ICA Super Vision Exhibit Brochure

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Inas this relationship between technology, sight, and the individual be perceived as by reminiscent of a computer’s virtual screen explosion are able totakes see, but place also in Goldstein, the Juliesocial Mehretu’s and conceptual Dispersion, framework where room, paintings Jack Gerhard Richter, and Sigmar expressed in current military and commercial applications.

In space—depthless, pixelated, morphing.

Vision is dependent on through several layers whichthe of we ink see. andThese acrylic artists paint,take still on visible our on contemporary theindussurface, Polke reference photography’s ability to show and transform Eye/Machine, artist uses preexisting footage from time andmilitary space; the way we see is affected by our are experience compressed of vision, together finding to create it at once a painting breathtaking pleasurable landscape but also the visible, whether in thereels, macro vision ofGulf sky War, observatories trial and training thethis 1991 surveillance cultural context. threatening, of color, fire,Earth ubiquitous, and smoke. and Loosely intimate. inspired Their by approaches the attacks are of and Google or the micro of molecular science. images, and television clips.

Hisvision subtitles suggest the conseSeptember diverse in form Mehretu’s and inwork technique, captures and a while vision of contempoof them quencesboth of 11, machine vision: the human scale wassome missing … take rarymachines destruction—chaotic, advantage of the the new fragmented, technologies available, spectacular. others work The drive to see more, whether intoworld infinity or thewithout realm of the the perform task blindly …and images social Our new visual knowledge of the requires differwith media are more familiar. invisible, athat recurring theme in Super Vision.

Through his inintent, notisof for reflection.

The ability to see provides of ent ways mapping and navigating the Earth.

In aLasense Brea, stallation ofand pure light, James Turrell expands ourfully experience The empowerment—the nature essence possibility of contemporary of Ruscha controlling visuality and have underyetthe to be Sunset, Orange, De Longpre, Ed superimposes of limitless vision.

The artist explores the expressive qualities Super standing authoritatively Vision has object defined. four ofdistinct Art, our visual as always, sections, analysis. offers each But a exploring space what for areflecthe of names ofthe four well-known Los Angeles streets on are an image light and at New Light, wejuxtaposition discover that what tion particular limits of dialogue, aspace. aspect vision Looking without of and contemporary thelimits? artists in visuality: Super Vision Activated provide Vision, of a and snow-covered mountain peak.

This ofevitwo we are seeing is notofan object, but shift an atmosphere.

Disembodied dence and material Vision, Global the dramatic Positioning, taking and Pleasure/Threat. place in the early very distinct systems of visual representation—one recalling Together, twenty-first century. createAsa you dialogue leave concerning the exhibition, a profound takethe a look and at traditionalthey nineteenth-century landscape painting, other Albert pervasive Oehlen’s change Dose, in our and society. remember, By (GPS) exploring you’re being ournever-ending experience watched.

Before moving forward, notice Josiah McElheny’s evoking global positioning system technology—shows of sight, the possibilities of vision byrelations biology, mirrored universe, horizonless and unconstrained deprived of presence. how complexly layered our representation ofhuman and to the cultural changes caused bythe thisone revolution, and the artists’ He almost thing you would expect space havemagically become.eliminates responses these Superyourself.

Vision invites you tovisual take a to see whentoyou lookchanges, into a mirror: In this new, closer where look atthe today’s visual world. world, relationship between sight and body has been altered, it is no longer clear where we stand.

Emma Fernandez Education & Interpretation Specialist

Photo: © Iwan Baan

Boston. It is the turn of the year 2007. You enter the new ICA building, unaware that you are being watched by discreetly placed cameras. The space feels somehow different from other buildings you’ve visited before. Calculated architectural openings reveal the city and waterscapes in new, unexpected ways. The framing of these views provides a kind of mediation, guiding your eyes back and forth between detail and vista. This mediation of vision and perception has been a key theme for the architects of the new ICA, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), throughout their career. Whether it is the overt use of surveillance technology or the creation of a building that seems to disappear in a mist of fog, DS+R have consistently explored ways that architecture can activate vision, and how vision affects our perception of physical space.

Today, our visual realm is significantly different from that of even 100 years ago—not the biology of sight, but its cultural context. The ICA’s inaugural exhibition, Super Vision, brings together the work of 27 international artists in an open examination of contemporary visuality—that is to say, not only what we are able to see, but also the social and conceptual framework through which we see. These artists take on our contemporary experience of vision, finding it at once pleasurable but also threatening, ubiquitous, and intimate. Their approaches are diverse both in form and in technique, and while some of them take advantage of the new technologies available, others work with media that are more familiar.

