At Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art, March 19-July 6 -“A World of Glass”.
Trying to make sense of chaos…..”A World of Glass” is an exhibit containing 193 sculptures and four video projections responding to the “…transparency, fragility and vulnerability of the world.”
Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg and Swedish composer Hans Berg chart their exploration of the complexities of the human condition in various media by placing a cast of handcrafted characters in seemingly playful situations that inevitably may turn sinister.
The works address themes of discovery, desire, and suffering that expose the precarious nature of humanity. This fragility is reflected in the polyurethane sculptures, which also make appearances in each video. Cast from household objects the sculptures …”explore the border between the beautiful and the monstrous.”
Four tables of sculptures and four videos will be installed together in the Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser Gallery to create a fully immersive, sensorial environment of glowing polyurethane, tinkling glass, and vibrant video projections. The exhibition will be accompanied by a brochure that will include a short essay and color images of the artist’s work.
About the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston
The Institute of Contemporary Art was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936 with offices rented on State Street and gallery space provided by the Fogg Museum at Harvard. The Museum planned itself as “a renegade offspring of the Museum of Modern Art”, and was led by its first president, 26-year-old architect, Nathaniel Saltonstall.
The first exhibit curated by the new museum was the first survey show of Paul Gauguin in the Boston Area.
Also in this first year the institutions first fundraiser was held, the Modern Art Ball, to which many big names in the art world attended including Gala and Salvador Dali who entered the ball dressed as sharks!
In 1966 the Museum organized an Andy Warhol exhibition including roughly 40 works. This including iconic selections from Campbell’s Soup Cans, portraits of Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as the first exhibitions in a museum setting of Warhol’s films including Eat, Sleep, and Kiss. Also 1966 year saw Warhol and -The Velvet Underground- stage a performance of Exploding Plastic Inevitable at the ICA.
After a few incarnations and various “homes”, in 2006 the ICA moved to its new 65,000 square foot building on Fan Pier now containing both galleries and a performance space.
This same year, the museum began to build its permanent collection. Since moving to its new building, the ICA has presented world premiers of dance performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2007 and the Jones/Zane Dance Company in 2011. Exhibits have included the first major museum surveys of works by Tara Donovan in 2008, as well as Damian Ortega and Mark Bradford.
The building’s design, which echoes that of nearby waterfront gantry cranes (needed for shipbuilding) has been celebrated by many critics for its openness, its exterior grand staircase, and a “willingness to embrace the surrounding harbor”. The ICA was the recipient of the Harleston Parker Medal in 2007 awarded to “the most beautiful piece of architecture” in Boston.