Mass MOCA

From now through March, 2013 Mass MoCA will display the first major museum level survey of contemporary Canadian art in the United States. The work of sixty plus artists was selected through a process of some 400 studio visits over the past few years by curator Denise Markonish. It's a lively, upbeat, sprawling exhibition but don't expect any quick answers to the question of what is Canadian about Canadian art. Mostly it's like contemporary American art just less familiar and farther north,.

On Thursday, June 28, 2012, Kidspace at MASS MoCA will open the Bus Stand, a public artwork by Queensbury, New York-based artist Victoria Palermo, who was inspired by her 2010 Kidspace artist-in-residency in the North Adams middle schools to create a colorful work of art on Main Street that would combine the functional with the aesthetic.

While not exactly an overhaul, Mark Volpe appears to be tweaking the programming at Tanglewood. Sticking with the mantra of Tanglewood as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra means facing the reality or an eroding, senior audience. The annual season ending Tanglewood Jazz Festival has been scrapped replaced by booking A list jazz artists Wynton Marsalis and Christain McBride in Ozawa Hall and Pops in the Shed for a boldy revamped Labor Day weekend. And that's not all.

That opening night for the 2012 season, June 26, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival is inching ever closer. In her second season as artistic director Jenny Gersten is finalizing casting for a lively mix of classics and new works. Many WTF alumni like Blythe Danner and Brooks Ashmanskas are on board as well as last season's Lily Taylor. We are excited to see Tyne Daly penciled in. As a sidebar to the 62 Center for the first time Mass Moca is in the mix hosting a new work by rock star David Byrne.

On Saturday, May 26, 2012, MASS MoCA opens Oh, Canada, a massive exhibition featuring more than 100 works by 62 artists and collectives from the north, and kicks off the institution's 14th year with a celebratory dance party with music by DJ Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene. In addition to Canadian programming in the galleries and on stage, MASS MoCA's summer will include music from bands like Real Estate and the legendary Sweet Honey In The Rock.

Canadian icon Patrick Watson brings his unique blend of cabaret-pop and classically influenced indie rock to the Berkshires when he performs as part of MASS MoCA's Alt Cabaret series this summer on Saturday, June 30, at 8 PM. Raised in Quebec and now residing in Montreal, Watson comes to North Adams as part of Oh, Canada, MASS MoCA's year-long celebration of Canadian contemporary art.

The 7th Annual season of The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) will celebrate this year with the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films. The festival runs from May 31 – June 3, 2012 in Great Barrington and June 1 – June 3rd in Pittsfield, MA and will be showcasing over 70 films in independent filmmaking.

Last summer Levon Helm fronted a big band delivering a two hour concert that anchored the Sunday afternoon of the weekend long Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA. Wilco joined Helm on stage to end the festival. The legendary drummer who died today was born on May 26, 1940. He was 71.

The final details have been completed for the 2012 season of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Elephant Man starring uber hunk Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson has been slated for the Nikos Stage. In partnership with Mass Moca and ambitious musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim will be workshopped at the Hunter Center.

For the second year in a row, MASS MoCA is collaborating with high school art teachers and artists in the northern Berkshires to invite local students to submit artwork for a temporary Student Art Exhibition at MASS MoCA. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best works submitted. The reception is Friday, April 13, at 6 PM, with free admission. The show will be seen Saturday, April 14, and Sunday, April 15. A reception at the Eclipse Mill Gallery will take place on Friday, April 27 where it will be on view for three weekends.

East meets West. Last night the legendary Chicano band from East LA, Los Lobos, blew the roof off the Hunter Center of Mass MoCA. It was the ultimate bicoastal culture clash between the sizzling band with an eclectic mix of rock and interpretations of ratcheted up traditional Mexican music and a nearly full house of mostly blue collar locals, aging hippies, and bluebloods from neighboring, posh Williamstown.

A members' reception for the opening of Oh, Canada will be held on Saturday, May 26, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. At 9:00 PM, Brandon Canning, co-founder of Broken Social Scene, will DJ a dance party interspersed with musical interludes by Oh, Canada artist/musicians to celebrate the opening. Other Canadian performing artists will grace MASS MoCA's stages and courtyards throughout the summer and fall.

