In just over a week, "Spatial Poems" opens in our Building 4 galleries on May 23!
Curated by Marissa Del Toro in collaboration with Ninabah Winton and Jamillah Hinson, the exhibition is inspired by the 'precarios' created by artist Cecilia Vicuña (whose work is pictured here). Featuring Vicuña's work alongside that of Sam Frésquez and Lola Ayisha Ogbara, the exhibition plays off and responds to the themes that the 'precarios' evoke, coming together to explore ephemerality, memory, and cyclical repetition through a range of materials and compositional approaches.
Before they struck the first chord at their sold out Hunter Center concert, The Head and the Heart struck a pose in “Sol Lewitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective”!
Thanks for joining us to celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary alongside The Brudi Brothers!
On view beginning July 11, "Daniela Rivera: Hacia Cuando (To When)" will feature a large, inclined platform floor comprised of handmade tiles fabricated in pre-Hispanic fresco traditions, an installation which operates simultaneously as painting, sculpture, and sonic device.
The exhibition will focus on the migration of histories, materials, cultural objects, narratives, practices, and myths by addressing political, art historical, and material histories. Through her reinvigoration of craft tradition, Rivera aims to question history and address the historical, cultural, and colonial narratives present in these materials and their varied places of origin.
Before, during, and after the R&D Store sign transformation! Come see it in action throughout our packed summer of book talks and the first R&D Store gallery show “50 Years of PUNK,” on view in the store’s expanded space starting June 26!
Lettering by @aworkinghuman
Dance under the stars at MASS MoCA’s Art Futures Benefit After Party on May 21 ✨
Join us for a high-energy night of music by DJs Cooper Gangemi and Sören Smedvig, immersive large-scale projections by artist Pamela Hersch, late-night snacks, drinks, and plenty of room to show off your best moves!
Every ticket supports the Art Futures Fund, sustaining MASS MoCA’s commitment to investing directly in artists through new commissions, exhibitions, and programming.
Festive attire and dancing shoes encouraged. This event is 21+.
"Michael E. Smith: The makings of you," curated by graduate fellow Emma Poveda, is officially on view in Building 4!
Named after a Curtis Mayfield track, the exhibition showcases a tableau that Smith has created out of humble things, arranged, paired, and lit in ways that make them feel startlingly alive. When you look at them, the objects seem to look back.
Installation images by Jon Verney
Temperatures are warming up, and buds that we get to see all year long in Carly Glovinski’s “Almanac” are springing to life across our campus!
As we defrost, it’s time to ask the eternal question which “Almanac” bloom are you? The cold-hardy iris? The endlessly dramatic bleeding heart? The social pansy? Let us know in the comments!
We're remembering Jarvis Rockwell, who passed away at 94 years old on April 25.
Son of Norman Rockwell but an artist in his own right, Jarvis was a cornerstone of the North Adams artistic community. Join us in taking a look at his works at MASS MoCA over the years, including a wall drawing still on view on the third floor of Building 10, and celebrating his legacy as an artist and community member!
Tickets to catch Grammy award-winning Madison Cunningham when she brings her Ace Tour to the Hunter Center on September 25 are officially on sale to all!
On her latest album “Ace,” Cunningham asks: How do you write about heartbreak when you’re going through it? The record tracks every part of it: falling out of love, having your heart broken, and then falling in love again. Join Cunningham at MASS MoCA to move through this catharsis alongside her.
In just one month, “Spatial Poems” — a communal exhibition in three concurrent parts touching on ideas of care, social relations, and refusal of the current precaritization of the art world — opens during our annual Memorial Day Weekend festivities!
Until then, MASS MoCA’s Art Fabrication and Installation team is hard at work supporting the visions of the exhibition’s presenting artists. Check out this behind-the-scenes look into the installation of Sam Frésquez’s “*” and mark your calendars for the exhibition’s opening on Saturday, May 23.
@marissa_ofthebull@samfresquez
On this Earth Day, we’re looking back at Dawn Dedeaux and Lonnie Holley’s exhibition “Thumbs Up for the Mothership,” on view from 2017–2019.
Created in response to the state of the earth, both environmentally and politically, the exhibition focuses on stewardship of the earth and the disastrous results of ignoring that obligation.
In Holley’s own words about his work: “There are so many rocks and so many broken stones and so many nails and sticks and weeds and debris and garbage and trash. We have to plow and mine the worst things on this earth to make them better, and to make us better, so we can show the world: I can handle it. I can deal with it. I can live with it. I can go on.”
“I wonder if people know that when they are talking about an artwork, they are actually talking about themselves.” — Steve Locke
This coming Saturday, April 25, Steve Locke returns to MASS MoCA after his 2024 exhibition “the fire next time” to celebrate the publication of his first career monograph “Steve Locke: I Said What I Said” (MASS MoCA/DelMonico Books), edited by MASS MoCA curator Evan Garza.
The book, which explores three decades of Locke’s career, grew out of Locke and Garza’s collaboration on “the fire next time.” Now, join the two of them for an intimate conversation (and book signing in the R&D Store) discussing Locke’s personal, political, and critical engagement with histories of racism and anti-Blackness, the Western canon of art history, and American society throughout his body of work.
Book design: @amych_n
Published by @delmonico_books with MASS MoCA.
