winter/spring 2009 Shepard Fairey / Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Kelly Copper / Teen Picks
new
the magazine of the inst it ut e of c ont e mpor a ry a r t /b o sto n
from the director Art is all around
CONTENTS 2 Shepard Fairey 0 06 On View 10 Performance 14 Talks & Tours 16 Film 18 Calendar 20 General Information 21 Special Events 22 Families 24 Courses/Workshops 25 Teens 26 Support 27 Membership 28 Looking Forward 30 Q & A with Kelly Copper 34 Picks 36 Introducing Back Cover: ICA Store
Dear Members and Friends, All of us at the ICA are very excited about the opening of our new exhibition, Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand. This show has provided so many opportunities for dynamic programming and brought new energy to the public sphere, as Fairey has been creating fantastic works on streets, fences, and walls throughout the city. From the Obey campaign that began 20 years ago, to the iconic Obama portrait, Fairey has broadened the parameters of art—not only taking it into the street, but, like artists Barbara Kruger, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, using a visual vocabulary informed by popular culture. The often unexpected locations for his work exude both passion and drama, combining the repetition and stylization of advertising with an idealistic and radical aim. As Emily Moore Brouillet writes in her essay for the publication, “Fairey’s imagery and its method of production and dissemination have always called on the audience to question their world and themselves.” And as exhibition co-curator Pedro Alonzo adds, “Shepard’s relentless challenge to the status quo empowers broad audiences to question their preconceptions about art, politics, and public culture.” With Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand, social engagement through the arts is occurring in the classroom as well as in the street. Mounting evidence demonstrates the powerful impact immersive and integrated arts education has on student achievement. Studies conclusively link arts participation and academic performance, and find that arts education energizes both students and teachers. We also know that arts education correlates closely with museum attendance, helping to grow future audiences and more creative citizens. Not surprisingly, ICA teens have enthusiastically embraced this exhibition, meeting with the artist, collaborating with each other, and brainstorming ideas for programming. In the new ICA, the number of teens we serve has increased by over 300%, and those participants are growing increasingly more diverse. Our nationally recognized Teen Education program has created a place where creative teens of all backgrounds can come together and celebrate contemporary art. Members of the Teen Arts Council contributed to this issue’s “Picks” (see p. 34), giving us a glimpse into the art and artists informing their points of view. These TAC members represent a new generation responding to and reinterpreting the phenomenon that began with those homemade Andre the Giant stickers. Our teen programs are built upon the idea that contemporary art explores issues of identity, challenges conventions, and reflects multiple world views. These are relevant issues not just for young people, but for all of us, and all the more reason to engage with today’s art and culture. We hope you visit us soon.
Jill Medvedow Director Jill Medvedow photo: Mitch Epstein
Shepard Fairey, Mujer Fatal, 2007. Courtesy of the artist.
01·SHEPARD FAIREY The Medium is the Message
“The real message behind most of my work is ‘question everything’” Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand February 6 –August 16, 2009 From humble beginnings as a defiant, skateboard-obsessed art student pasting homemade stickers, Shepard Fairey has developed into one of the most influential street artists of our time. Despite breaking many of the spoken and unspoken rules of contemporary art and culture, his work is now seen in museums and galleries, as well as the worlds of graphic design and signature apparel. His multi-faceted, open-ended and generous artistic practice actively resists categorization. Building off of precedents set by artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Fairey shifts easily between the realms of fine, commercial, and even political art.
In 1989, while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Fairey created a stencil of the famous WWF wrestler Andre the Giant with the caption, “Andre the Giant has a Posse.” In guerilla fashion, Fairey posted homemade stickers of this design on every available surface in Providence, quickly creating a buzz. He later simplified the image to create a closely cropped, stylized face, accompanied by the Big Brother-like command, “Obey.” For nearly twenty years, stencils, stickers, and posters of the iconic Obey Giant campaign have popped up on street signs and building facades in the U.S. and around the world.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand traces the development of the artist’s career, from the earliest Obey imagery through his latest efforts, and includes screen prints, stencils, stickers, rubylith illustrations, collages, and works on wood, metal, and canvas. The artist will also create a new mural for the ICA. Fairey’s multi-layered renderings of counter-cultural revolutionaries and rap, punk and rock stars, as well as updated and re-imagined propaganda-style posters, carry his signature graphic style, marked by his frequent use of black, white, and red. Recently, his portrait of Barack Obama, a ubiquitous sight on the campaign trail and at the Democratic National Convention, drew a new level of attention to the artist’s work. Fairey seeks to make statements about topics he deems vitally important to a national conversation: capitalism, nationalism, global warming, war, and peace. A range of influences and references—including communist propaganda, psychedelic rock posters, images of Americana, and the layering and weathering of street art—infuse his paintings, prints, and posters with messages both direct and indirect, provoking spirited debate and reminding us of the power of images to influence society. The exhibition is sponsored by Levi’s.
Support for the exhibition is provided by Hal and Jodi Hess, Patricia La Valley and Geoff Hargadon, and Timothy Phillips. Media Sponsor
In the ICA Store
Fairey’s first museum survey is accompanied by an ICA special edition of Supply & Demand, the retrospective catalogue of the artist’s work published by Gingko Press in association with Obey Giant. This edition includes a special ICA supplement with an introductory essay and interview with Fairey by former ICA Assistant Curator Emily Moore Brouillet. Member Events
Opening Reception Wednesday, February 4, 6:30 - 9:30 pm Members’ Viewing Hours Wednesday, February 4, 10 am – 5 pm Thursday, February 5, 10 am – 9 pm Related Programs
Talks p. 14 Family programs p. 22 Teen programs p. 25 Experiment p. 21 Sponsored by
Poss Family Mediatheque
Check out Andre the Giant has a Posse (1997), a 15-minute documentary by Helen Stickler, interviews with Fairey from Karmaloop TV and commentary from Boston street art gurus Drew Katz and Geoff Hargadon. Hear more on the ICA’s FREE audio commentary, featuring the artist and exhibition curator Pedro H. Alonzo. Borrow an iPod from the admissions desk, access on your cell phone at 617-231-4055, or download from our website. Go Further
Inspired by the idea of personal mixed tapes, Shepard Fairey curated a playlist of the music that inspires him. Borrow an iPod at the front desk to listen, and log onto www.icaboston.org for a list of additional guest “mixtapers.” Find us on Flickr and submit images of your Obey sightings.
left : Obama Hope, 2008. Right : America’s Finest Cop, 2000.
Images courtesy of the artist.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
06·ON VIEW
Six artists, countless perspectives
Loch Ness for a number of years, at the same time collecting archival material, including reports of sightings. With its presentation of interrelated images, language, and documentation, the project relates directly to the traditions of conceptual art, yet Byrne brings an ironic, playful engagement with the subject, providing a fresh take on one of the world’s most enduring modern myths. The Momentum series is sponsored by
Momentum 12: Gerard Byrne is funded in part through the generous support of
Momentum 12
Gerard Byrne November 12, 2008 – March 1, 2009 “This Irish multimedia artist makes some of the most perplexing—and fascinating—art on the scene today; he has superstar potential.” –Blake Gopnik, The Washington Post For his first solo museum exhibition in the U.S., Gerard Byrne presents Case Study: Loch Ness (Some possibilities and problems), a new project that explores the legend of Scot-
Gerard Byrne, Case Study: Loch Ness (Some possibilities and problems), 2001-2008. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London, and Green on Red Gallery, Dublin.
land’s Loch Ness Monster through photography, film, and text. Like much of Byrne’s work, the installation blurs the lines between past and present, fiction and documentary. “Gerard Byrne is an artist fascinated by storytelling,” writes Chief Curator Nicholas Baume. “He’s interested in the way an account is given, shaped, and presented.” Byrne draws direct parallels between the legend’s currency and the rise of commercial mass media. While there is no physical evidence to prove the existence of the monster, the myth has been widely propagated since the mid-1930s, when it was first taken up by Fleet Street in a successful ploy to sell newspapers. Byrne has been taking photographs and shooting film around
Additional support is provided by the LEF Foundation and the International Council of the Institute of Contemporary Art. Poss Family Mediatheque
Curious about what other stories have fascinated Gerard Byrne? Check out additional video excerpts in the mediatheque.
