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![<em>Cellophane Bricks</em>: Jonathan Lethem in Conversation with Denise Markonish](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Webcuts_Cellophane_600x364.png)
Cellophane Bricks: Jonathan Lethem in Conversation with Denise Markonish
Thursday, July 11, 6pm The Research & Development Store
@MASSMoCA
That’s a wrap on Solid Sound 2024! Thanks for joining us here at MASS MoCA for a weekend of music, art, food, and dinosaurs (?). Whether it was your first or eighth Solid Sound, we hope you experienced something that inspired you in a new way over the last three days.
We’d love to hear your favorite Solid Sound moment from the weekend!
📸 Doug Mason
Jul 1
![That’s a wrap on Solid Sound 2024! Thanks for joining us here at MASS MoCA for a weekend of music, art, food, and dinosaurs (?). Whether it was your first or eighth Solid Sound, we hope you experienced something that inspired you in a new way over the last three days. We’d love to hear your favorite Solid Sound moment from the weekend! 📸 Doug Mason](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Solid Sound kicks off today at 3:30 with an absolutely stacked lineup of enduring favorites and emerging voices including Horsegirl, Jason Isbell + The 400 Unit, a Sylvan Esso DJ set, and, of course, Wilco, playing a special set of deep cuts!
If you couldn’t make it to North Adams this year, you can follow along with live coverage on 88.5 NEPM with The Fabulous 413 starting at 7pm!
See you soon!
Jun 28
![Solid Sound kicks off today at 3:30 with an absolutely stacked lineup of enduring favorites and emerging voices including Horsegirl, Jason Isbell + The 400 Unit, a Sylvan Esso DJ set, and, of course, Wilco, playing a special set of deep cuts! If you couldn’t make it to North Adams this year, you can follow along with live coverage on 88.5 NEPM with The Fabulous 413 starting at 7pm! See you soon!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
This #ThrowbackThursday, we’re looking back at Lee Boroson’s 2014-15 exhibition Plastic Fantastic and the ways that it still resonates today.
Using obviously man-made materials such as plastic, glass, and fabric, Boroson emulates elemental forces in nature with each material becoming a surrogate for conditions and landscape features such as fog, wind, smoke, water, and lava. Boroson’s installations create artificial environments that challenge our perceptions of the landscape and make viewers question the relationship between the natural and the manufactured through his use of manmade, household materials.
Though almost a decade has passed since Plastic Fantastic closed at MASS MoCA, the questions that it raised about our culture’s reliance on materials created to be thrown away remain pressing. Can you think of any other exhibitions at MASS MoCA (in recent years or going on today) with similar themes? Comment them below!
Jun 27
![This #ThrowbackThursday, we’re looking back at Lee Boroson’s 2014-15 exhibition Plastic Fantastic and the ways that it still resonates today. Using obviously man-made materials such as plastic, glass, and fabric, Boroson emulates elemental forces in nature with each material becoming a surrogate for conditions and landscape features such as fog, wind, smoke, water, and lava. Boroson’s installations create artificial environments that challenge our perceptions of the landscape and make viewers question the relationship between the natural and the manufactured through his use of manmade, household materials. Though almost a decade has passed since Plastic Fantastic closed at MASS MoCA, the questions that it raised about our culture’s reliance on materials created to be thrown away remain pressing. Can you think of any other exhibitions at MASS MoCA (in recent years or going on today) with similar themes? Comment them below!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
@solidsoundfest goers from previous years likely witnessed “Forever In Your Debt” by @kelliraeadams in its beginning phases, where 900+ mostly empty vessels were placed in rows, awaiting participation from visitors. This year’s attendees will have the opportunity for a similar experience—just through a different lens.
“Forever In Your Debt” is approaching its final phase, culminating with “The Tally” in which artist kelli rae adams has begun tallying all of the collected coins that have accumulated during the installation’s final months on view. While the vessels will once again be mostly empty, visitors are invited to observe what has been collected from them.
The artist will be on-site throughout the day during Wilco’s Solid Sound on June 28–30. Plan your visit to see this thought-provoking installation in its final stages.
Jun 26
![@solidsoundfest goers from previous years likely witnessed “Forever In Your Debt” by @kelliraeadams in its beginning phases, where 900+ mostly empty vessels were placed in rows, awaiting participation from visitors. This year’s attendees will have the opportunity for a similar experience—just through a different lens. “Forever In Your Debt” is approaching its final phase, culminating with “The Tally” in which artist kelli rae adams has begun tallying all of the collected coins that have accumulated during the installation’s final months on view. While the vessels will once again be mostly empty, visitors are invited to observe what has been collected from them. The artist will be on-site throughout the day during Wilco’s Solid Sound on June 28–30. Plan your visit to see this thought-provoking installation in its final stages.](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
The initially lush blooms in Kapwani Kiwanga`s "Flowers for Africa" have dried to husks, marking the upcoming culmination of "to see oneself at a distance" on June 30.
“to see oneself at a distance” proposes a kind of looking against the grain that focuses on revolutionary moments throughout the 20th century while complicating their over-romanticization. The four artists in the exhibition employ archival research to create artworks that explore decolonization not as an event horizon, but as a series of gestures, ruptures, and fragments that might ripple across time and space. Together, the artists in “to see oneself at a distance” demonstrate how once-triumphant histories of liberation are (mis)remembered, instrumentalized, negotiated, and endure into the present.
