, it weighs 355 pounds––the approximate combined weight of the two men.To see the sculpture, however, is to touch it. By putting a piece of candy in your mouth and ingesting it, you are completing the artist’s intention to share something sweet.
Adding fun lists to your life! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's hoping that weekends everywhere become a little more inspired.
The To-Do List
Feb. 10-12, 2012
1. Stephen Petronio Company: Underland at the ICA
If you saw Trisha Brown's performance at the ICA last fall or her work presented as part of Dance/Draw, then the Stephen Petronio Company is an absolute must-see. Petronio was a member of Trisha Brown's company for seven years, and the two choreographers maintain a close friendship and creative exchange. Underland is a sexy, enigmatic fusion of dance, music, and visual imagery inspired by the songs of pop balladeer Nick Cave. Costumes were designed by Tara Subkoff of Imitation of Christ. Presented by World Music/CRASHarts. Feb. 10-12, 2012
2. A Separation
This multi-award winning film (Academy Award-nominated, Golden Bear and Globe-winning, etc) is absolutely riveting from start to finish. Set in contemporary Iran, A Separation is about the dissolution of a marriage and the unexpected drama that unfolds as the couple moves closer towards divorce. Currently playing at Kendall Square Cinema.
3. ESO ERES / MAREA at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
A multimedia installation by architect/artist Maria Rondeau and musician/composer Rafael Rondeau. Projections on multiple screens create audiovisual landscapes that affect our perception and prompt us to re-examine the spaces we occupy. Check out their videos on Vimeo here. On view through March 2.
4. 69˚S (The Shackleton Project) at ArtsEmerson
See one of the greatest survival stories of all time, Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 Antarctica expedition -- reenacted by puppets! Three-foot-high marionettes share the stage with icebergs and a shipwrecked vessel, taking us on an artistic and emotional journey that explores the relationship between humans and the environment. For a look at the creative process behind this performance, check out this blog. Through Feb. 12
5. Back Bar in Union Square, Somerville
Working so close to the fantastic bar Drink, we ICA staffers have grown fond of a fine cocktail every now and again. Welcome Back Bar -- a new place in Union Square, created by the same team behind the restaurant Journeyman. We've heard excellent reviews of the cocktails and are curious to try some items on the bar menu, especially the pigato chips (fried pork cracklings). Spoiler alert -- the team from Journeyman will be one of the featured restaurants in Talking Taste this summer, our popular series of cooking demonstrations by area chefs.
Adding fun lists to your life. YES!
The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's hoping that weekends everywhere become a little more inspired. Postpone laundry and go out!
The To-Do List
Feb. 3-5, 2012
1. In vain performed by Sound Icon at the ICA
This concert will change the way you hear music. Performed in light and total darkness, In vain unleashes a sonic landscape of haunting beauty, expanding the way listeners hear, see, and experience music. Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:30pm.
2. First Fridays in SoWa
Start your weekend with a little gallery hopping! Don't miss the collaboration between John C. Gonzalez and Evan Garza in subSamson—the basement of Samson that houses their artist-in-residence program; the David X. Levine show at Steven Zevitas Gallery; and the new show at Anthony Greaney’s gallery of work by Josh Mannis. Friday, Feb. 3, 5-9pm.
3. Vacationer, opening for the Asteroids Galaxy Tour at the Middle East Downstairs
Listen here, then check out the concert! Friday, Feb. 3, 8pm
4. Street Wall at Fourth Wall Project
An exhibition dedicated to artists who work on city walls to create public art. Each has been given a wall to work on. Artists include Zatara, Blackmath, Geoff Hargadon, The Phantom, Tiptoe, and Nanook, among others. Opening reception on Saturday, Feb. 4, 7-9pm. The exhibition runs through Feb. 23.
5. Superbowl XLVI. Not that you needed a reminder. Go Pats!!!
We love lists. Everyone loves lists!
So here is the To-Do List, a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's hoping that weekends everywhere become a little more inspired and a little more fun. Happy Friday!
The To-Do List
Jan. 27-29, 2012
1. Pina
A 3-D dance film presenting some of the greatest works of legendary choreographer Pina Bausch. By Wim Wenders. Oscar-nominated for best documentary. Critics have been acclaiming, friends have been gushing, we've got the 3-D glasses, we have to see this film.
