Institute of Contemporary Art

Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo bring their hip-hop style from Brazil in their first U.S. Museum Exhibition, occupying Dewey Square in a whole new way with a controversial mural, while charming with their showcase at the ICA Boston With Os Gemeos, the real controversy is how anyone could see the playing child in the mural and not smile.

For 71 minutes I got religion while completely absorbed by the Shaker inspired Borrowed Light a collaboration between Tero Saarinen Company and The Boston Camerata. The 2004 work had its 2006 U.S. premiere at Jacob's Pillow and has returned via "popular demand" for Pillow's 80th season. It was a stunning highlight of an anniversary celebration.

Through delicate glass vessels and metal chandeliers weighing several hundred pounds, Josiah McElheny ponders infinity across a variety of reflective surfaces at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art through October 14th.

From the Colonial Era through the present Boston has been notable for its passion and commitment to painters. The artist Chawky Freen has succeeded in the daunting challenge of publishing an overview of 100 Boston Painters. This is an invaluable contribution to an aspect of contemporary art in Boston.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Huntington Theatre Company, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announce additional events and offerings as part of the third Emerging America— an annual festival featuring groundbreaking performance by American artists June 21 to 24.

Between 1893 and 1895, Edvard Munch, 30 when he started the cycle, made four versions of "The Scream." It has proved to be one of the most iconic images of modern art. Three of the paintings are owned by museums in Norway. Two have been stolen and since recovered. The fourth, a pastel version from 1895, the last in private hands, set a new auction record this week at $120 million. That's a lot of cash for high anxiety.

The Cindy Sherman restrospective at MoMA is a must see knockout. It demonstrates why she is among the most successful and widely appreciated artists of her generation. While following the simple premise of photographing herself in a range of setting and personas there has been a remarkable ongoing evolution theough the work.

Two new exhibitions open Aug. 1 at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. The ICA is presenting the first solo U.S. museum exhibition of Brazilian street artists Os Gêmeos and work by Dianna Molzan who is creating an all new body of work for ICA exhibition

Numerous unique events in Boston this week. Maestro Bernard Haitink leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s warm and ever-popular Pastoral Symphony. Handel and Hayden presents the memorable Mozart Coronation. The Celebrity Series showcases at Jordan Hall: Emerson String Quartet, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra ends its season with Mahler Triumphant! ArtsEmerson presents Hershey Felder in Maestro: Leonard Bernstein while The Luck of the Irish final weeks continue at the Huntington Theatre. The Institute of Contemporary Art presents the 49th Ann Arbor Film Festival of animation and technical innovation.

A flurry of activities in both Boston and Cambridge this week. Do not miss the Elliot Norton laureate William Kentridge will present his animated films at the Harvard Archives. The Jewish film festival promises a variety of special movies. Maestro Bernard Haitink will conduct at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Institute of Contemporary Art & World Music/CRASHARTS showcases the unforgettable India Jazz Suites: Kathak Meets Tap.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents performing arts programming at its Boston Harbor location for Summer 2012. Programming includes perennial summer favorites Talking Taste, Harborwalk Sounds, and DJs on the Harbor, plus dance performances and the return of Experiment, bringing 50 writers, dancers, actors, and performers to the museum for an immersive theatrical experience.

Do not miss Huntington Theatre Company opening of The Luck of the Irish. The American Repertory Theater continues its creative & invigorating Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps. The Boston Symphony Orchestra presents Ravel, Salonen and Stravinsky under the baton of the acclaimed maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen while the Celebrity Series features the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The Harvard Film Archives showcases three exceptional films by Michael Glawogger and The Museum of Fine Arts presents films on Gerhard Richter Painting and Hollywood Scriptures series.

Boston University professor Patricia Hills continues coverage of the ambitious, multi venue project Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. We pick up the dialogue with Day Two starting with The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, with its exhibition MEX/L.A.: “Mexican” Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985.

The American Repertory Theater presents Futurity: A Musical by The Lisps while the Huntington Theatre Company features Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Luck of the Irish. The Boston Turkish Film Festival continues at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Harvard Film Archives presents a retrospective on Carmelo Bene. The Coolidge Corner Theater features “She Stoops to Conquer” a play from the National Theater in London. The Boston Symphony Orchestra welcomes Orchestra Greek violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavados.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) presents The International Experimental Cinema Exposition (TIE), with an introduction by curator and TIE founder Christopher May, on Sunday, April 1 at 4 p.m. in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater. Tickets for the screenings are $10 general admission or $8 for members, students, and seniors.