Catherine D’Ignazio, Exit Strategy, video still, 2008. Rania Matar, Open Window, Refugee Camp, Tyre Lebanon (detail), 2005. Andrew Witkin, Untitled, 1990 – . Courtesy of LaMontagne Gallery, Boston. Joe Zane, first (detail), 2008. Courtesy of Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston.
The 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize Catherine D’Ignazio, Rania Matar, Andrew Witkin, Joe Zane
November 12, 2008 – March 1, 2009 Though each embraces a distinct artistic approach, the finalists for the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize demonstrate a common dedication and sophistication. Their artistic efforts help them to comprehend daily existence, art, and the world around them. Catherine D’Ignazio presents Exit Strategy, a new video work that shows a variety of images of the artist passing through several exits at the ICA. This work is a fitting complement to It Takes 154,000 Breaths to Evacuate Boston, which the artist has also adapted for her ICA exhibition. This project captures D’Ignazio’s ambitious attempt to measure fear by running Boston’s entire evacuation route over several months in 2007. The artist counted electronically the number of breaths required to accomplish this feat; at the ICA, the sounds of these collected breaths are heard in the gallery and at select spots along the museum’s official evacuation route. Through her photographic work, Rania Matar highlights those who are often forgotten or overlooked, including the women and children of the Middle East. Her various series explore refugee camps, the increasing use of the veil, the aftermath of war, and recently,
the Middle East’s Christian communities. For the ICA, Matar presents several black-and-white prints showing women and girls in states of repose, introspection, or in defiantly assertive stances, along with color work that reveals the haunting traces of domestic life found within chaos and rubble. Andrew Witkin’s artistic approach is inspired by, and nearly indistinguishable from, his approach to life, work, relationships, and leisure. Witkin presents a chapter from his ongoing project, Untitled, which began in 1990. Two corridors, lined with items relating to storage and personal care, lead to a sculptural tableau that explores the intersection of work, play and rest. Select objects of varying degrees of personal significance—bath towels, safety glasses, a spool of thread—accent the elegantly spare installation. As part of his exhibition, Witkin will present a series of short, relaxed performances by musicians who are friends as well as artistic colleagues. Representing different geographic locations, career paths, and inspirations, they will each perform in Witkin’s exhibition space, continuing the juxtapositions and entanglements that characterize the artist’s work. Sundays, 3:30 pm, East Gallery January 18 Joey Meyer, North Carolina-born and Connecticut-based singer and songwriter
January 25 Kimon Kirk, Boston and Los Angelesbased singer, songwriter, bass-player and producer February 1 Stephen Prina, artist and musician based in Cambridge and Los Angeles February 8 Lucky Dragons, based in Los Angeles, fresh off a European tour,and performing in Boston for the first time in over two years The work of Joe Zane probes essential questions around the making and presentation of art, instilling a comic awareness of how art’s ultimate meaning eludes us. Several new works offer a playful acknowledgement of this show’s award, inspired by both the jubilation and uncertainty that arises when participating in this type of competition. Among the works on view are several sly explorations of the selfportrait, brightly-colored glass flowers, a sculpture in the form of a deflating balloon that sports the ICA logo, and a painting in Italian text that translates as “I love you, too.” Poss Family Mediatheque
Learn more about the finalists and previous recipients of the Foster Prize.
Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall
Ugo Rondinone November 4, 2008 – November 1, 2009 Ugo Rondinone—whose name may be familiar from our inaugural exhibition Super Vision—is known for creating moody, evocative installations that combine an irreverent pop sensibility with a deeply introspective tone. Clockwork for oracles is an installation of 52 mirrors in a rainbowlike range of colors, hung on a wall covered with whitewashed pages of The Boston Globe. Engaging with the ICA’s architecture and the city views beyond, the work transforms and multiplies our perception of the outside world with a Technicolor vibrancy. Like much of Rondinone’s work, clockwork for oracles focuses on the task of observing the passage of time, with the daily newspaper serving as a backdrop for the mirrors that each represent one week in the yearlong installation. The phrase “clockwork for oracles” is taken from the poetry of Edmond Jabès (1912-1991). A Cairo native, Jabès moved to Paris following the Egyptian expulsion of the Jews in 1956. His influential poetry reveals, in Rondinone’s words, “a mystical attention to religious experience coupled with a real engagement with daily human conditions.” The title and its reference speak to the dualities that characterize the work—contrasting the precision of “clockwork” with the mysticism of “oracle,” reflective surfaces with obscured ones, and a contemplative tone with playful energy. The Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall installation is made possible in part by the generous support of
Ugo Rondinone, clockwork for oracles (detail), 2008. Photo: Charles Mayer.
10·performing arts
Real people, transcendent performance
world music/crasharts Presents
Keigwin + Company Boston Premiere Elements
Friday, January 23, 7:30 pm Saturday, January 24, 8 pm “Wonderful choreographic whirlwinds” — New York Times
SPalding gray: stories left to tell
Words by Spalding Gray; Concept by Kathleen Russo; Directed by Lucy Sexton Performed by a five-person ensemble with a celebrity guest reader each evening. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 26 – 28, 7:30 pm Sunday, March 1, 2 pm “Gray’s words not only relate the story of his own life, they allow a new group of artists to reflect on what being alive can mean” — Mark Blankenship, Variety Spalding Gray was one of the most revered and irreverent storytellers of our time. An actor who appeared in more than 30 films such as The Killing Fields, Beaches, and The Paper, Gray was most celebrated for his autobiographical monologues, delivered sitting alone at a desk on a bare stage. His words— the observations, neuroses, fears and joys they expressed—resonate deeply with audiences.