Super Vision has four distinct sections, each exploring a particular aspect of contemporary visuality: Activated Vision, Disembodied Vision, Global Positioning, and Pleasure/Threat.

Together, they create a dialogue concerning a profound and pervasive change in our society. By exploring our experience of sight, the possibilities of vision unconstrained by biology, the cultural changes caused by this revolution, and the artists’ responses to these changes, Super Vision invites you to take a closer look at today’s visual world.

Emma Fernandez Education & Interpretation Specialist

Josiah McElheny, Czech Modernism Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely, 2005. Collection of The Institute ACI wen eht retne uoY .7002 raey eht fo nof ruContemporary t eht si tI .noArt, tsoBoston.

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morf tnereffid wohemos sleef ecaps ehT .saremac decalp Bridget Riley, Pause, 1964. Courtesy of Karsten larutcetihcra detaluclaC .erofeb detisiv ev’u oy sgnidLondon. liub rePhoto hto credit: Prudence Cuming Schubert, Associates. © Bridget detcepxenu ,wen ni sepacsretaw dna ytic eht laever sgninepoRiley ,noitaidem fo dnik a sedivorp sweiv eseht fo gnimarf ehT .syaw sihT .atsiv dna liated neewteb htrof dna kcab seye ruoy gnidiug rof emeht yek a neeb sah noitpecrep dna noisiv fo noitaidem , )R+SD( orfneR + oidfiocS relliD , ACI wen eht fo stcetihcra eht -lievrus fo esu trevo eht si ti rehtehW .reerac rieht tuohguorht ot smees taht gnidliub a fo noitaerc eht ro ygolonhcet ecnal derolpxe yltnetsisnoc evah R+SD ,gof fo tsim a ni raeppasid -fa noisiv woh dna ,noisiv etavitca nac erutcetihcra taht syaw .ecaps lacisyhp fo noitpecrep ruo stcef fo taht morf tnereffid yltnacfiingis si mlaer lausiv ruo ,yadoT larutluc sti tub ,thgis fo ygoloib eht ton—oga sraey 001 neve -ot sgnirb ,noisiV repuS ,noitibihxe laruguani s’ACI ehT .txetnoc -animaxe nepo na ni stsitra lanoitanretni 72 fo krow eht rehteg ew tahw ylno ton ,yas ot si taht—ytilausiv yraropmetnoc fo noit krowemarf lautpecnoc dna laicos eht osla tub ,ees ot elba era yraropmetnoc ruo no ekat stsitra esehT .ees ew hcihw hguorht osla tub elbarusaelp ecno ta ti gnidnfi ,noisiv fo ecneirepxe era sehcaorppa riehT .etamitni dna ,suotiuqibu ,gninetaerht meht fo emos elihw dna ,euqinhcet ni dna mrof ni htob esrevid krow srehto ,elbaliava seigolonhcet wen eht fo egatnavda ekat .railimaf erom era taht aidem htiw a gnirolpxe hcae ,snoitces tcnitsid ruof sah noisiV repuS ,noisiV detavitcA :ytilausiv yraropmetnoc fo tcepsa ralucitrap .taerhT/erusaelP dna ,gninoitisoP labolG ,noisiV deidobmesiD dna dnuoforp a gninrecnoc eugolaid a etaerc yeht ,rehtegoT ecneirepxe ruo gnirolpxe yB .yteicos ruo ni egnahc evisavrep ,ygoloib yb deniartsnocnu noisiv fo seitilibissop eht ,thgis fo ’stsitra eht dna ,noitulover siht yb desuac segnahc larutluc eht a ekat ot uoy setivni noisiV repuS ,segnahc eseht ot sesnopser .dlrow lausiv s’yadot ta kool resolc zednanreF ammE tsilaicepS noitaterpretnI & noitacudE

A historic shift in the nature of visuality occurred in the fifteenth century, when the representation of linear perspective was first articulated, based on the presumption that the world is observable from a single and fixed point of view. In Super Vision, the works invite multiple and dynamic points of view, not fully revealing themselves from a unique and static viewing location. Sculptures by Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor appear as continuously morphing shapes that demand a physical engagement while activating our sight in new and often pleasing ways.

