2008 Woodie Awards
"I see a" cool new museum: Boston's ICA
Terri Ciccone
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Arts and Entertainment
A small room off to the side of the permanent collection gallery at the newly opened Institute of Contemporary Art looks as if it were a place for a stairwell or water fountain.
Don't pass by, though, because the room reveals a surprising spectacle: projected images of shadows lie on the floor.
Various silhouettes of objects float up and down a telephone poll while its wires seem to blow with an invisible wind. Shadows of people fall to the ground, while earthly objects such as buses and eyeglasses eerily glide upwards towards the heavens.
Almost as interesting as the piece itself ("1st Light" by Paul Chan) are the faces of the people viewing it. Some sit on the floor and watch with their eyes wide. A small grin grows on their faces indicating that they understand or feel something.
Others stand around in admiration. Reactions like this can be found in almost every part of the ICA.
It takes a few circles around the new 65,000 square foot building before stumbling upon the small seam that distinguishes the glass door from the rest of the plate glass walls that seem to hold the building together.
Entering the large and brightly lit building feels like stepping inside a perfectly made machine. The floor is made of chrome, each wall is flawlessly white and the glass elevator that takes you to the galleries is about the size of a dorm room.
Once the massive elevator doors open on the fourth floor, an eerie silence seems to fill the room.
This silence is due to the consuming awe that takes over when stepping into a gallery. These galleries are filled with the most extraordinary things that must be recognized for their beauty, but that would never be found in an ordinary art museum. The ICA opened the doors of its new waterfront home to the public in December after relocating from its homey digs next to a firehouse on Boylston Street, and the new galleries dwarf the exhibtion space of the old museum.
Artist Kelly Sherman is responsible for "Seating Plans," an exhibit displayed in the east gallery in which seating plans and charts are hung on the walls to reflect family dynamics and emotion.
Don't pass by, though, because the room reveals a surprising spectacle: projected images of shadows lie on the floor.
Various silhouettes of objects float up and down a telephone poll while its wires seem to blow with an invisible wind. Shadows of people fall to the ground, while earthly objects such as buses and eyeglasses eerily glide upwards towards the heavens.
Almost as interesting as the piece itself ("1st Light" by Paul Chan) are the faces of the people viewing it. Some sit on the floor and watch with their eyes wide. A small grin grows on their faces indicating that they understand or feel something.
Others stand around in admiration. Reactions like this can be found in almost every part of the ICA.
It takes a few circles around the new 65,000 square foot building before stumbling upon the small seam that distinguishes the glass door from the rest of the plate glass walls that seem to hold the building together.
Entering the large and brightly lit building feels like stepping inside a perfectly made machine. The floor is made of chrome, each wall is flawlessly white and the glass elevator that takes you to the galleries is about the size of a dorm room.
Once the massive elevator doors open on the fourth floor, an eerie silence seems to fill the room.
This silence is due to the consuming awe that takes over when stepping into a gallery. These galleries are filled with the most extraordinary things that must be recognized for their beauty, but that would never be found in an ordinary art museum. The ICA opened the doors of its new waterfront home to the public in December after relocating from its homey digs next to a firehouse on Boylston Street, and the new galleries dwarf the exhibtion space of the old museum.
Artist Kelly Sherman is responsible for "Seating Plans," an exhibit displayed in the east gallery in which seating plans and charts are hung on the walls to reflect family dynamics and emotion.
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