Gray’s work lives on in the funny, poignant, and ultimately life-affirming Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell. The show brings together excerpts from both renowned and neverbefore-seen work to span the artist’s extraordinary life and career. The piece unfolds chronologically, from recollections of childhood swimming trips with his mother and tales of awkward adolescent sexual encounters, to the joy Gray took in being a father himself. The five-person cast (with a celebrity guest reader each evening—log onto www.icaboston.org for updates) brings an intense focus to the words, exploring his singular, and often incredibly humorous, quest for self-understanding. Tickets: $20 reserved seating; $15 members, students, and seniors
Front : GIMP; This page, top left : Spalding Gray; bottom : Keigwin + Company, photo: Tom Caravaglia; ; bottom right : GIMP
Keigwin + Company creates provocative, witty, and engaging dances. Dancer, choreographer, director, and Bessie Award-winner Larry Keigwin and his company explore contemporary life and pop culture with works that are accessible and entertaining, while remaining innovative and intelligent. Keigwin’s craftsmanship, versatility, and humor are fully revealed in Elements, a new work with four suites inspired by earth, fire, air, and water. Free talk with dance critic Debra Cash 45 minutes prior to each show. Free post-performance Q & A on Friday. Tickets: $35 reserved seating; $31.50 ICA members
world music/crasharts Presents
Zoe Scofield & Juniper Shuey The Devil You Know Is Better Than The Devil You Don’t Boston Debut Friday, February 20, 7:30 pm Saturday, February 21, 8 pm “An innovative artistic feast” — Seattle Times Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey construct three-dimensional art that melds precise dance performance with evocative video and photographic techniques, juxtaposing restrained wildness and delicate fury. Their dreamlike dance piece, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, creates a world of strange beauty with seductive visual imagery and a haunting score by Morgan Henderson. The cumulative effect is romantic, dark, and highly memorable. Free talk with dance critic Debra Cash 45 minutes prior to each show. Free post-performance Q & A on Friday. Tickets: $35 reserved seating; $31.50 ICA members Funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ford Foundation and MetLife Foundation.
nature theater of oklahoma Poetics: A Ballet Brut Conceived and Directed by Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska Friday, March 13, 8 pm Saturday, March 14, 8 pm Sunday, March 15, 2 and 7 pm New York’s “most buzzed-about new troupe” (New York Times) brings their joyful DIY theater aesthetic to Boston for the first time. Taking their name from Kafka’s novel Amerika, Nature Theater of Oklahoma is a young and acclaimed company of non-dancers. Poetics: A Ballet Brut, an awesome and awkward tour de force, takes everyday gestures and weaves them over the course of 65
minutes into an epic theatrical tapestry. Combinations of ordinary movements— clasping hands behind one’s head, tossing in one’s sleep—grow increasingly more elaborate, building to a surprising and delightful conclusion. Tickets: $25 reserved seating; $20 members, students, and seniors This performance will engage up to 35 additional performers. If you would be interested in volunteering (no special skills required), contact John Andress at jandress@icaboston.org Read our interview with Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Kelly Copper on p. 30.
GIMP
Choreography by Heidi Latsky An ALLIGER ARTS Production Friday, April 24, 8 pm Saturday, April 25, 8 pm A moving force in the dance world for over 25 years, Heidi Latsky creates works for the stage, theater, and film. A longtime principal member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Latsky presents a roster of performers who embody unique physical virtuosity. GIMP is a full evening of interconnected new works inspired by the expressive physicality of both disabled and able-bodied dancers. Presenting an extraordinary landscape of limbs— eloquent limbs, absent limbs, truncated limbs, nimble limbs, crooked limbs, prosthetic limbs, sublime limbs—the performers examine the ways we are identified or defined by our physicality while accentuating uncommon beauty, mystery, and grace.
GIMP is presented in cooperation with VSA Arts of Massachusetts. Tickets: $25 reserved seating; $20 members, students, and seniors. Call our box office if you require ASL or wheelchair accessible seats.
world music/crasharts Presents
world music/crasharts Presents
Chunky Move Boston Debut I Want to Dance Better at Parties Friday, March 27, 7:30 pm Saturday, March 28, 8 pm Sunday, March 29, 3 pm
Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal [bjm_danse] Performing the Boston Premieres of Jack in a Box choreographed by Aszure Barton and Rossini Cards choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti Thursday, April 16, 7:30 pm Friday, April 17, 8 pm Saturday, April 18, 8 pm Sunday, April 19, 3 pm
Australia’s award-winning Chunky Move is known for its distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performance. Inspired by real life stories, the company’s touching and funny I Want to Dance Better at Parties uses documentary film and dance to capture both the joy of dance and the fear of ridicule in this brilliant, impressionistic, witty, and insightful dance work. Free talk with dance critic Debra Cash 45 minutes prior to each show. Free post-performance Q & A on Friday. Tickets: $35 reserved seating; $31.50 ICA members Funded in part by the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the American Masterpieces initiative, with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies.
“A world of wonder…a rare accomplishment in the world of contemporary dance.” — Boston Globe Part ballet, part modern, part street dance, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal defies categorization with its delicious blend of hip, funky moves infused with infectious energy, humor, and imagination. The company, now known as [bjm_danse], continues to evolve with all of the vitality and spirit of exploration for which it has been known since its inception in 1972. Free talk with dance critic Debra Cash 45 minutes prior to each show. Tickets: $35 reserved seating; $31.50 ICA members
world music/crasharts Presents
Prometheus Dance Friday, May 15, 7:30 pm Saturday, May 16, 8 pm “One of the most visually stunning, and physically gratifying companies in the area.” — Boston Herald Known for its highly-charged and theatrical choreographic style, Prometheus Dance has become one of Massachusetts’s most outstanding and enduring modern dance companies, named “One of the Year’s Ten Best in Dance” by the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and the Boston Phoenix several times over. Led by artistic directors Diane Arvanites-Noya and Tommy Neblett, the ensemble will perform world premiere and repertory works. Free talk with dance critic Debra Cash 45 minutes prior to each show. Free post-performance Q & A on Friday. Tickets: $35 reserved seating; $31.50 ICA members
Left : Chunky Move, photo: Igor Sapina; Top : Prometheus Dance, photo: Dennis Stein; Opposite (inset): Theo Bleckmann, photo: Susie Knoll/München; Background :
The Necks
New Music Now Featuring some of the world’s best and most adventurous musicians and composers, this series is organized in collaboration with composers Ned Rothenberg and Marty Ehrlich. Each evening will offer two unique sets with a short intermission. Tickets: $25 general admission; $20 members, students, and seniors
Shelley Hirsch and Theo Bleckmann/Ben Monder Duo An Evening of Vocal Magic
Friday, January 30, 7:30 pm “A woman of a thousand voices... Hirsch is an extraordinary vocalist... enormously, inventive, scathingly satiric and virtuosic... A brilliant overwhelming presence on stage.” — New York Times “Theo Bleckmann’s voice is an instrument nonpareil” — Jazztimes Vocalist, composer, and performance artist Shelley Hirsch presents a collage of song, spoken word, and vocal accompaniments to a selection of film soundtracks composed by Bernard Herrmann. She twists the aural images of Fahrenheit 451, The Day The Earth Stood Still and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor into a narrative filled with free associations, autobiographical stories and sonic pictures. She will be joined by multi instrumentalist Shahzad Ismailly. Vocalist Theo Bleckmann and guitarist Ben Monder have been performing together as a duo for close to 15 years, touring the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Their repertoire extends the common format of voice and guitar, creating a unique approach to what might be called “jazz art song,” blurring the boundaries between jazz, classical, ambient and rock.
the necks and craig taborn Brave New Piano Worlds
Friday, February 13, 7:30 pm “[The Necks’] music is a thrilling, emotional journey into the unknown” — The Guardian “Craig Taborn is the future of jazz.” — CMJ Voted Australia’s top jazz group by Time Out Sydney and one of Australia’s top ten musical ensembles of any genre, The Necks are a phenomenon—the piano trio as minimalist cult band. The group features Chris Abrahams on piano, Lloyd Swanton on bass, and Tony Buck on drums. Composer/pianist/electronic musician Craig Taborn has played and recorded with a pantheon of creative music luminaries including Steve Coleman, Bill Frisell, and Dave Douglas. At the ICA, he will premiere his new Ancients and Moderns ensemble which explores extended compositions for live improvisers and circuit bent instruments and devices. Dan Weiss, drums Thomas Morgan, bass Chris Speed, tenor saxophone, clarinet Ben Gerstein, trombone Craig Taborn, piano, circuit bent electronics
Harborwalk sounds, inside Berklee College of Music at the ICA Admission to the concerts is free; museum admission is not included. Fridays, 5 – 7 pm State Street Corporation Lobby Let the sounds of Berklee’s best bands redefine winter “chill.” The free concerts you love will continue indoors through the winter and spring. Join us in our lobby to warm up for the weekend with a range of music styles and refreshments from the Water Café by Wolfgang Puck.