As science and technology have made visible different kinds of structures and worlds, from subatomic particles to distant galaxies, our traditional understanding of the natural world has undergone a significant transformation. Many contemporary artists have absorbed these new visions of our world, which are now reflected in their art. Paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations compress and expand, blur and focus, fragment and multiply, advance and recede, twist and redirect. In Bridget Riley’s 1962 painting Pause, the dotted surface, once understood as pure abstraction and optical illusion, can now be perceived as reminiscent of a computer’s virtual screen space—depthless, pixelated, morphing. Vision is dependent on time and space; the way we see this painting is affected by our cultural context.

The drive to see more, whether into infinity or the realm of the invisible, is a recurring theme in Super Vision. Through his installation of pure light, James Turrell expands our experience of limitless vision. The artist explores the expressive qualities of light and space. Looking at New Light, we discover that what we are seeing is not an object, but an atmosphere.

Before moving forward, notice Josiah McElheny’s never-ending mirrored universe, horizonless and deprived of human presence.

He almost magically eliminates the one thing you would expect to see when you look into a mirror: yourself. In this new, visual world, where the relationship between sight and body has been altered, it is no longer clear where we stand.

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New visual technologies, from nanotechnology to satellite vision, have played a fundamental role in the expansion of human sight. While these have offered dramatic advances in our knowledge of the world, they also have resulted in severing the connection between vision and body. The contemporary experience of vision, freed and unconstrained from its biological roots, has profound implications for advanced science and global politics, as well as our everyday lives.

Mona Hatoum dramatically explores some of the consequences of disembodied vision in her video installation Corps étranger. The artist surrenders her own body to the scrutiny of a camera in the ultimate invasion of personal privacy—the video and accompanying soundtrack for this piece were made with the assistance of a doctor using an endoscopic camera to explore the orifices, cavities, and internal organs of the artist’s body.

In a different way, filmmaker Harun Farocki reflects on the new relationship between technology, sight, and the individual as expressed in current military and commercial applications. In Eye/Machine, the artist uses preexisting footage from industrial and military training reels, the 1991 Gulf War, surveillance images, and television clips. His subtitles suggest the consequences of machine vision: the human scale was missing … the machines perform the task blindly … images without social intent, not for reflection. The ability to see provides a sense of empowerment—the possibility of controlling and fully understanding the object of our visual analysis. But what are the limits of a vision without limits?

etilletas ot ygolonhcetonan morf ,seigolonhcet lausiv weN -uh fo noisnapxe eht ni elor latnemadnuf a deyalp evah ,noisiv ruo ni secnavda citamard dereffo evah eseht elihW .thgis nam gnireves ni detluser evah osla yeht ,dlrowJack ehGoldstein, t fo egdeUntitled, lwonk 1983. Courtesy of yraropmetnoc ehT .ydob dna noisiv neewMetro teb nPictures, oitcenno c eYork. ht © 2003 Estate of New -igoloib sti morf deniartsnocnu dna deerf ,nJack oisivGoldstein fo ecneirepxe dna ecneics decnavda rof snoitacilpmi dnuoEdfoRuscha, rp sah La ,stBrea, oor laSunset, c Orange, De Longpre, 1999.

Museum of Art, .sevil yadyreve ruo sa llew sa ,Collection scitilop laofbCarnegie olg Pittsburg; Heinz Family Fund. © Ed Ruscha

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Displaced and off-center, disembodied and dehumanized, contemporary vision has redefined the way we see our world and perceive our place in it. It is roughly forty years since the Apollo 8 astronauts returned from their mission with the first photographs of Earth taken from outer space. Earthrise shows our planet as it had never been seen—beautiful, yes, but also vulnerable, and relatively small within the vastness of the universe.

From the premodern camera obscura to the modern digital camera, photography has transformed our understanding of the world; but that was just the beginning: the Internet, satellite navigation systems, web cams, cell phone cameras, and much more are now part of our everyday life. In a world where it seems all representations are in some way mediated, do we need Yoko Ono’s Sky TV to remind us of the beauty of the sky?

Or is the sky beautiful because it is on TV? Contemporary vision technologies present a high-definition image of our world, yet it somehow feels unreal—flat, cropped, decontextualized, too close to grasp, too far to relate to. In this room, paintings by Jack Goldstein, Gerhard Richter, and Sigmar Polke reference photography’s ability to show and transform the visible, whether in the macro vision of sky observatories and Google Earth or the micro vision of molecular science.

