Mass MOCA

MASS MoCA's 2012 exhibition of Oh Canada "Art from North North America," is hitting the road. The expansive exhibition, which includes more than 100 works by over 60 artists, will travel to multiple venues across Canada. The exhibition will show in a multi-venue format, on view in The Maritimes from June 27, 2014, through September 21, 2014, and in Calgary from January 31, 2015 through April 26, 2015.

The Solid Sound Festival of Wilco has been a shot in the arm for the Northern Berkshire County tourism and hospitality industry. They will return to North Adams in 2015 but not this summer. This will be fourth festival organized by the band for Mass MoCA.

During a dialogue with the artist Izhar Patkin about his Mass MoCA exhibition David Ross hit a dead end when he asked whether there is a Jewish art? At this point in post modernism, with more than a century since Marc Chagall, Jacques Lipchitz, Chaim Soutine or Amedeo Modigliani, it is not a question that one would ask a Jewish American artist. But is it relevant for an Israeli Sabra?

In the vast space of Building Five, for the coming year, Mass MoCA is hosting a retrospective for the Israeli born artist Izhar Patkin. A series of rooms features Veils inspired by the poems of a collaborator, the deceased Pakistani poet, Agha Shahid Ali. The artist is challenged by solving technical problems for a variety of approaches to painting in sculpture in a range of media. Central to his practice is a commitment to modernist inspired narratives devoid of the irony of post modernism.

The 82nd Festival season will feature more than 52 companies performing on three stages: the historic Ted Shawn Theatre; the intimate Doris Duke Theatre; and the open-air Henry J. Leir Stage, home to the Pillow’s free Inside/Out Performance Series, which served more than 21,000 community members last season. More than 350 free and ticketed dance performances, talks, tours, exhibits, films, classes, and community events will be offered June 14-August 24, 2014.

Given negative trends in media it comes as no surprise that The North Adams Transcript will merge with the Berkshire Eagle as of January 20. The weekly Adovcate, which has been in freefall for the past few years, will cease publication. As a part of the transition the Eagle will exand its weekly arts tabloid insert from summer to year round. Given the importance of the economy based on cultural tourism, and coverage of issues and politics in the still depressed Northern Berkshire County, despite attempts at positive spin this is really bad news.

Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through April 6 is the most compelling and insightful contemporary exhibition currently on view in New York museums. Unquestionably some of the most important work of the past few years has been created by Chinese artists. There are 70 works on view by 35 artists in this fascinating exhibition.

Relaunching after renovations the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented two special exhiitions- Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray (9 August 1878 – 31 October 1976) the Irish born furniture designer, and architect and Leonora Carrington (6 April 1917 – 25 May 2011) a British-born–Mexican artist, surrealist painter and novelist. Her mother was Irish.

Building Five of Mass MoCA is one of the largest and most magnificent spaces for contemporary art in North America. It is always fascinating to see how artists respond to the daunting challenge. Izhar Patkin: The Wandering Veil is now on view for the coming year.

The four day conference ended on October 13. It was titled: International Opportunities in the Arts: Engaging Minds and drew more than 400 artists, administrators and participants from many art related venues worldwide. An exhilarating experience!

In 2011-2012 The Getty Foundation sponsored Pacific Standard Time which involved 60 cultural institutions in Southern California. The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles presented "Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." The exhibition, which was awarded Best Thematic Exhibit Nationally for 2012 by the International Asssociation of Art Critics (AICA), is on view at the Williams College Museum of Art through December 1.

In collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation a building dedicated to works by the German artist, Anselm Kiefer, will be on view at Mass MoCA for the next 15 years. Combined with the 25 year agreement for the Sol LeWitt building this greatly enhances the museum as America's foremost destination for contemporary art.

Some five years previously, Robert Wilson explained, he had been approached by the mayor of Oberammergau, a community of 5,000 that has been presenting a Passion Play, every ten years, since 1634. The resultant 14 Stations were reinstalled at Mass MoCA in 2001 where they remained on view for a year. This report is reposted from Maverick Arts Magazine.