January 9
April 10
Amy Crawford
Katie Thiroux
February 13
May 22
Jeni Magana
Neara Russell
March 6
Manami/ Randy
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
14·TALKS & TOURS
Art and design from every angle
ica/aiga design series:
shepard fairey
Design as Social Agent
Thursday, February 5, 6:30 pm From defiant, skateboard-obsessed art student pasting homemade stickers to one of the most influential street artists of our time, Shepard Fairey has developed a multifaceted artistic practice over twenty years. As the ICA opens the artist’s first museum survey, Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand, Fairey shares insights into his work which shifts easily between the realms of fine, commercial, and even political art.
With Steve Heller, Nicholas Blechman, Luba Lukova, Mirko Ilic, Elliot Earls, Caleb Neelon, PIXNIT, Cliff Stolze and Pete Favatt Saturday, April 4, 10 am – 5 pm Bringing together speakers from the fields of design, street art, music, and politics, this day-long event frames Shepard Fairey’s work within the context of grassroots civic action, punk rock, and 80s graffiti and skate culture. How can we view his art and design within today’s environment of fervent consumption, heightened consumerism, and political cynicism? A series of presentations, conversations, and gallery talks will explore how concepts of appropriation, plagiarism, legality, and process have been exploded. Log onto www.icaboston.org for upcoming details. Illustration : Nicholas Blechman
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 members, students and seniors Following the talk, Fairey will sign copies of the exclusive ICA edition of Supply & Demand as well as his redesign of U.K. publications of 1984 and Animal Farm. This program is made possible through the generosity of Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld.
Words from the walk
Lunchtime Gallery Talks
Take a break to nourish your body and your mind. ICA curators share their perspectives on working with today’s artists in a program tailormade for your lunch hour. Our speakers will provide food for thought; the Water Café will take care of the rest. Schedule of speakers is subject to change. Please check our web site for the most up-to-date information. Free with museum admission. Space is limited. Free tickets are available first-come, first-served one hour before the program. Ticket holders receive a 10% discount at the Water Café. May not be combined with any other offer. Jen Mergel, Associate Curator Acting Out: New Social Experiments in Video Thursday, April 2, 12 pm
Randi Hopkins, Curatorial Associate The 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize
Thursday, January 22, 12 pm Pedro Alonzo, Exhibition Curator Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
Thursday, February 12, 12 pm
Nicholas Baume, Chief Curator ICA Collection Thursday, May 28, 12 pm ICA interpretive programs and materials are made possible by the significant support from the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund.
Eileen Quinlan and Jen Mergel, Associate Curator Momentum 13: Eileen Quinlan Thursday, March 19, 12 pm
Free Public Tours
Each week, the ICA offers six docentled tours free with museum admission. Tours leave from the lobby.
Marylin Chin Thursday February 26, 6:30 pm Chin’s poem Lantau (2007), currently installed on the Hassenfeld Harborway, will be featured in this reading. Chin is the author of Dwarf Bamboo and The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty, and Rhapsody in Plain Yellow. She was featured in Bill Moyers’s PBS series, The Language of Life, and in a variety of anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Portland, Oregon, Chin teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University and is currently writing a book of poetic tales. Kevin Young April 16, 6:30 pm Young’s poem New England Ode will be installed April 1. Young is the author of six books of poetry, most recently For the Confederate Dead, winner of the Quill Award in Poetry and the Paterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement. His poetry and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Callaloo, and many other journals. Young is currently Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing and curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University. Admission is free. Space is limited.
Target Free Thursday Night 6 pm Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand 7 pm Introduction to the ICA Saturdays and Sundays 1 pm Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand 2:30 pm Introduction to the ICA Photo: John Kennard
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
16¡FILM
Inventive. Independent. Rare.
new england animators All New! The ICA Presents 12 World Premiere Works by New England Animators Sunday, May 3, 3 pm Thursday, May 7, 7:30 pm This exhilarating program celebrates films which employ the universal language of animation. In addition to creating visually stunning films, New England experimental animators pay a special attention to use of music, effects, dialogue, and new techniques to accomplish a unique fusion of form and sound. Featured filmmakers include Julie Zammarchi, Lorelei Pepi, Norah Solorzano, Steven Subotnick, Daniel Sousa, Joel Frenzer, David Ehrilch, Steven Gentile, Chip Moore, Gina Kamentsky, Agnieszka Woznicka, and Karen Aqua. There will be Q & A with the filmmakers. Tickets: $10 general admission; $8 members, students, and seniors
Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF)
Boston Premiere Saturday, January 10, 4 pm Introduction and Q&A with Chris Robinson, OIAF artistic director and author Sunday, January 11, 4 pm The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), the largest event of its kind in North America, attracts animators and attendees from around the world. See a selection of the best films from OIAF 2008. Boston film buffs, art lovers, and cartoon fans won’t want to miss this great line-up.
The National center for jewish film
The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
As part of JEWISHFILM.2009, The National Center for Jewish Film’s 12th Annual Film Festival, the ICA presents two Boston-area premieres. The Jester (Der Purimspiler)
by Joseph Green and Jan NowinaPrzybylski (90 minutes, b&w/sepia tone/blue tone, Poland, 1937, 35 mm, in Yiddish with new English subtitles) Thursday, April 2, 7:30 pm Restoration by The National Center for Jewish film Following its U.S. premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the newly-restored 1937 Yiddish musical drama The Jester (Der Purimspiler) comes to Boston. Negotiating the romantic rapids are a lonely jester, a circus performer, and Esther, the shoemaker’s daughter. Filmed on location in Poland, the film’s lively circus and vaudeville set pieces offer a taste of Warsaw’s then-thriving Yiddish cabarets. NCJF’s restoration includes new English subtitles, and six blue and sepia color-toned scenes—extremely rare for sound film. For upcoming information about an additional April 4 screening, log onto www.icaboston.org or www.jewish film.org Tickets: $10 general admission; $8 members, students, and seniors
by Pietra Brettkelly (109 minutes, color, New Zealand, 2007, Sony HD Cam) Boston Premiere Saturday, January 10, 1:30 pm Sunday, January 11, 1:30 pm “Not a straightforward artist’s profile, political commentary or domestic drama, but a poetic fusion of the three” – Peter Debruge, Variety Brettkelly’s documentary follows artist Vanessa Beecroft’s quest to adopt orphaned twins from the Sudan, exploring how, in the words of New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, “with Vanessa, there is no boundary between life and art.” For sixteen months, the film follows Beecroft from New York to the Sudan to exhibitions in Milan and Rome, capturing her artistic drive amidst the fireworks of her personal life. The artist speaks with an often brutal honesty, exposing the truth about her life—her creative process, her struggle with depression, her volatile relationship with her husband, and her love for the twins. Tickets: $9 general admission; $7 members, students, and seniors
Opposite : still from Birdy by Agnieszka Woznicka; this page : still from The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
The Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston)
Monday, April 27, 7 pm and 9 pm The Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston), New England’s largest film festival, celebrates its seventh anniversary April 22 – 28. Assembling the best films from both veteran and up-andcoming local and international filmmakers, the festival screens an amazing array of films, throws nightly parties, and holds daily panel discussions. For upcoming ICA screenings of festival films and ticket information, log onto www.icaboston.org or www.iffboston.org.
