Whitney Museum of American Art

Sculpture, painting, installations, and photography—as well as dance, theater, music, and film—fill the galleries of the Whitney Museum of American Art in the latest edition of the Whitney Biennial. With a roster of artists at all points in their careers the Biennial provides a look at the current state of contemporary art in America. This is the seventy-sixth in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.

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

The line between what is art and what is design is a wonderful area of connected delight. The late Isamu Noguchi was one of the greatest practitioners of this hybrid form usually as creative functional sculpture. His elegant furniture and furnishings are still in production and cherished today. His minimalist abstract sculpture are still strong statements of his eloquent visual language. Noguchi erased the line between form and function.

This is the seventy-sixth in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded. The 2012 Biennial takes over most of the Whitney from March 1 through May 27, with portions of the exhibition and some programs continuing through June 10.

In 2001 David A. Ross, after a four year "honeymoon" was fired as the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to that he served as director of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since departing as a museum director Ross has been a chameleon after decades in the art world with more than nine lives. Today he performs as lead singer with the band Red. His day gig is running a graduate program for the School of Visual Arts in New York.

The first special exhibition in the newly renovated Linde Family Wing of Contempoary Art is a survey of wood sculptures by Ellsworth Kelly. With this project the MFA honors one of the most distinguished among the alumni of its Museum School. During the opening Kelly spoke with the media about studying with Boston Expressionist Karl Zerbe.

On the occasion of the opening of the Linde Family Wing of Contemporary Art we reflect on a troubling history. There has been a struggle going back to the 1930s and the founding of the Institute of Contemporary Art. There has been an awkward relationship between the ICA, MFA and other museums in the area. It is now time for art workers to unite and throw off their chains.

Last given in 2006, the Maud Morgan Prize was initially established as a purchase prize for under recognized midcareer women artists. The MFA has been criticized for nor awarding this prize by the local community. It has now been slightly changed to be a direct cash prize of $10,000 rather than the initial $5000 purchase prize. Another change is that recognition will now be given to more distinguished women artists. A small MFA exhibit of the artist's work is part of the prize. This year's recipient, Wendy Jacob combines high purpose with sculptural forms.

During the tenure of Carl Belz as director of the Rose Art Museum I frequently reviewed the exhibitions and interviewed him for Art New England and other publications. During an extended dialogue Belz spoke in depth about presiding over one of the great collections of modern and contemporary art in the New England area.

For the past few decades, cities and prominent institutions have focused on creation of iconic buildings by star architects to underscore their prominence. After three major attempts in the last 25 years, The Whitney Museum of American Art has given up on building expansion of their Marcel Breuer designed iconic structure and are building a new museum downtown in NYC's Meatpacking District. This is a major statement about institutional icons.

Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, was the manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. It was owned by Ray Riepen, a lawyer who came from Kansas City to become the leading entrepreneur in the Boston/Cambridge “counterculture” of the era. This second part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano looks at how the Tea Party started and became a phenomenon.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston present the first museum survey of the work of media art pioneer Stan VanDerBeek (1927-1984). Surveying the artist's remarkable body of work in collage, experimental film, performance, participatory, and computer-generated art over several decades, Stan VanDerBeek: The Culture Intercom highlights the artist's pivotal contributions to today's media-based artistic practices.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announces the nominees for Rob Pruitt’s 2010 Art Awards, the second annual celebration honoring the notable individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant contribution to the field of contemporary art during the past year. Awards in 14 categories will be presented at a fundraising event to benefit the Guggenheim Foundation and visual arts non-profit White Columns on Wednesday, December 8, 2010, at the nightclub and music venue Webster Hall.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) announced today that Artistic Director Diane Paulus, Pulitzer prize-winning writer Suzan-Lori Parks, and two-time Obie winner Diedre Murray have been chosen by the Gershwin Trusts and the Heyward Trust to re-imagine the Gershwins’ seminal American opera Porgy and Bess.

