Mass MOCA

The Neue Galerie in New York organized the first American retrospective of the German artist Otto Dix (1891-1969). The exhibition traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. While the New York installation was widely viewed as a mess the exhibition had a profound impact. Many critics and publications list the Dix survey as among the best exhibitions of 2010.

The popular, upscale restaurant, Mezze, is relocating from one Williamstown address to another. The new location at 777 Cold Spring Road was originally Le Jardin and more recently Jae's. The popular restaurant will remain open in its current location until the transition in early June.

Recently performance, multi media artist, Laurie Anderson, premiered Delusion which was comissioned for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She had partly developed the piece during a residence at Mass MoCA. She returned to the Berkshires for two solo performances at the '62 Center of Williams College.

Back in the day the Berkshire Museum, the oldest in the region, collected everything from soup to nuts. The museum's director, Stuart Chase, is challenged to find projects drawn from a vast collection of 30,000 objects. The interactive exhibitions are fun for families and instructive for 13,000 annual visiting students.

Joe Finnegan, a former Wall Street floor trader, who evokes the heart-throb, Don, in TV's Mad Men, moved his family four years ago to Williamstown. He hooked up with boyhood friend Steve Lawson to become President of his Williamstown Film Festival. We talked with Finnegan about gearing up for his first season as General Manager of the prestigious but challenged Williamstown Theatre Festival.

In the dead of winter The Clark Art Institute collaborated with its neighbor The Williamstown Theatre Festival with a reading of the hilarious Yasmina Reza play ART. This summer, when the Clark mounts Picasso Looks at Degas, they will again join forces with a reading of Steve Martin's comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

The 2010 DeCordova Biennial, under new director, Dennis Kois, has parted from its prior annual format. It has also progressed to a mix of master artists like Otto Piene and Paul Laffoley, established artists, William Pope.L and Liz Nofzinger, and the usual blend of emerging artists. In all the museum is displaying 17 artists from all six New England states.

On September 21, 2007, in Federal District Court in Springfield, Judge Michael A. Posner ruled that Mass MoCA had not violated the artist Christoph Buchel according to the 1990 Visual Arts Rights Act. Now a Federal Appelate Court has found that the claim of copyright infringement against the museum has merit and should be heard by a federal jury. Tension mounts as the artist will indeed have his day in court.

Mass MoCA has organized a provocative documentary film series Lie!Cheat! Steal! Fake It! We recently attended the first in the series "American Casino" that explored the sub prime mess that decimated banks and brought down Wall Street. The films are screened on Thursdays once a month through April 29.

Performance artist, musician and composer, Laurie Anderson, has been in residence at Mass MoCA working on Delusion a new work commissioned for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. She will return to the Berkshires performing February 27 at the 62 Center of Williams College.

The best things in life are free. Sortah. On Saturday, February 13 from 11 AM to 8 PM there is no charge to hang out at Mass MoCA. There will be tours of the galleries as well as fun and games. With complimentary cake and ice cream. Whoopie. Afro Cuban Hip Hop drummer and band leader Pedrito Martinez, will keep the dance floor packed starting at 8 PM. It will cost you $15 in advance and $19 the day of the show. Not free but cheap to shake your bootie on a frosty night.

For the first time in 26 years this week North Adams will have a new mayor in Dick Alcombright. After a busy weekend of ceremonies and celebrations he will be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. In stating that this is "Our City" he pledges that his door will always be open. In a tough economy with many challenges nobody predicts that it will be easy.

Laurie Anderson will be in residence at Mass MoCa to develop a new work "Delusion." On Saturday, January 16, at 4 PM she will discuss the project. Later in the year she will perform at Williams College.

In a pre Holiday meeting Joe Thompson, director of Mass MoCA, greeted staff, volunteers and the media followed by curators presenting a preview of the coming season. Musician and performance artist, Laurie Anderson, will be in residence with a dialogue on January 16. After a dinner break there will be Alt Cafe that night. Time to mark your calendars.

Bazaar Productions, in collaboration with MASS MoCA, will present a work-in-progress showing of The Waypoint, a play that began development during the EarlyStages Program at The Berkshire Fringe in 2008. After a two-week residency with the original ensemble The Waypoint will be performed on Saturday, February 6, at 8 PM in Club B-10 as part of MASS MoCA's Alt Cabaret series.

While on a tight deadline to complete the installation of "Gravity Is a Force to Be Reckoned With" in the vast Building Five at Mass MoCA Inigo Manglano-Ovalle took a break to discuss his work. He will simultaneously show "Juggernaut" at the Williams College Museum of Art. A Williams alumnus class of '83 in 2005 he received the college's Bicentennial Medal.

In article after article since John Barrett III lost a tough Mayor's race in North Adams the Berkshire Eagle has shed crocodile tears over his unanticipated defeat. To say the Eagle blew its coverage is an understatement. Now columnist Alan Chartock wades in on why he loves "Big John" who was "done in" by a "few disgruntled self styled arts types."

In one of the toughest campaigns in the history of North Adams Dick Alcobright succeeded in ousting John Barrett III at 26 years the longest running seated mayor in the Commonwealth. Today he updated transition plans.

While home for the holidays in the Berkshires, Martha Coakley, the front runner for the vacant U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, took time to greet her home town supporters in North Adams. She endorsed incoming Mayor Dick Alcombright, and he was up bright and early to return the favor.

An installation by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is in the process of being constructed and installed in the largest gallery at Mass MoCA in North Adams. Just up the road the Williams College Museum of Art will simultaneously mount an installation of his work Juggernaut from December 1 through October 31, 2010. The renowned artist is a Williams alumnus.

Yo, Ho, Ho, Mass MoCA is gearing up for the holidays with special hours and events. On the weekend of November 21 & 22 they will stage the annual Marketplace. Dozens of regional crafters will display their wares for sale in the museum's lobby.

Arriving with a full head of steam, Medeski, Martin & Wood are expected to pack Mass MoCA's Hunter Center in a SRO performance as part of their Radiolarians project. Like its microscopic organism namesake, Radiolarians is new music in the jazz funk realm that inverts the natural order of all things musical.

Both the Berkhire Eagle and the North Adams Transcript are playing catchup for their blown coverage of the era ending upset when challenger, Dick Alcombright, ousted the Dean of Mass. Mayors, John Barrett. Their spin is mostly too little and way too late. While the on line media, such as feisty Tammy Daniels for iBerkshires, had it covered, big time, from the getgo.

The old line print media, The Berkshire Eagle, the North Adams Transcript, and the Boston Globe were dead wrong in their unflinching support of Mayor John Barrett. At 26 years he was the longest running mayor in the history of the Commonwealth. Yesterday some 60% of the 52% of registered voters in North Adams supported Mayor Elect Dick Alcombright.

New York's eclectic string quartet ETHEL created an original score for the Mexican Sci-Fi film La Nave de los Monstruos ("Ship of Monsters."). The group delivered a perfect melding of strings and sound effects to accompany the B-Film classic. While the film and performers were lighthearted and campy, the music had a surprising depth, performed with an ear for improvisation.