2. 100 Years (version #4 Boston, 2012) at Boston University Art Gallery
A century of performance art's most influential moments--from films of Francis Picabia's avant-garde ballet Relâche to work by Yoko Ono, Matthew Barney and Ryan Trecartin. This exhibition was organized by MoMA PS1 in collaboration with Performa.
3. The 2012 deCordova Biennial
Work by 23 New England artists including 2001 ICA Artist Prize recipient Taylor Davis and 2008 Foster Prize finalist Joe Zane. This exhibition will familiarize you with the extraordinary output of artists from across the region, and there are also some related events taking place at the Boston Center for the Arts (a convenient plus for the car-less!).
4. The Secret World of Arrietty
Fans of Totoro and Spirited Away will not want to miss the latest film by Japan's famed Studio Ghibli. The ICA is presenting an exclusive preview screening of Disney's The Secret World of Arrietty as part of ICA Play Date and the Third-Annual International Children's Film Festival.
5. Films by Isaac Julien
A nine-film retrospective of Isaac Julien's work held in conjunction with our exhibition Ten Thousand Waves. The film program includes The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999) and Vagabondia (2000), which earned Julien a Turner Prize nomination, as well as the acclaimed documentary Looking for Langston (1989). Also included is the 2008 film Derek, a collaboration between Julien and actress Tilda Swinton celebrating the life, vision and legacy of Derek Jarman.
Here at the ICA, we appreciate a can-do attitude. So...in addition to his responsibilities within the ICA's marketing and communications department, we asked Sam Hollands, our newly arrived co-op student from Northeastern University, to take a turn on the stage. Right after he finished up those powerpoint presentations.
Here's what happened next.
"Never would I have thought I’d end up in one of Andy Warhol’s experimental films of the 1960s. Prior to today, I had been familiar with some of the famed artist’s more notable titles - Sleep and Screen Test in particular - and always found the decidedly simplistic, cinéma verité style uniquely compelling. Gob Squad continues to play with these themes but, instead of using Warhol’s original cast of drugged out hipsters, the performers enlist the help of audience members to appear on camera and even read lines. I was one of the lucky staffers permitted to attend a dress rehearsal of Gob Squad’s Kitchen and, as a result, was thrown (teeth clenched) into the spotlight.
Maybe it was the lack of a real audience but, for someone prone to anxiety/stage fright, I found the lovely cast patient enough to make my experience an enjoyable one. I was handed an ear piece, a microphone, and a surprising amount of lines to repeat after an offscreen actor – none of which I had anticipated doing. For those lucky enough to be brought on stage during an actual performance, prepare for an exciting (read: potentially frightening) few hours. The rest of the crowd can anticipate a thoughtful, and frequently funny, deconstruction of an already deconstructive body of work; a live film that not only captures a time and a feeling, but reinterprets those elements for a contemporary audience. I had a great time on both sides of the camera and am thankful to Gob Squad for the opportunity to act in an Andy Warhol film - even if it is half a century later."
Every December, Art Basel descends upon Miami Beach, turning it into THE destination for contemporary art lovers around the world. It's hard not to get caught up in the glamour, parties, and general frenzy! ICA staffers who attended the art fair reported sightings of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, P. Diddy, Adrian Brody, Naomi Campbell, Jane Seymour, and Christian Slater. (Sigh...ICA staffers who stayed at home are jealous!)
So just how do you stay grounded at Art Basel? Answer: the art.
Miami gives you the chance to see tons of great art in just a few days. Many ICA artists had prominent placement at Art Basel Miami Beach this year. A stunning hanging sculpture by Damián Ortega dominated Kurimanzutto’s space; Mark Bradford’s large white canvas was at Sikkema Jenkins and sold early on; a pin “drawing” by Tara Donovan was featured at Stephen Friedman; and works by Anish Kapoor, Carol Bove, Julian Opie, Doris Salcedo, and Christian Jankowski were also on view.
Artists whose work will be presented in upcoming ICA exhibitions were also everywhere, including (spoiler alert!) an alluring Amy Sillman painting and a series of Barry McGee’s clusters (dates still TBD, but will let you know asap).