2008 Academy AwardNominated Short Films
See Oscar-nominated shorts in both animation and live action. Log onto www.icaboston.org for upcoming details.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
18·calendar Resolve to make more time for art this year JANUARY Friday 1/9
Saturday 1/31
Friday 2/20
Friday 3/13
Music
Play Date
Dance
Performance
HarborWalk Sounds, Inside Amy Crawford
Windows Inside/Out
World Music/CRASHarts Presents Zoe Scofield & Juniper Shuey the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t
Nature Theater of Oklahoma Poetics: A Ballet Brut
10 am – 4 pm
5 – 7 pm
Saturday 1/10 Film The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
1:30 pm Film Ottawa International Animation Festival
4 pm
Sunday 1/11
FEBRUARY Wednesday 2/4 Members’ Viewing Hours Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
10 am – 5 pm Members’ Opening Reception
1:30 pm Film Ottawa International Animation Festival
4 pm
Thursday 1/22 Lunchtime Talk Randi Hopkins, Curatorial Associate The 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize
12 pm
Friday 1/23 Dance World Music/ CRASHarts Presents Keigwin + Company Elements
7:30 pm
Saturday 1/24 Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Keigwin + Company Elements
8 pm
Friday 1/30 Music New Music Now Shelley Hirsch and Theo Bleckman/ Ben monder Duo
7:30 pm
Saturday 2/21 Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Zoe Scofield & Juniper Shuey the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t
Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
8 pm
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Thursday 2/26
Film The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
7:30 pm
Thursday 2/5
Words from the Walk Marylin Chin
Members’ Viewing Hours
6:30 pm
Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
Performance
10 am – 9 pm
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell
Talk
7:30 pm
Shepard Fairey
6:30 pm
Friday 2/6
Friday 2/27 Performance
Experiment
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell
OBEY
7:30 pm
Saturday 3/14 Teen and Parent Workshop Digital Natives
10 am -12 pm Performance Nature Theater of Oklahoma Poetics: A Ballet Brut
8 pm
Sunday 3/15 Performance Nature Theater of Oklahoma Poetics: A Ballet Brut
2 and 7 pm
Thursday 3/19 Course Art and Life
Thursdays, 6:30 – 8 pm Continues through 4/16 Lunchtime Talk
Saturday 2/28
Eileen Quinlan and Jen Mergel, Associate Curator Momentum 13: Eileen Quinlan
Play Date
12 pm
8 pm – midnight
Thursday 2/12
8 pm
Lunchtime Talk
Loch Ness Quest
Pedro Alonzo, Exhibition Curator Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
10 am – 4 pm
Saturday 3/21
Performance
Educator Workshop
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell
10 am - 4:30 pm
12 pm
7:30 pm
Friday 3/27
Friday 2/13
Dance
Music New Music Now The Necks and Craig Taborn
7:30 pm Music
Digital Natives
MARCH Sunday 3/1
HarborWalk Sounds, Inside Jeni Magana
Performance
5 – 7 pm
2 pm
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell
Friday 3/6 Music HarborWalk Sounds, Inside Manami/Randy
5 – 7 pm
World Music/CRASHarts Presents Chunky Move I Want to Dance Better at Parties
7:30 pm
Saturday 3/28 Play Date Art Messengers!
10 am – 4 pm Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Chunky Move I Want to Dance Better at Parties
8 pm
how to buy tickets Sunday 3/29
Saturday 4/18
Saturday 5/16
Dance
Dance
Dance
World Music/CRASHarts Presents Chunky Move I Want to Dance Better at Parties
World Music/CRASHarts Presents Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal / [bjm_danse] Jack in a Box and Rossini Cards
World Music/CRASHarts Presents Prometheus Dance
3 pm
8 pm
APRIL Thursday 4/2 Lunchtime Talk Jen Mergel, Associate Curator Acting Out: New Social Experiments in Video
12 pm Film
Sunday 4/19 Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal / [bjm_danse] Jack in a Box and Rossini Cards
3 pm
Play Date Contemporary Portraits
10 am – 4 pm
ICA/AIGA Design Series: Design of Dissent/Title TK
GIMP
8 pm
Friday 4/10
Monday 4/27
Kevin Young
6:30 pm Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal / [bjm_danse] Jack in a Box and Rossini Cards
Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal / [bjm_danse] Jack in a Box and Rossini Cards
8 pm
Friday 5/29 Play Date Kids Build: ICA City
3 – 7 pm Continues 5/30, 10 am – 4 pm
Wheelchair seating and assistive listening devices are available; please call the box office in advance to make a request. If you need further assistance, including sign language interpretation, please contact the ICA box office at least two weeks in advance of program. Free Public Tours
See p. 15
Film
Teen Programs
The Independent Film Festival Boston
See p. 25
7 pm
Member Events
MAY Sunday 5/3 Film New England Animators
3 pm
Thursday 5/7 Film New England Animators
7:30 pm
7:30 pm
Friday 4/17
Lunchtime Talk
Dance
10 am – 5 pm
Words from the Walk
Thursday 5/28
12 pm
Special Event
Thursday 4/16
5 – 7 pm
Dance
Saturday 4/25
Friday, 5 – 7 pm
HarborWalk Sounds, Inside Neara Russell
GIMP
7:30 pm
HarborWalk Sounds, Inside Katie Thiroux
Music
Nicholas Baume, Chief Curator ICA Collection
8 pm
Music
Friday 5/22
Friday 4/24
National Center for Jewish Film 12th Annual Film Festival The Jester
Saturday 4/4
8 pm
To purchase tickets, log onto www.icaboston.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the ICA box office during regular museum hours or one hour before the program, or by phone at 617-478-3103 (during regular museum hours). A $3 processing fee per ticket will be added to phone and online orders for non-members.
Friday 5/15 Dance World Music/CRASHarts Presents Prometheus Dance
7:30 pm
See p. 27
20·general information
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Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am – 5 pm Thursday and Friday 10 am – 9 pm Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 5 pm Closed Monday, except on the following national holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day.
