Institute of Contemporary Art

Latest Articles

Year in Art: Beyond the gloom

Continuing cheer in dark times
The Boston art scene felt muted for much of 2008, with 10 galleries closing and the death of two local icons: Harriet Casdin-Silver and Jules Aarons.
By GREG COOK | December 22, 2008

Real time savers

Whither wristwatches?
Breaking news: scientists have eradicated the social malady known as "watch tan." The cure, of course, was the advent of the cell phone.
By GEORGIANA COHEN | December 17, 2008

A small, good thing

Fred Frith and Cosa Brava try songs for a change
It's no surprise that Fred Frith, who's one of the world's leading improvising musicians and a wildly inventive composer, would form a group called Cosa Brava.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | December 09, 2008

Seeking Relevance

A MECA faculty show goes didactic
Here in Maine we're used to living in a mediated landscape. Painters have been reframing how we see the shore and woods for generations, defining what's worth looking at for a larger audience.
By KEN GREENLEAF | December 03, 2008

Loud and clear

The 2008 Foster Prize at the ICA, Adel Abdessemed at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center
Although it's no stretch to say that contemporary artists are eager to say something, the art world has seen its fair share of awkwardly shitty gallery talks.
By EVAN J. GARZA | November 26, 2008

Vanishing Boston

A field guide to Boston's 'lasting' treasures — to be enjoyed before they're razed in favor of chain stores
The Boston we live in today will be gone someday, but there's still time to get to know it in all its uniqueness.
By MIKE MILIARD, ADAM REILLY, AND CHRIS FARAONE | December 12, 2008

Game show

Who will win the ICA's Foster Prize?
On November 12, the Institute of Contemporary Art opened its biennial Foster Prize exhibit of “Boston-area artists of exceptional promise.”
By GREG COOK | November 18, 2008

The great Boston art shakeout

Ten local galleries closed this year. Where are we going?
By September, the Harrison Avenue gallery district seemed to have become a zombie, stiffly stumbling forward, as the citywide exhibit-space upheaval that began this past spring caught up with the neighborhood.
By GREG COOK | November 14, 2008

Photos: Shepard Fairey in Harvard Square

By GREG COOK | October 30, 2008

Chan we can believe in

Paul Chan at the Carpenter Center, ‘Keeping Time’ at the PRC, Julia Hechtman at Artists Foundation, Inaugural Exhibition at Walker Contemporary
If you’ve visited the Institute of Contemporary Art at any point in the last few years — in either of its physical incarnations — there’s a good chance you’ve seen Paul Chan’s work.
By EVAN J. GARZA | October 29, 2008

Conflict and convergence

Bill T. Jones and Celtic Tap at the ICA
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company’s Another Evening: Serenade/The Proposition is an elegant layering of dance, design, music, and words.
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | October 28, 2008

Radical chic

Shepard Fairey posters Harvard Square
“The gallery system relies on supply and demand, and I created a demand for my work by doing street art.”
By GREG COOK | October 31, 2008

Styrofoam sorcery

Tara Donovan's mad-scientist magic invades the ICA
They seem like something dreamed up by a mad-scientist Martha Stewart tinkering in her cellar late at night.
By GREG COOK | October 22, 2008

It’s about time . . .

The Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music starts in Boston
It’s been 17 years since Boston’s last local festival of contemporary music, the New Music Harvest organized by composer Charles Fussell: 19 programs (several free), a celebration of composer Ned Rorem, an opera production performed by BU students, and the participation of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 25, 2008