Seemingly unworried by the current economic state, the ICA announced today the addition of two prominent new curators to their staff. Jenelle Porter is an institutionally well-travelled curator bringing a quality background to the ICA. Also added is Pedro Alonzo, one of the truly cutting edge museum professionals in the contemporary art world. These appointments will add depth and breath to the ICA's mission.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), presents Any Ever, the American premiere of artist Ryan Trecartin’s 2007â€"10 body of work, July 18 through October 17, 2010, at MOCA Pacific Design Center. "Ryan Trecartin has invented a new cinematic language that corresponds to the way people experience the Internet. His work has inspired a younger generation of filmmakers, as well as other artists,” comments incoming MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch.

In an historic decision for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to break ground on a new museum building in downtown Manhattan in May 2011. Located in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Street between West Street and the High Line, the six-floor, 195,000-square-foot building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, will provide the Whitney with essential new space for its collection, exhibitions, and education and performing arts programs in one of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods.

Jack Tworkov: Against Extremes / Five Decades of Painting is curated by Jason Andrew and presented in association with the Estate of Jack Tworkov. This major retrospective offers an extraordinary opportunity to experience many of the artist's most celebrated canvases. The exhibition includes important loans from private and public collections including The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN). The show also features rarely exhibited works from the artist's estate, as well as works from Provincetown Art Association and Museum's own permanent collection.

Emily Fisher Landau, the noted philanthropist and art collector, and one of themost generous Whintny trustees, has made an important gift of 367 works of art, including works from the Fisher Landau Center for Art, that have been pledged to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The gift comprises works by nearly one hundred key figures in American art, including Carl Andre, Richard Artschwager, Carroll Dunham, William Eggleston, Peter Hujar, Jasper Johns, Glenn Ligon, Agnes Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, Susan Rothenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol.

Petah Coyne's baroque works, delicately combining tinted, waxed flowers and taxidermy, will rise up from the floor, and hanging sculptures will descend from the ceiling, taking full advantage of the multiple vantage points of MASS MoCA's vast gallery spaces. The exhibition titled Everything That Rises Must Converge (after a short story by Flannery O'Connor) will open at Mass MoCA on Saturday, May 29, with an opening reception from 5-7 PM.

Artist/composer Christian Marclay (b. 1955), known for the distinctive fusion of sound and image in his art, is the subject of a major exhibition this summer at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Activated by daily musical performances, the show explores Marclay's approach to the world around him with a particular focus on his graphic scores. Approximately fifty renowned instrumentalists and vocalists, some of whom have collaborated regularly with the artist over the course of the past three decades, are scheduled to interpret the scores exhibited, enabling museum audiences to experience Marclay's work brought to life. The exhibition curated by David Kiehl opens on July 1 and remains on view until September 26.

The Whitney's curatorial team has invited three artists to participate in this initiative: the collaborative team of Guyton\Walker, comprising Wade Guyton (b. 1972) and Kelley Walker (b. 1969); Tauba Auerbach (b. 1981); and Barbara Kruger (b. 1945). They will work on the site the the Whitney's new building in the Meatpacking District a short walk from Chelsea galleries and the new High Line.

This summer the Whitney Museum of American Art focuses on the work of the visionary artist Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) in an exhibition curated by acclaimed sculptor Robert Gober. Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield features more than one hundred watercolors, drawings, and paintings from private and public collections, as well as selections from Burchfield's journals, sketches, scrapbooks, and correspondence.

The low key, scaled back, modest and manageable Whitney Biennial 2010 curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari has been dubbed the Obama Biennial. He is even on the cover. The Whitney has used this occasion to reflect on its history and critical reception since the series started in 1932. It begs questions about its mandate, the status of American art, and its relationship to a former partner, the Museum of Modern Art.

The American Repertory Theatre will present Best of Both Worlds. written by Randy Weiner, music by Diedre Murray, and directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus. Bursting with the sounds of R&B and gospel, Best of Both Worlds is a soulful re-envisioning of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's timeless story of heartbreak and redemption. Clap your hands, jump out of your seat, and feel the power of love with this holiday treat for all ages. It runs from November 21 through January 3.