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THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/ BOSTON
100 Northern Avenue
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The basics
World Trade Center
Directions
The ICA is located at 100 Northern Avenue in Boston. It is walking distance from downtown and easily accessible by public transportation. The ICA does not have a parking garage, however there is affordable paid parking available in lots near the ICA. Via public transportation: Take the Red Line to South Station and transfer to the Silver Line Waterfront. The ICA is short walk from either World Trade Center or Courthouse station. From World Trade Center Station: Exit left onto Congress Street. Walk one block to the corner of B Street and turn right, crossing Congress Street. Follow B Street for one block. At the corner of B Street and Seaport Boulevard cross the street and turn left. At the next corner, turn right onto Northern Avenue. The ICA is on the right. You will pass the entrance to Anthony’s Pier 4 and two parking lots before coming to the driveway leading to the ICA entrance. From Courthouse Station: Exit the station onto Seaport Boulevard and follow it, walking away from downtown. Just before the first traffic light, there will be a pedestrian opening in the fence on your left—walk through it to the walkway that runs alongside the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Voyage. This will lead you to Northern Avenue. The ICA is across the street to the right at 100 Northern Avenue. By car: The ICA is easily accessible from both I-90 and I-93. Please visit www.icaboston.org for detailed driving directions. The institute of contemporary art/boston
100 Northern Avenue · Boston, MA 02210
Admission
$12 general admission $10 students and seniors Free members and children 17 and under Free after 5 pm every Thursday for Target Free Thursday Nights Free families (up to 2 adults per family with children 12 and under) on the last Saturday of each month (except December) Target Free Thursday Nights are sponsored by Accessibility
The ICA is fully wheelchair and stroller accessible. contact
General Information 617-478-3100 Membership 617-478-3102 Box Office 617-478-3103 ICA Store 617-478-3104 Web www.icaboston.org E-mail info@icaboston.org TTY 617-478-3287 official hotel sponsor
The ICA is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events.
21·special events
Not your typical day at the museum
Bike Tour: Shepard Fairey Off Site
Sunday, May 17, 10 am Sunday, June 28, 10 am
experiment
Join the ICA for a bike tour of Fairey’s public work in Boston and Cambridge. Stopping at 6 places along the way, exhibition curator Pedro Alonzo will talk about the context, content, and culture of the artist’s work and the relationships between graffiti, public art, graphic design, and advertising. The tour will cover approximately 10 miles, arriving back at the ICA in time to hit the Water Café for lunch. Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 ICA members, students, and seniors Space is limited. The tour will last approximately 2 hours, traveling on Boston and Cambridge streets with moderate to heavy traffic. This route is appropriate for intermediate cyclists and above, already familiar with city biking. All participants MUST bring a safe, working bicycle, a well-fitted helmet, and water. Maps will be available to participants, with clear directions to each site. The tour will run in light rain, but not in more severe weather conditions. In case of severe weather, call 617-478-3100 on the day of the event for cancellations. Lunch is not included with the price of the tour. All participants will be required to sign a waiver.
OBEY
Friday, February 6, 9 pm – 1 am Andre the Giant may have a posse, but we’ve got Shepard Fairey on the turntable. Head to the galleries to experience the influence and breadth of Fairey’s practice, then hit the dance floor as the artist himself DJs for the next installment of our wildly popular Experiment. Tickets: $25 general admission; $20 members, students, and seniors with valid ID. 21+ Save the date for more art, drinks, beats and eats: the next Experiment is April 3. Sponsored by
Shepard Fairey, Icon Face, 1996. Courtesy of the artist.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
22·families
Creative kids are happy kids
Play Dates Join us on the last Saturday of every month, when the ICA comes alive with films, performances, art-making, gallery tours, and more—all free for families! All activities are designed for children ages 5 – 12 and adults to do together, and no prior registration is necessary.* Space is limited for selected theater events; free tickets will be available first-come, firstserved in the lobby on the day of the event. For more information, e-mail families@icaboston.org or call Kathleen Lomatoski at 617-478-3134. windows inside/out
Saturday, January 31, 10 am – 4 pm Take a closer look at Ugo Rondinone’s work for the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, then create tri-fold windows in the Bank of America Art Lab. Performer Leland Faulkner will delight your family with World of Wonder, his show investigating light, color, and movement in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater at 12 and 2 pm.
loch ness quest
contemporary portraits
Saturday, February 28, 10 am – 4 pm Join us to find the Loch Ness Monster! Step into the Momentum gallery to see the work of artist Gerard Byrne. Then invent your own stories about sea monsters and fantastic creatures with artist Jeff Hopkins and his performance Pictures Come to Life in the Bank of America Art Lab. Family films featuring incredible sea creatures will be shown throughout the day in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater.
Saturday, April 25, 10 am – 4 pm Visit the ICA collection, take part in gallery activities, and see the variety of ways contemporary artists work with portraits. Compose your own up-to-the minute individual and family portraits using digital media and mixed materials in the Bank of America Art Lab.
art messengers!
Saturday, March 28, 10 am – 4 pm Come see the work of artist Shepard Fairey, then try your hand at combining graphics and text. Author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka will show and tell about his children’s books in the Bank of America Art Lab, then help transform your drawings. Don’t miss Made in the Shade performing jazz (and some punk rock surprises!) in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater at 12 and 2 pm.
KidsBuild: ICA City
Friday May 29, 3 – 7 pm (last start time 5 pm) Saturday, May 30, 10 am – 4 pm (last start time 3 pm) Design the building of your dreams, and see a city come to life! Join the ICA and our partners the Boston Society of Architects in creating a model city on the stage of the ICA’s theater. Have fun and learn about architecture and design from the ground up. *Pre-registration is required for this event only. Activity takes a minimum of 2 hours and is recommended for children aged 6 or older with adults. Play Dates are sponsored by
Activities in the Bank of America Art Lab are made possible by
Generous support of ICA Youth Education is provided by JP Morgan Chase Foundation, the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, and the Fuller Foundation.
Photos : Laura Anca Chichisan Pallone
School Vacation Week
February 17 - 20 and April 21 - 24 Art Classes for Children Morning, afternoon, and full-day sessions Explore the ICA galleries and create your own contemporary artworks. Log onto www.icaboston.org for registration information and fees.
Sunday Afternoon Art Classes
Each class combines an exploration of the ICA’s building and exhibitions with a related art project. Classes are for children ages 6 – 10 and adults together. Log onto www.icaboston.org for registration information and fees. Family Workshop: Design your own unique house January 25, 1:30 – 3:30 pm Family Workshop: Mask-making February 8, 1:30 – 3:30 pm Family Workshop: Portraits March 8, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
24·courses/workshops Why should the kids have all the fun?
Art and Life: Icons, Urban Scrawl and Dissent Thursdays, March 19 – April 16 , 6:30 – 8 pm With artists working increasingly with non-traditional materials, displaying art in unusual places, and making work in unexpected ways, the categories that define a work of art are in question. This class will look at the many places where contemporary art intersects with the world at large, including commercial design, music, the street, and the law. Using Shepard Fairey’s exhibition to stimulate discussion, this 5-week course will introduce participants to a broad range of topics through presentation, discussion, and conversations with artists and curators. Fee: $150 general admission; $120 members, students and seniors. Ticket holders receive a 10% discount on items in the Water Café and ICA Store. May not be combined with any other offer.
Digital Natives Are you feeling like children are speaking a different language when they talk about Twitter, Flickr, and del.icio.us? A digital native is someone who has grown up with digital technology. Let junior high school teacher and MIT graduate student Kevin Driscoll help reconnect you with the digital natives in your life. In two separate workshops, Driscoll introduces families and educators to several freely available mobile and web 2.0 technologies that will add new dimensions to your next visit to ICA. All levels of technology experience are welcome. For Teens and Parents Saturday, March 14, 10 am -12 pm Fee: $55 ($50 members) For Educators Saturday, March 21, 10 am - 4:30 pm Fee: $60 ($50 members) For more information on these workshops, please contact Krista Dahl at kdahl@icaboston.org or 617-478-3178 Teacher Programs are made possible by support from the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, William E. and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, and the Fuller Foundation.
top Photo: John Kennard
25·teens
“Know what they’re doing on the computer. And be blown away.
