The delayed, highly anctipated grand opening of the new Institute of Contemporary Art has been rescheduled for December 10. The opening was originally scheduled for September 17, a date that was cancelled only weeks in advance due to construction delays. Melissa Kuronen, director of communications at the ICA, can’t point to one specific construction glitch: “the process itself is always much slower and much longer than you ever expect. Construction takes the amount of time it takes. We have a one-of-a-kind building, and we want to get it right.”
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The new ICA is not only “the first art museum built in Boston in nearly 100 years,” but also a buzzed-about architectural milestone for the city and the first significant year-round cultural foray into the still-developing wild and windy waterfront along Northern Ave. “You walk through this space,” says Kuronen, “and you realize what the power of architecture can be. We work and visit buildings, and take the architecture for granted. It really does impact us as people.”
The announcement of the rescheduled opening coincided with the news that fundraising has gone remarkably smoothly for the construction. The museum announced that its capital campaign has reached $65 million, exceeding it’s original $62 million goal. (The building itself is $51 million.)
But the delays have meant the rescheduling (and in some cases relocation) of dance events presented by Cambridge’s World Music/CRASHarts in the new buildings 325-seat Lee Theater as well as the loss of income from visitors who, instead of being enticed during the temperate fall months, will now have to brave the waterfront during Christmas season.
This is also the first building in the United States by the much lauded firm of the New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and it is as likely to draw as much attention for their unusual cantilevered design as for the building’s art contents. The grand opening celebration will include a free, 12-hour “community day” December 10 from 9 am to 9 pm. Pushing back the opening has been frustrating, Kuronen says, but it also allows them to more time to perfect the new elements of the museum. “It’s a much bigger operation,” she says. “Now we have more time to perfect all the things we’re working on.”
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I’m your fan, Built to move, Thinking small, More 
- I’m your fan
It’s time to smash that big bottle of champagne over the bow of Boston’s glossy, glassy new Institute of Contemporary Art, as the museum throws open the lofty doors to its new Diller Scofidio + Renfro–designed digs on Boston’s Fan Pier.
- Built to move
The Institute of Contemporary Art, clearly in a nomadic frame of mind as it gears up for its own move to a new building on the Boston waterfront next fall, looks at the surprisingly long history of adaptability in domestic design.
- Thinking small
The collective of artists spread out through the museum and helped the ICA’s staff — scrubbing the lobby, counting visitors, standing guard, cleaning the café.
- Seal of approval
Photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia is a safe, easy choice for the new ICA’s first big artist retrospective.
- All sewn up
Patchwork quilts, crazy quilts, quilts that tell stories, quilts that point the way to freedom, and quilts that just keep us warm are all part of the rich history of this art form.
- Like Wow
The great Dave Hickey draws a fine distinction between two kinds of art viewing experiences.
- Bad-boy cool
“People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.”
- The illusionist
Kapoor’s work looks like nothing in reproduction; you have to experience it in person to get it.
- Questioning the Real
The Maine College of Art’s MFA thesis group show rides a questionable line between relevant social critique buoyed by valid critical theory and an egocentric interplay of misplaced postmodern gestures.
- Smoke and mirrors (and elephants) at the ICA
Not into wheatpasting and framed posters? The ICA is about to serve up two shows by artists who promise not to pop up on street walls all over the city.
- Eye on you
Oskar Kokoschka is reputed to have asked, if the Louvre were burning and you could rescue either the Mona Lisa or a cat, which would it be? Slideshow: "Super Vision" at the ICA
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Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Visual Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art, Cultural Institutions and Parks, More
, Visual Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art, Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums, Less