Our new visual knowledge of the world requires different ways of mapping and navigating the Earth. In La Brea, Sunset, Orange, De Longpre, Ed Ruscha superimposes the names of four well-known Los Angeles streets on an image of a snow-covered mountain peak. This juxtaposition of two very distinct systems of visual representation—one recalling traditional nineteenth-century landscape painting, the other evoking global positioning system (GPS) technology—shows how complexly layered our representation of and relations to space have become.

-noc ,dezinamuhed dna deidobmesid ,retnec-ffo dna decalpsiD dna dlrow ruo ees ew yaw eht denfieder sah noisiv yraropmet ollopA eht ecnis sraey ytrof ylhguor si tI .ti ni ecalp ruo eviecrep -otohp tsrfi eht htiw noissim rieht morf denruter stuanortsa 8 ruo swohs esirhtraE .ecaps retuo morf nekat htraE fo shparg -renluv osla tub ,sey ,lufituaeb—nees neeb reven dah ti sa tenalp .esrevinu eht fo ssentsav eht nihtiw llams ylevitaler dna ,elba latigid nredom eht ot arucsbo aremac nredomerp eht morF fo gnidnatsrednu ruo demrofsnart sah yhpargotohp ,aremac -letas ,tenretnI eht :gninnigeb eht tsuj saw taht tub ;dlrow eht dna ,saremac enohp llec ,smac bew ,smetsys noitagivan etil erehw dlrow a nI .efil yadyreve ruo fo trap won era erom hcum ew od ,detaidem yaw emos ni era snoitatneserper lla smees ti Jeff Koons, Olive Oyl, 2003. Courtesy of the artist ?yks eht fo ytuaeb eht fo su dnimer ot VT ykS s’Dakis onO o koY deCollection, en and Joannou Athens. © Jeff Koons ?VT no si ti esuaceb lufituaeb yks eht si rO noitinfied-hgih a tneserp seigolonhcet noisiv yraropmetnoC ,depporc ,tafl—laernu sleef wohemos ti tey ,dlrow ruo fo egami siht nI .ot etaler ot raf oot ,psarg ot esolc oot ,dezilautxetnoced ramgiS dna ,rethciR drahreG ,nietsdloG kcaJ yb sgnitniap ,moor mrofsnart dna wohs ot ytiliba s’yhpargotohp ecnerefer ekloP seirotavresbo yks fo noisiv orcam eht ni rehtehw ,elbisiv eht .ecneics ralucelom fo noisiv orcim eht ro htraE elgooG dna -reffid seriuqer dlrow eht fo egdelwonk lausiv wen ruO ,aerB aL nI .htraE eht gnitagivan dna gnippam fo syaw tne eht sesopmirepus ahcsuR dE ,erpgnoL eD ,egnarO ,tesnuS egami na no steerts selegnA soL nwonk-llew ruof fo seman owt fo noitisopatxuj sihT .kaep niatnuom derevoc-wons a fo gnillacer eno—noitatneserper lausiv fo smetsys tcnitsid yrev rehto eht ,gnitniap epacsdnal yrutnec-htneetenin lanoitidart swohs—ygolonhcet )SPG( metsys gninoitisop labolg gnikove ot snoitaler dna fo noitatneserper ruo dereyal ylxelpmoc woh .emoceb evah ecaps

The social and cultural ramifications of contemporary visuality remain largely unknown. We have expanded both what we can see and the ways in which we see. The mediated quality of vision today refers not only to the technology used to create imagery, but also the contexts in which images are used and perceived. As we become familiar with depictions of our world that are not reliant on single-point perspective, the possibilities are both thrilling and daunting. Sigmar Polke’s exquisite and textured painting reminds us of the importance of context or lack thereof. The artist has magnified the original subject of the image to the point of disintegration, where we no longer know what we are seeing.

Several artworks in this room touch upon the multilayered aspect of today’s superhuman vision. Jeff Koons invokes the fantasy worlds of superheroes, superpowers, and supermodels all at once. Photoshop, the popular software created by Adobe, plays a huge role in the creation of this seemingly fluid image, a visual metaphor of our image-saturated culture, both overwhelming and exhilarating at the same time. A similar visual explosion takes place in Julie Mehretu’s Dispersion, where several layers of ink and acrylic paint, still visible on the surface, are compressed together to create a breathtaking landscape of color, fire, and smoke. Loosely inspired by the attacks of September 11, Mehretu’s work captures a vision of contemporary destruction—chaotic, fragmented, and spectacular.