Teen New Media Classes Deck Design Graphics 101 Inspired by the work of Shepard Fairey
DJ school 101 featuring local and national guest DJs
Tuesdays, March 25 – May 20 4 – 6 pm Skateboarders were among the first to embrace Shepard Fairey’s bold designs when his “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” stickers burst onto the scene in the late 1980s. Over ten weeks at the ICA, learn how to create your own graphic designs that can be applied to the deck of a skateboard, or anywhere you choose. By the end of the program, participants will also be able to screen their designs on T-shirts.
Wednesdays, March 24 – May 19 4 – 6 pm In this ten-week after-school program, teens learn the basics of vinyl and digital DJing, then record their own mixes and produce their own beats using GarageBand, Serato, and more. This course will cover how to use a mixer, secrets to beatmatching, scratching, a crash-course in DJ history, and an opportunity to spin at the ICA. Fee: $250/$200 members, and free for BPS students. Required lab fee: $10. Open to high school students ages 1418; no prior experience necessary.
Teen Nights
Friday, March 20, 6 – 9 pm – OBEY Shepard Fairey Friday, May 8, 6 - 9 pm – Fast Forward Screening Teen Night, organized by the TAC Teen Nights are the ICA’s art happenings organized and promoted for teens by teens. Our 12-member Teen Arts Council plans the events, which can include artist talks, screenings, open mikes, workshops, and other fun activities designed to expose their peers to contemporary art. Come help us take over the coolest theater in the Boston! The John Hancock Teen Education Program is made possible by significant support from John Hancock Financial Services.
Additional support is provided by the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, the Fuller Foundation, the Krupp Family Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Family Foundation, the Ramsey McCluskey Family Foundation, the Rowland Foundation, the William E. and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
26·support
Enough about us, more about you
four questions: abigail ross goodman Overseer and Director’s Circle member Abigail Ross Goodman has gradually increased her involvement and support of the ICA since joining the New Group in 2004. As owner and director of the Judi Rotenberg Gallery on Newbury Street, Abi is credited with reinvigorating the gallery by introducing video and new media work and making it a pulse point for contemporary art. She recently took a few moments to share why she’s passionate about the ICA and today’s artists. How long have you been involved with the ICA and in what capacity? I became actively involved in the museum when I was elected as an Overseer in 2005. Before that I had co-chaired a New Group gala called See and Be Seen. What do you think is the most exciting or engaging thing about the ICA? I am consistently impressed with the learning opportunities that abound at the museum. The ICA has really taken a prominent position in educating our community and establishing an environment where the arts—visual and performing—can thrive.
What is your favorite piece in the ICA’s collection? It is impossible to select just one, but at the moment the piece most on my mind is Kader Attia’s video Oil and Sugar #2. On top of loving the sheer aesthetics of the work, I think it is a great example of how successful timebased media can uniquely express an emotional or psychological moment of impact. There is an exquisite simplicity and beauty to the stacked sugar cubes, all of which come literally crumbling down when doused with black oil. The metaphor strikes home in literal and figurative ways. Why are you particularly interested in contemporary art? What is unique about contemporary art is that it engages our particular moment in time—it is often like holding up a mirror to our culture. Artists are some of the bravest truth-tellers, and they are continually willing to challenge us to look more deeply at what is happening in the world.
27·membership The ICA has a posse
gift memberships: share the love ICA Memberships make excellent gifts for any occasion. Parents and grandparents, give your student a year’s worth of stimulating exhibitions and programs with a $35 Student Membership! With invitations to exhibition openings and members-only viewing hours, your friends and family can join you for the opening of Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand this February. Gift Memberships may be purchased online at www.icaboston.org/membership, in person at the admissions desk, or by calling the membership office at 617-478-3102.
Member Services
Want to skip the lines? Need a card reprint? Have a question about your benefits? Our Member Services office is dedicated to serving you. Gain express entry during our busiest hours. We are also available to speak with you by phone Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, or to answer your questions via email at membership@icaboston.org. Frequently asked questions, and their answers, are available online at www.icaboston.org/membership.
Stretch Your Membership Benefits— Clear Across the Country!
Friend level members and above receive reciprocal membership at over 30 of the country’s modern and contemporary art museums. Upgrade your membership to the Friend level or above today by calling 617-478-3102. Show your ICA membership card (with Mod/Co logo on the back) at any of the following museums and receive members-only treatment on your next visit: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield CT Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art Contemporary Art Center of Virginia Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston Contemporary Museum, Baltimore The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Institute of American Indian Arts Museum Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego New Museum, New York City The Phillips Collection, Washington DC Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art SITE Santa Fe Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
photos: John Kennard
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
28·looking forward Explosive visions
momentum 13: Eileen quinlan
March 18 – July 12, 2009
Acting Out: New Social Experiments in Video
March 18 - October 18, 2009 Eileen Quinlan’s prismatic compositions resemble the shapeshifting interior of a kaleidoscope. While often compared to the pure abstraction of Modernist painting, her works are actually direct representations: closely-cropped photographs of mirrors lit with color gels and flash, a staple of commercial product shoots. Part of an ongoing series titled Smoke & Mirrors, Quinlan’s beguiling images invite us to appreciate the mechanics and psychology inherent in the construction of pictures. Born in Boston and a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and Columbia University, Quinlan has recently had solo exhibitions at Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Sutton Lane, Paris; and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne. Quinlan’s first solo museum exhibition, Momentum 13 will feature selections of past and new projects to trace the development of her practice to date. The Momentum series is sponsored by
Acting Out gathers recent video by a generation of artists whose social engagement with their subjects is pivotal to their work. Instead of presenting fictional narratives or raw documentaries, they invite non-actors to be taped in activities that reveal poignant and compelling truths about the complex dynamics of social relationships. With key works by Javier Téllez, Phil Collins, and Artur mijewski, among others, the exhibition explores how artists build participation and interdependence into the process, structure, and content of their projects. Letting unscripted response in and leaving acting out, their videos highlight the ongoing cycles of isolation, connection, and friction that shape our personal, cultural, and political lives.
Damián Ortega
September 18, 2009 - January 17, 2010 Additional support is provided by the International Council of the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Eileen Quinlan, Paper White & Red (detail), 2007. Courtesy of the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York. Javier Téllez, Letter on the Blind, For the Use of Those Who See, 2007. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich. Damián Ortega, Cosmic Thing, 2002, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Works of art conjured by the imagination of Damián Ortega seem incapable of sitting still. His sculpture, film, video and photography call attention to the dynamism of the world around us. A former political cartoonist, Ortega brings a subtle, incisive wit to his surprising manipulations of familiar, humble materials. Bricks, old tools, Coca-Cola bottles, and even tortillas are assembled and reassembled with cartoonlike humor, revealing their latent animate qualities. For Cosmic Thing (2002), Ortega suspends the components of a Volkswagen Beetle, creating an exploded view of this utilitarian vehicle and frequent sight on the streets of Mexico City, the artist’s birthplace. Organized by Jessica Morgan, Curator of Contemporary Art, Tate Modern, London, and ICA Adjunct Curator, this is the first-ever survey exhibition of Ortega’s work and will show the arc of his artistic output with works made from the 1990s to the present.
