“Folding and Unfolding” refers to the space-saving and organizing ways in which objects can expand and contract. Folding and unfolding also facilitates the transportation of people and objects. Folding and unfolding can divide or open up rooms and spaces. The examples here include various and sometimes spatially as well as materially elegant collapsible chairs, Asian ethnic floor mats, a folding Eames screen and a fabulous Cupboard Bath (1970) by TUR, a German manufacturer, that’s built in a kitchen cupboard typical of old workers’ housing in the Ruhr area of Germany.
The “Transporting” group includes Mathieu Mategot’s tea wagon (1950), an Eileen Grey side table with carrying grip (1927), and Joe Colombo’s Mini Kitchen (1963), a minimalist unit that includes a refrigerator, burners, workspace, and storage on castors. Transporting is not limited to furniture on wheels; it looks also at portable vessels and elements on the water.
“Adapting” — objects that can adjust to changing physical needs — includes Joe Colombo’s “Multichair” (1970), which is created from two cushions and two leather straps that combine to allow varying seat and lounge options. The ancient hammock design originated in South America, where people still use it for sitting and lying. “Combining” integrates two or more functions into a single object — a sofa bed, for example. Or the stool, side table, and tray by Max Bill and Hans Gugelot (1954). Verner Panton’s minimalist sculpture Phantom (1998) morphs easily into a chair in many different positions and a table. A spectacularly elegant Rocker/Pedestal (1942) created by Frederick Kiesler for Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of the Century Gallery acted as comfortable seating and display space.
The objects of “Wearing and Carrying” range from a Swiss army knife to walking sticks/seats to an Apple G4 Powerbook laptop. A wonderful 19th-century travel desk was the “laptop” of the wealthy during the 18th and 19th centuries. A wardrobe trunk (1930) by manufacturer Louis Vuitton allows for storage and security while not requiring unpacking and repacking. A complete set of seats and a table that packs into a simple case (1950) by Seluart Products underscores carried convenience.
This is the last exhibit at the ICA’s present quarters on Boylston Street in the Back Bay. “Living in Motion” is a visually and spiritually eloquent farewell to the ICA’s 20th-century past and a salute to its new 21st-century soon-to-be-iconographic Boston waterfront museum by techno/innovative architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. An educational exhibit of the new museum is up now; the landmark new building will open in September. So you could say the ICA itself is “living in motion.”
The ICA’s “Friday Reel Rush” has scheduled three film programs relating to “Living in Motion”: “The Films of Charles and Roy Eames” on February 24, Alvar Aalto: A Vision of a Better World on March 10, and Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper on March 24 | 8 pm | $7 | 617.927.6620 or www.icaboston.org.
Related:
Built to move, The illusionist, Bad-boy cool, More 
- 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.
- The illusionist
Kapoor’s work looks like nothing in reproduction; you have to experience it in person to get it.
- 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.”
- 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.
- Vandal-in-chief
Shepard Fairey and his show "Supply and Demand" arrive at the Institute of Contemporary Art like a guerrilla general emerging from the jungle after his forces have taken the capital.
- Like Wow
The great Dave Hickey draws a fine distinction between two kinds of art viewing experiences.
- 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.
- Live and kicking
Yes, we suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it come to live music here in the Boston area.
- Pillow talking
Last summer, Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal suggested that ballet is dying an ugly, boring death.
- Let it snow?
The delayed, highly anctipated grand opening of the new Institute of Contemporary Art has been rescheduled for December 10.
- Three pieces + three places
The Maine College of Art Faculty Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art is teeming with offerings from instructors from every department.
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Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Institute of Contemporary Art, Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums, More
, Institute of Contemporary Art, Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums, Buckminster Fuller, The Museum of Modern Art, Eero Saarinen, Marcel Breuer, Bode Miller, Peggy Guggenheim, Joe Colombo, Less