The ICA group also visited some private collections in Miami, including the De La Cruz Collection where Ugo Rondinone’s Clockwork for Oracles--originally commissioned by the ICA for the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall--is now permanently installed.
Images from top to bottom: Ortega, Opie, Salcedo.
ICA staffer John Andress (who puts together many of our public programs...you may recognize him from such popular programs as Harborwalk Sounds, Talking Taste, and DJs on the Harbor) went to Art Basel Miami Beach on his own this year to check out all the great art. Here is a photo essay of his trip.
TUESDAY
Checked into hotel. Heavenly.
Hit up a few parties. Saw Mr. Brainwash.
Ate a slice of pizza bigger than my head.
WEDNESDAY
Hit the the main fair: Art Basel Miami Beach
Paulo Nazareth's Banana Market/Art Market above and a plush sculpture by Takashi Murakami below.
Ate the best sandwich of my life at La Sanwicherie
THURSDAY
Toured the Sender Collection.
Lawrence Weiner (above) and Sarah Lucas (below)
Visited the Rubell Collection
Jennifer Rubell's Engagement (above). Christopher Wool's Untitled, 1990, is below and Elad Lassry's Selkirk Rex, LaPerm, 2011, is below below
Visited the De La Cruz Collection
Jim Hodges' Where are we now?, 1999
More pizza, this time stuffed
FRIDAY
2nd visit to the main fair
works by Trisha Brown above; Olafur Eliasson bike below
Hit up side fairs: Design Miami, Art Miami, Pulse, and Aqua
SATURDAY
One last visit to the main fair (see Olafur Eliasson work below) and the beach.
Headed back home.
There are many ways to measure one's success as an artist. Museum exhibitions and media recognition are certainly notable achievements in an artist's career, and Rachel Perry Welty has already hit these high notes. In 2006, Welty was a finalist for the James and Audrey Foster Prize, and her video Karaoke Wrong Number (2001-2004) was acquired by the ICA as part of our collection. Earlier this year, Welty had a solo exhibition at the deCordova Museum, and her work was recently the subject of a multi-page spread in the December 2011 issue of Vogue. (Congratulations, Rachel!)
However, we decided to interview Welty about a much more humble milestone -- her first museum shop postcard (now available in the ICA Store).
ICA: I’ve purchased many museum postcards in my time – always with the motivation of remembering my visit and the artworks that moved me. That’s a tall order for a little postcard! How do you feel now that your work is the subject of a postcard?
RPW: It is a tall order, but it’s what we do anytime we snap a picture of the Eiffel Tower or buy a souvenir – against all practical reality we try to take a piece of an experience with us. I never thought I’d have my work on a museum postcard. It amazes and pleases me to think that people would want to take a little bit of the work home with them.
ICA: You have altered your postcard and made it into a new work of art. Tell us about the postcard project and some of the ideas behind it.
RPW: Several years ago when I began traveling a lot for my work, I would buy a postcard in each new place I visited, and then alter and send it home to myself. It has become a way of circumventing frustration of not being able to work on larger projects while on the road. It unwittingly became a sort of travel log, a diary, an accounting of where I have been and my artistic mood at that time. The resulting pieces are little sketches – impressions and reactions to the “souvenir” of a place and time. It’s a little adventure in the day: selecting the card, making the work at a café or in a hotel room, buying postage in a foreign city. When I found my own postcard in a rack on my last trip to Boston and the ICA, it only seemed natural that I would alter this one too. As of now I have about 60 altered postcards. And I’m still making them.
ICA: What is your process in altering the postcards?
RPW:. I carry a little “kit” in my checked baggage – an X-acto knife, various markers, Wite-out, tape and stickers and colored pencils as well as some stamps when I’m in the U.S.A. You see postcards offered for sale, sometimes curled, yellowing, gathering dust on the wire racks that support them. It’s a dying custom – who sends a picture postal card (as I recall my grandmother calling them) anymore? They will surely become extinct as we can now so easily send our own pictures in digital form instantly. But for now this material is readily available to me in every city in the world.
ICA: Where can we expect to see your work next?