The nature and essence of contemporary visuality have yet to be authoritatively defined. Art, as always, offers a space for reflection and dialogue, and the artists in Super Vision provide evidence and material of the dramatic shift taking place in the early twenty-first century. As you leave the exhibition, take a look at Albert Oehlen’s Dose, and remember, you’re being watched.

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MINIST»RE DES AFFAIRES …TRANG»RES

RELATED PROGRAMS SUPER VISION FILM SERIES

WHAT NEW IS

From futuristic tales of perilous technology to stunning, surreal imagery, these films bring “super vision” to the big screen, demonstrating the gripping power of the medium.

Tickets: $9 general admission; $7 members, seniors, and students.

A celebrity speaker series presenting the most creative thinkers, artists, authors, and performers—the pacesetters of contemporary culture.

Tickets: $25 general admission; $20 members, seniors, and students.

Videodrome by David Cronenberg Friday, January 5, 7 pm

What New Is is sponsored by Fiduciary Trust Company.

Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro Sneak Preview Sunday, January 7, 3 PM The Matrix by Andy and Larry Wachowski Thursday, January 18, 7 pm Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze Friday, January 19, 7 pm Superman by Richard Donner Sunday, January 21, 3 pm Cremaster 5 by Matthew Barney Sunday, January 21, 7 pm

Diller Scofidio + Renfro, “Unimpaired Vision” Hear the architects’ perspective on realizing the design for the ICA. Wednesday, January 17, 6:30 pm

UNCOVER THURSDAYS

Drop in for one of these free programs held in the galleries on selected Target Free Thursday Nights, and let a diverse array of speakers help you see things differently. Admission is free.

Curator’s Talk: Nicholas Baume leads a tour of Super Vision Thursday, February 1, 6:30 pm Seen/Unseen with Aude Oliva, cognitive neuroscientist at MIT, and Dan Buchner, Vice President of Innovation and Design at Design Continuum Thursday, March 1, 6:30 pm

FREE PUBLIC TOURS

The ICA offers public tours of Super Vision and the ICA’s new museum on Target Free Thursday Nights at 6 pm and each Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm.

Tours are free with museum admission and leave from the lobby.

IN THE ICA STORE Super Vision catalogue Super Vision is accompanied by a 208page, full-color catalogue featuring essays by curator Nicholas Baume, art historian David Joselit, and McKenzie Wark, author of A Hacker Manifesto.

FOR FAMILIES

Play Date: Sightseeing at the ICA Saturday, March 31, 10 am – 4 pm Take an Absolute Vision tour of the ICA, visit Super Vision with Underground Railway Theater, and take in a matinee

by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal.

Free for two adults accompanied by children 12 and under.

Free Family Guide Pick one up at the front desk and explore contemporary art together. Appropriate for children ages 6–12 or younger children with adult assistance.

SUPER VISION AUDIO TOUR

Go deep inside the exhibition with this audio tour. Rent an iPod with the Super Vision audio tour from the ICA admissions desk or download it to your own player from our website.

Music Overheard An audio response to Super Vision, Music Overheard is an anthology compiled by Boston-based musicians Damon Krukowski, Bhob Rainey, and Kenneth Goldsmith. Buy it in the ICA Store or download it as part of the Super Vision audio tour at www.icaboston.org.

GENERAL INFORMATION MUSEUM, STORE & CAFE HOURS

ACCESSIBILITY

Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am – 5 pm Thursday and Friday 10 am – 9 pm Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 5 pm

The ICA is fully wheelchair and stroller accessible.

Closed Monday, except on the following national holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day.

CONTACT

General Information 617-478-3100 Membership 617-478-3102 Box Office 617-478-3103 Web www.icaboston.org E-mail info@icaboston.org

ADMISSION

DIRECTIONS

$12 general admission $10 students and seniors FREE members and children 17 and under FREE after 5 pm on Target Free Thursday Nights FREE families (two adults accompanied by children 12 and under) on the last Saturday of each month

The ICA is located at 100 Northern Avenue in Boston. It is a short walk from downtown and easily accessible by public transportation. There is also ample, affordable parking in the area.

Target Free Thursday Nights are sponsored

by Target.

The ICA’s public programs are supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Via public transportation: From South Station, take the MBTA Silver Line to Courthouse Station. Exit the station onto Seaport Boulevard and follow it (walking away from downtown) to the first intersection. Take a left onto Northern Avenue. The ICA is located 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