The Canadian Biennal was staged in 1989 at the National Gallery in Ottowa and shelved for lack of funding after that. Under Marc Mayer it has been revived. But rather than a true biennial the 2011 incarnation was an overview of recent acquisitions.

This June, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston presents the first museum survey of Josiah McElheny. McElheny uses the ancient and labor intensive medium of glass to create objects of exceptional beauty and formal sophistication. An artist of diverse interests, McElheny draws on art history, politics, and cosmology (a branch of astronomy that deals with the structure of the universe) to encode his glassworks with information, turning these exquisite objects into repositories of meaning. A mid-career survey of the artist’s work, Josiah McElheny: Some Pictures of Infinity

Many wonderful things to do during a cold winter week: The Goethe Institute launches a primary source concert series: between house and stage – public and private music making in the 18th century. The Boston Symphony Orchestra proposes a special Valentine evening of Gastronomy and Music and free chorale masterpieces. The Boston Celebrity Series presents Soweto Gospel Choir. The American Repertory Theatre premieres “Wild Swans,” a journey from the early days of Communist hope and struggle in China, through the chaos and confusion of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. and much more to warm your heart and mind.

Not to be missed Stephen Petronio’s Boston Premiere: performance of dance, music and visual imagery at the Institute of Contemporary Art; Emanuel Ax at Boston Symphony Orchestra; Sérgio and Odair Assad, duo guirtarits and Soweto Gospel Choir presented by Boston Celebrity Series. The Harvard Film Archives features live Director David Gatten in conversation with Curator Mark McElhatten. The Museum of Fine Arts presents a film on Boston College. The Boston Ballet showcases three ballets: Les Sylphides by Fokine, Polyphonia by Wheeldon and Symphony in Three Movements by Balanchine.

Both the Director and Chief Curator positions have been endowed for the first time in the Institute of Contemporary Art's 75 year history. Ellen Poss has endowed the Director position, now named the Ellen Matilda Poss Director; and Barbara Lee has endowed the Chief Curator post, now named the Barbara Lee Chief Curator.

The ICA has two extraordinary programs not to be missed: Dance/Draw exhibition and Trisha Brown Floor to Forrest performance final week as well as Andy’s Warhol: God Squad’s Kitchen that showed to sold-out performance in New York. The Harvard Film Archives presents three films by directors Dominik Graf, Christian Petzold and Christoph Hochhäusler the result of their correspondence on the subjects of film aesthetics, the Berlin School, Germany and the film genre. Music can be heard at the MFA: J.S. Bach: The Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord and at the venerable Symphony Orchestra with excerpts of Weber, Beethoven, Harbison & Strauss.

A rich week of Christmas Music: Bach at the Jordan Hall with the Handel & Haydn Society; Medieval Music with the Boston Camerata; Celtic Music at the Cutler Majestic & NEC Millennium Gospel Choir at the MFA. Longy School of Music presents Antonio Cesti’s opera Orontea. The Harvard Film Archives continues Henri-George Clouzot’s retrospective while the MFA has a series of films dedicated to Architecture (Foster, Eames and Portman); Arts Emerson presents the great Katherine Hepburn. Dance is featured through Diplomacy Through Dance: 
Bringing American Modern Dance to Kazakhstan. Enjoy!

For the upcoming winter and spring 2012, the ICA has developed a full and provocative series of events that include an array of performances, film programs and lectures. Be there or be square.

American Repertory Theatre presents Three Pianos – A Toast to Shubert’s Winterreise. The Goethe Institute showcases the Nobel Prize Screening. Two films retrospectives continue: The Greek Cinema at the Museum of Fine Arts and Henri-Georges Clouzot at the Harvard Film Archives. Boston Symphony Orchestra is on tour in San Francisco.

The Museum of Fine Arts presents a retrospective of Greek Cinema while the Harvard Film Archives continues Henri-Georges Clouzot retrospective. Boston Symphony Orchestra debut of Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek with Mahler and Harbison. WGBH proposes an evening with Rick Steves while the Boston Symphony Orchestra hosts a book signing for Ron Della Chiesa, Radio My Way.