RPW: My solo show Rachel Perry Welty 24/7 travels next to the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), opening January 28, 2012 and running through July 1, 2012. I’m in the Videonale.13, a traveling show with stops in Germany, Poland, Scotland, and now at the National Taiwan Museum of Arts. You can read the interview I did with Videonale.13 here.
Look for Welty's work soon in a museum or mailbox near you!
ICA Visitor Assistants Peter Meacham and Patrick Serr see Trisha Brown's Floor of the Forest performed multiple times each week. From observing audiences respond to the work and speaking with the dancers themselves, Peter and Patrick have developed an interesting perspective on the work, which we share with you below.
Floor of the Forest — from the perspective of someone who has seen it about 50 times
One of the most striking characteristics of Dance/Draw is the dialogue created between the performances and the visual artworks on view. This conversation is at its most direct in Floor of the Forest, a piece choreographed by Trisha Brown and performed within the galleries every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday by a remarkable group of dancers. Pairs of performers weave their way through a suspended grid of jute rope and second-hand clothing, transforming the museum floor into an open stage.
Since the beginning of Dance/Draw, we’ve collected responses and reactions from many of the dancers performing Floor of the Forest — including their thoughts on performing Trisha Brown’s choreography, their relationship with the gallery audience, and some of their favorite ways to move.
For many dancers, the proximity to the audience and the relatively casual presentation of Floor of the Forest sets it apart from previous dance experiences. “They are right there in your space as opposed to being a more distant viewer, and for me there is always a desire to engage directly with the audience/observer,” said one of the dancers.
Though the audience gathers around the grid with the dancers, rather than inside of it, Floor of the Forest deconstructs the fourth wall of the proscenium stage and communication between performer and viewer is fluid. “There are no curtains or light changes or counts, and there are other things going on around you. It's a natural flow.”
Other dancers have commented on their ability to see the art in the gallery while they perform; dancing on stage rarely provides that opportunity. C.L.U.E., by robbinschilds, is a particular favorite among those who find themselves strategically dangled in the direction of this popular video installation.
As a work of contemporary performance art, Floor of the Forest highlights the movement of the human body in a way that is at once highly stylized and grounded within everyday reality. One dancer expressed enjoyment from the sense that “all of the physical reactions are genuine and there's no need to get theatrical…sometimes I'm hanging there thinking my arm is going to fall off and I feel such an enormous sense of relief when I find a resting spot.” The movements can also be playful: “I like to turn a flip if I can find the right position, or try and fit my whole body into one garment upside down, like a marsupial.”
All of the dancers are volunteers from around Boston, and are scheduled to perform at different times throughout the run of Dance/Draw. Revisiting the piece over a series of weeks provides insight into how the work and their abilities as a performer change over time. “I'll perform one week and feel strong and energetic, then come back a few weeks later and be all floppy or less limber depending on what I've been up to in my life.”
Another factor that dictates their interaction with the grid of clothes is the other dancers they are partnered with for each performance. “We have to follow, or contrast with, other dancers on the floor, but we have to find our own rhythms as well.” “Where I go and what outfits I decide to try on depend very much on the choices of the other performer. It assures that no two performances will ever be the same.”
The grid itself can be considered a third “performer” within the piece. Several dancers commented on the unusual nature of a performance space that reacts to their every movement, determining the character of their dances. As another dancer puts it, “Trisha has presented us with a structure that moves and lives and changes as it is affected by humans doing everyday tasks, as opposed to highly virtuosic phrasework.” “You can't draw a controlled line, but you can use your strength and particular approach to initiate an interesting shape or scenario. You have to be in touch with your body and its weight. It's amazing to perform a piece where your body is never in contact with something rigid or still.”
The reactions dancers have to Floor of the Forest, and their presence in the gallery, can help inform our own responses to this and other works on view in Dance/Draw. The exhibition is filled with images and videos of dancers performing similar works that rely on unconventional staging, emphasizing the potential for interaction with common surroundings.
Perhaps the next time you try on an outfit, or pick out what to wear in the morning, you will feel more like a performer in your own home: executing routine movements with plenty of improvisation to keep it different each time...without an audience, of course.
We would like to particularly like to thank Rick Vigo, Kate Landenheim, and Maria Molteni for their time and invaluable insights when writing this post.