After a weeklong residency, writer, director, and actor Ain Gordon will present his new contemporary theatre piece Not What Happened on Saturday, April 28, at 8 PM in MASS MoCA'S Hunter Center, as part of MASS MoCA's series of work-in-progress showings. Gordon's work, which The New York Times calls "smart" and characterized by "genuine emotion", investigates the notion of place as it relates to forgotten histories.

With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival on hiatus Mass MoCA is beefing up its now annual FreshGrass Festival. The three day event will occur from September 21-23 with a lively mix of known and emerging bluegrass artists. This is a step in the right direction for extending the shoulder season in Northern Berkshire county. Order early and save on weekend passes on sale April 11.

At 45 the Australian choreographer, Gideon Obarzanek, is leaving Chunky Move the dance company he founded to assume a position as associate artist with the Sydney Theatre Company. He is currently touring with his final work for the company, Connected, which was performed at Mass MoCA in partnership with Jacob's Pillow.

If you missed their now legendary gig at Mass MoCA in January there is another opportunity for the senior set to cheer on the antique rockers Jane and Jeff Hudson in a rave-up at the Williams Inn on April 21. Don't miss this vintage, synth/ pop rock, dance music.

Invisible Cities features works by Lee Bul, Carlos Garaicoa, Liz Glynn, Mary Lum, Emeka Ogboh, and Sopheap Pich, with new commissions by Diana Al-Hadid, Kim Faler, Francesco Simeti, and Miha Strukelj.

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.

Claude Gosselin has been the artistic director for La Biennale de Montreal. His recent projects have focused on new and digital media attracting a younger audience. As an authority on contemporary Canadian art he is skeptical about the survey of 65 Canadian artists planned for Mass MoCA this summer. He also sees paradigm shifts for museums scrambling to attract declining audiences for the visual arts.

The ubiquitous world of art, dance and music is exceptional in its ability to create connections between continents and cities: Paris, London, the Berkshires or Beirut. Having previously appeared at Mass MoCA, the Mazatlan, Mexico-based Dance Company Delfos Danza Contemporánea is making its debut at the 2012 Al-Bustan Festival in The Lebanon with a kaleidoscopic program titled “Luminous Passages” Pasajes luminosos. The program primarily explores the ‘why’ of the universal themes. One senses that the group exploits dance as playgrounds and catharsis for human relationships as well as instincts.

After high school in East LA four Chicano friends- Harry Gamboa, Jr,, Gronk, Willie F. Herron III, and Patssi Valdez- hung out and made conceptual, graphic and performance art together. The initial reactions of their community were expressed by the Spanish work Asco- disgust, vomit, revulsion. They liked the word which stuck with them. It was used for the movement which was active, under the art world radar from 1972-1987. Now the ephemera and documents of that transient expression are the subject of a bi coastal project between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Williams College Museum of Art.

With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival taking a hiatus and the Clark Art Institute in the midst of construction and renovation it may prove to be a challenging summer for Mass MoCA. We discussed with Thompson how best to continue to grow cultural tourism through synergy among the arts organizations of the Berkshires. In the past two years the 6,000 visitors for the Wilco weekends brought much needed revenue to the region. We need more such initiatives. This is the final chapter of the dialogue with Thompson.

Helping artists to fabricate and install new works entails trust, commitment and risk taking. All of those elements went terribly wrong in a project with the artist Christoph Buchel. Ever escalating demands resulted in legal action that brought Mass MoCA to a standstill. Eventually a judge found in favor of the museum. It is painful even now to revisit the incident from which Joe Thompson and the museum have moved on.

On Thursday, April 5, at 8 PM for a concert sponsored by Berkshire Gas. Rolling Stone Magazine says, "With the exception of U2, no other band has stayed on top of its game like Los Lobos", and they are touring in support of their acclaimed new album - their first in four years - Tin Can Trust.

During the twelve years of developing Mass MoCA, before it opened in 1999, Joe Thompson and his wife Jennifer cooked and sold hot sauce to help pay their bills. Twenty five years later in further developing the vast museum complex Thompson discussed the once unthinkable notion of running out of vacant real estate.