30¡interview
When Kafka meets Rambo
Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s
kelly copper
100 hours of telephone conversations. A one-man re-enactment of Rambo: First Blood. The simple act of crossing one’s arms. These may not strike us as the stuff of great theater, but Nature Theater of Oklahoma, an exciting young performance group, is turning that notion on its head. The creative forces behind the company, husband-and-wife team Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, explore the very nature of spectatorship, twisting the theatergoing experience and even, in some cases, preparing free sandwiches for the audience. ICA Director of Programs David Henry interviewed Copper recently about the evolution of the group and its work.
David Henry: I’m curious about your name. How does “Nature” enter into your work? And are you really from Oklahoma? Kelly Copper: The name Nature Theater of Oklahoma is taken from the last chapter of Kafka’s unfinished novel Amerika. The main character comes to America to start a new life, and he’s looking all the time for a job and money to live. Finally, the last chapter brings him to this place where he sees an advertisement urging people to come join “The Great Nature Theater of Oklahoma!” It says “We have a place for everyone! Everyone in his place!” Indeed they do offer everyone a job, and they all go off in a train to Oklahoma, but then the novel is unfinished. You really wonder, did it all work out okay? It’s both a hopeful ending and a mystery... DH: How did you come together as a troupe? KC: Some of us—Pavol and I, our designer Peter, and one of our actors, Zack—have all been together since 1995, when we were in school at Dartmouth College. Pavol and I both quit theater for four years to focus on visual art, and then we came back to theater in 2003. The group really formed during the making of Poetics, and we’ve stayed together ever since. It was a formative piece. We started from zero with Poetics with some really basic questions about what theater was and why we make it and why do we need the audience and what is our relationship with them and with each other? It’s still a touchstone for us. DH: You’re a theater group—why did you choose to create a dance?
“We were a group of people who had never danced or choreographed before, and we were making a dance show. That was exciting.”
KC: We actually didn’t know we were making a dance when we started. We just knew we wanted to look at staging only, in the absence of a script. Can movement and position on stage create meaning in and of itself? We spent the first month walking from position to position on stage, looking at groupings of people, and gradually realized that to turn your head and look at someone means something—everything has meaning. The audience projects meaning.
Then when we lost our rehearsal space for that show, we no longer had a large space to look at positioning on stage, so we started to look at the way people stand and sit—mostly sit—because we were working in our apartment and we had a downstairs neighbor who was constantly complaining about the people walking around upstairs. So we took an inventory of all the positions of the legs when people sit and just rolled the dice to create a sequence, and we had a dance! And then everything was dance, and we knew we had a dance piece. We were a group of people who had never danced or choreographed before, and we were making a dance show. That was exciting.
Nature Theater of Oklahoma presents Poetics: A Ballet Brut
March 13 – 15 (see p. 11) Want to get in on the action? The performance will engage up to 35 additional performers. If you would be interested in volunteering—no special skills required— contact John Andress at jandress@icaboston.org.
As artists, we don’t have reliable resources or space, but we have learned to make work that is based on these limitations. When we do have space to perform and an audience, it’s a gift. We don’t take it for granted. DH: Poetics has a very specific system around which it is built, where you roll dice to determine the sequence of movements. How important is it for the audience to know that? KC: Not at all important, really. You can watch the show and see how we built it from the ground up. In the performance you see the vocabulary transform bit by bit—people often detect the mathematics and precision. They detect a system at play, but it’s not as if you need the code to appreciate what the performers are doing. The audience has all they need, literally, when they walk in the door. DH: Who are some of the artists that interest you? KC: I have my favorites that I turn to again and again for inspiration—John Cage and Alan Kaprow are touchstones. I find home movies inspiring. I love to watch performers on the subway. When we were in Switzerland, there were cows in the hills that had bells on that were very beautiful. I tend to find most of my inspiration outside of the theater. But, of course there is a lot of great work happening in New York now: Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell, and a whole generation of young companies whose work I find really inspiring. There is so much good young work in Europe as well. DH: Peanut butter sandwich or turkey? KC: Actually the question is: peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese? But that’s another show entirely.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
34·picks
The kids are all right
Teen Arts Council Members What Are You Into Right Now? The 12-member TAC is one busy group. When they’re not designing stickers and buttons, organizing film screenings, workshops, and parties, they’re meeting with artists or promoting Teen Nights. These motivated high-schoolers are the creative force behind our programming connecting teens and art, so we asked them what’s on their cultural radar… The next Teen Night is Friday, March 20, from 6 to 9 pm! For more information about the Teen Arts Council and other teen programs, contact Krista Dahl at kdahl@icaboston.org or 617-478-3178.
rhonda manchild in the promise land
by Claude Brown My favorite book would have to be Manchild in the Promise Land. It’s really an autobiography, but what sets it apart is that the author didn’t grow up in a well-off family or go to the best schools. His parents tried their best with him and his siblings, but things still went awry. Despite all the obstacles that were thrown at him, he still managed to turn his life around and make something positive. This story rings true to people of any creed and color. I still think about this book as I get older, because I notice more and more situations like the ones in the novel. I would recommend this book to anyone in any stage of life, because the story impacts everyone in different ways.
donovan fantasy ride
janine panic prevention
Jade ian francis
Ciara Artists such as Beyonce, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, and New Kidz On The Block made serious strides this year. Ciara is no exception! Riding high on two multi-platinum albums, a Grammy, and several other awards and successful tours, Ciara returns with her album Fantasy Ride. I am extremely excited about this album and have listened to it non-stop since it released December 9. Packed with her signature southern/dance/upbeat style, the album is a certified hit! The album is sure to have you dancing, whether it’s to straight-up club bangers or slower, more sensual songs. It’s a great addition to the ever-evolving world of Pop and R&B!
Jamie T. As a fan of British music, I have been listening to Jamie T., a 22-year-old singer/songwriter from South London, nonstop lately. Panic Prevention has 12 tracks filled with quick-witted lyrics and contains so much U.K. slang, it’s hard to keep up with. His songs are so catchy that I tend to be singing them for days on end, to the annoyance of my friends and family. To hear some of his music, check out www.jamie-t.com, click “tracks,” and then drag a tape to the player.
http://ifrancis.co.uk/ One of my favorite artists right now is Ian Francis, who lives in the U.K. His work is intense! I love his paintings because they’re chaotic, but in a planned way, and violent in a romantic way. His technique is like the perfect blend of tight/detailed and abstract/expressive. The combination of these different approaches is completely mind-blowing. It gives his work some serious depth and they really tell a story.
NEW: THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON · winter/spring 2009
36·introducing Get connected
Introducing the new ICA Teens website Working with the Teen Arts Council and the Fast Forward program, the ICA has launched a site to showcase the incredible work being created in all the workshops and new media programs at the ICA. Sound, video, photography, websites, text—it’s all on www.icateens.org.
Find out what teen classes are coming up and register online! Relive the memories from our Teen Nights, view photos, and post comments. Get information on all of our teen programs, including the Teen Arts Council, WallTalk, and Fast Forward. Comment on student artwork. Check our calendar of Teen events. Subscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite classes, students, or media!
New
the magazine of the Institute of contemporary art/boston Director of Marketing and Communications
Donna Desrochers Editor
Brigham Fay Communications Manager, Creative Services and the Web art director
JosĂŠ Nieto Senior Designer Design
JosĂŠ Nieto Patrick Vaughn
Photo by Hargo
Give Us Your Best Shot Join our Flickr group and share your ICA photos. We may pick one to use in the magazine! (Remember, no photography in the galleries. Thanks.)
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