A Visit to Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art

Art lovers visiting Boston may be intrigued by a visit to the city's Institute of Contemporary Art. It's housed in a relatively new building on the waterfront, which garnered major architectural notice for its unique design by the internationally recognized firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

I was not all that impressed by the building's design. I suppose that the cantilever is probably a difficult-to-achieve architectural marvel. The design affords pleasantly open viewing spaces and magnificent views of Boston Harbor. For those reasons, I guess it's okay.

The problems I had with the design were that it seemed to be a strange amalgam of 50s, 60s, and 70s styles, and that the overall effect, especially when viewed as you approach it from the parking lot, looks remarkably like a warehouse. The inside also seems industrial, with bare cement floors and surfaces that look unfinished.

The entire displayed collection can easily be seen in a day, because it takes up only one out of four floors of the building. That in itself is another weird feature of the design.

The first floor contains little more than a gift shop and a restaurant. The second and third floors contain an auditorium used only for performances and a digital studio used only for classes. The fourth floor is the only gallery space in the entire building. That's fine. Clearly the Institute wanted space for other purposes. It just seems a little strange to the new visitor that an art museum should have so little of its space devoted to displaying art.

The lack of space for display does at least have the effect of making the gallery space very accessible for a day visit. All the art here can be seen in a couple of hours.

In spite of the fact that I did not fall in love with the building's architecture, I did enjoy my visit to the museum.

Currently, there is an installation by Anish Kapoor, which should not be missed. Hurry and see it, for it runs only until September 7th, 2008.

Entitled Past, Present, Future, the Kapoor installation consists of several large sculptures, several of which engage the viewer in games of distorted perception.

The first piece the visitor encounters when walking into the exhibit is a monumental mirrored S-curve, appropriately titled S-Curve. The curving of the mirrored surface creates various fascinating fun-house mirror effects. I visited the Institute with a group that included several small children, and this piece was endlessly entertaining to the kids. Walking around it creates amusing distortions of the viewer's body and the other people in the room, as well as interesting perspectives on the other works of art. Watching the kids pose and dance around in front of it was the most fun.

It's always nice to see children become truly interested in art, and this exhibit challenged their minds and perception.

Another piece, Brandy Wine, is a large concave disk of wine-colored shiny material, which creates not only an upside-down image of the viewer, but also a strange holographic 3-D effect. A viewer standing in the right place in front of it can punch the air in front of himself and see his own fist coming straight toward him. This was also a lot of fun for kids and adults alike.

Other pieces in the installation produce curious spatial effects that make you wonder just what space the piece is actually occupying.

The rest of the gallery space is currently devoted to Street Level, an exhibition by three artists, Mark Bradford, William Cordova, and Robin Rhode, all inspired by street culture, and an exhibition by Nicholas Hlobo called Momentum 11. Both exhibits were interesting, but failed to engage us as much as Past, Present, Future. Street Level runs through October 19^th; Momentum 11 runs through October 26^th.

The Water Café on the first floor features food catered by Wolfgang Puck. The menu is limited, but quite nice and inexpensive.

Admission to the Institute is $12 general admission, $10 for students and seniors, and free for children 17 and under, making it a bargain family outing.