Documenta, in Kassel Germany is the largest and one of the formative biennials. Actually it is held every five years. This is a report on Documenta 11 which is reposted from a September 11, 2002 article in Maverick Arts Magazine. It was organized by the African curator Okwui Enwezer.

The September/ October edition of Art New England includes a section devoted to the Berkshires. To celebrate there was a reception hosted by the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams. We got a chance to catch up with publisher Tim Montgomery whom we knew back in the day when he was in sales for the legendary Rock of Boston the pioneering WBCN. Several years ago he acquired the publication and continues its mandate as the foremost publication covering New England.

Part Three you wonder? It's our second road trip which we chronicled in daily entries, noting all roads by numbers. And what an adventure! The stops in this report include days in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC.

For its gala 2012, 75th anniversary Tanglewood logged its third best attendance at 375,776. This year, despite generally favorable weather, attendance declined by 9%. Non classical programming was off by 14% largely attributed to the absence of James Taylor whose three concerts last season sold 54, 385 tickets (minus comps). Even with deep pockets and a broad base of support it has been a year of red ink for Mark Volpe and the BSO. There is no need for panic but it's time to bring in consultants to book non classical programming.

For her third season as artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival Jenny Gersten produced an amazing three musicals in a program of seven productions. Bridges of Madison County opens on Broadway in January but Gersten insists her mandate is to create shows for Williamstown. We met to discuss the season which ends this weekend. This is part one of that dialogue.

In a discussion of her new solo CD “Jane Hudson Links and Bridges” the Williamstown based artist/ musician and partner in Hudson’s Antiques at Mass MoCA states that “The title comes from reading Giles Deleuze, the brilliant postmodern French philosopher, who explores the viral connections, unexpected trajectories and other valences of experience.” Pretty heavy.

It is difficult to find authentic international cuisine in the Berkshires. Owner Fahri Kakakaya has recruited a fellow Turk, Ahmet Alcay, as chef and relaunched the large space on Main Street in North Adams as Medi-Terra, American Mediterranean Bistro. There are Italian items on the menu but we opted to try the superb and unique Turkish Cuisine. We strongly recommend this for a winning combination of tasty, exotic flavors, affordable prices and a comfortable, uncrowded ambiance. Try it for salad and sandwiches at lunch or come back for a leisurely dinner with beer and wine.

Initially Mass MoCA director Joe Thompson denied that there would be a new Kiefer Building. We reported it anyway ages ago. Thompson confirmed it during a recent interview and now its official as reported today in the Berkshire Eagle. The fun begins on September 27.

This time next year the Clark Art Institute will open its Tadao Ando designed campus expansion. Mass MoCA unveils its new Anselm Kiefer building this fall. That adds to its existing Sol LeWitt building. The resultant boost in visitation, as well as more events like the recent Solid Sound Festival, are a part of plans for the expansion and growth of business, tourism and jobs for a region with twice the rate of state unemployment. That's down from seven times the unemployment rate in the early 1990s.

During the recent Solid Sound Festival Jack Criddle, who grew up on the Mass MoCA campus as the son of its chief preparator, Richard Criddle, returned to town from his home in Brooklyn. He shares behind the scenes adventures as a part of the production crew of TrixieFilm which documented the three day event which drew just shy of 8,000 participants.

On Saturday of the recent, third Wilco Solid Sound Festival at about 7,800 Mass MoCA set a single day attendance record. While it would be possible to sell a few hundred more tickets Mass MoCA director Joe Thompson insists that for the comfort and quality of the event that's just about capacity. With the sale of some 7,200 tickets, about 10% to Berkshire county residents, the event took in but also spent a lot of money. Given ongoing infrastructure development and expenses Thompson said that the museum will be close to breaking even or making a little after the final tally. But it's a ton of work.

Opening the festival on Friday night Wilco performed a set of requests. Last night they returned to Joe Thompson Field, under a moonlit sky, to deliver a set of 28 songs. Fans came from far and wide for the third and most successful of the Solid Sound Festivals which concludes this afternoon.