Make sure you come by this week to catch a last glimpse of this phenomenal exhibition!
Jun 24
![The initially lush blooms in Kapwani Kiwanga's "Flowers for Africa" have dried to husks, marking the upcoming culmination of "to see oneself at a distance" on June 30. “to see oneself at a distance” proposes a kind of looking against the grain that focuses on revolutionary moments throughout the 20th century while complicating their over-romanticization. The four artists in the exhibition employ archival research to create artworks that explore decolonization not as an event horizon, but as a series of gestures, ruptures, and fragments that might ripple across time and space. Together, the artists in “to see oneself at a distance” demonstrate how once-triumphant histories of liberation are (mis)remembered, instrumentalized, negotiated, and endure into the present. Make sure you come by this week to catch a last glimpse of this phenomenal exhibition!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Over the past year we have had the pleasure of seeing our visitors stroll through and observe "In What Way Wham? (White Noise and Other Works, 1996-2023)" by @josephgrigely. Luckily, there is still one more week to have that experience! Full of thousands of handwritten conversation notes, this exhibition explores the term "white noise" and how it can be represented visually—offering the viewer access to a new perspective and perhaps an introduction to the many nuances of communication and connection.
Jun 23
![Over the past year we have had the pleasure of seeing our visitors stroll through and observe "In What Way Wham? (White Noise and Other Works, 1996-2023)" by @josephgrigely. Luckily, there is still one more week to have that experience! Full of thousands of handwritten conversation notes, this exhibition explores the term "white noise" and how it can be represented visually—offering the viewer access to a new perspective and perhaps an introduction to the many nuances of communication and connection.](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
There`s officially only one week until @solidsoundfest starts! After two long years, we can`t wait for every corner of MASS MoCA to be filled with rock `n roll again. Friday and Saturday passes are sold out, so make sure you snag your 3-day or Sunday tickets while we still have `em!
Jun 21
![There's officially only one week until @solidsoundfest starts! After two long years, we can't wait for every corner of MASS MoCA to be filled with rock 'n roll again. Friday and Saturday passes are sold out, so make sure you snag your 3-day or Sunday tickets while we still have 'em!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
While we might be spending most our time inside to avoid this heatwave, we’ll be staying cool next month at our free outdoor Chalet events! Our favorite riverside rendezvous starts July 11, and is here every Thursday evening until mid August. This #ThrowbackThursday, we’re reflecting on summer’s past where visitors enjoyed an evening of music and camaraderie—all while taking in the museum views.
Jun 20
![While we might be spending most our time inside to avoid this heatwave, we’ll be staying cool next month at our free outdoor Chalet events! Our favorite riverside rendezvous starts July 11, and is here every Thursday evening until mid August. This #ThrowbackThursday, we’re reflecting on summer’s past where visitors enjoyed an evening of music and camaraderie—all while taking in the museum views.](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Happy Juneteenth! 159 years ago today, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally received word of the Emancipation Proclamation, which decreed the end of slavery in Confederate States. As part of celebrating today, we want to highlight the connection between what this holiday commemorates and Jason Moran’s series “STAGED,” part of his exhibition “Black Stars: Writing in the Dark” on view now in the Robert W. Wilson B6.
After the Civil War, life for Black Americans in formerly Confederate States was hindered by white supremacist ideologies, a lack of economic opportunities, and legally enforced segregation. This led approximately six million Black people to move to the North, West, and Northeast in the historic Great Migration. During this time, thousands of migrants found their home in New York City’s Harlem, where the convergence of people with stories to tell led to the birth of a vibrant creative community in which a new form of uniquely Black music was created: jazz.
As jazz proliferated in the US, its social and political importance grew. This innovative music fueled the budding Civil Rights movement, with key figures in the genre penning scathing indictments of the racist status quo — Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn,” Duke Ellington’s “New World a-Comin,’” to name a few. The medium, filled with room for musical improvisation and opportunities for strangers to come together through song, was a fitting genre for this movement, leading Martin Luther King Jr. to proclaim that “much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this [jazz] music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.”
In “STAGED,” Jason Moran recreates the iconic venues throughout New York City in which Black artistry flourished after the Great Migration and changed the landscape of American music. From the integrated Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to Studio Rivbea in the East Village, Moran pays homage to the places where jazz was created as a celebration of and tool towards freedom — both musically and otherwise.
Jun 19
![Happy Juneteenth! 159 years ago today, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally received word of the Emancipation Proclamation, which decreed the end of slavery in Confederate States. As part of celebrating today, we want to highlight the connection between what this holiday commemorates and Jason Moran’s series “STAGED,” part of his exhibition “Black Stars: Writing in the Dark” on view now in the Robert W. Wilson B6. After the Civil War, life for Black Americans in formerly Confederate States was hindered by white supremacist ideologies, a lack of economic opportunities, and legally enforced segregation. This led approximately six million Black people to move to the North, West, and Northeast in the historic Great Migration. During this time, thousands of migrants found their home in New York City’s Harlem, where the convergence of people with stories to tell led to the birth of a vibrant creative community in which a new form of uniquely Black music was created: jazz. As jazz proliferated in the US, its social and political importance grew. This innovative music fueled the budding Civil Rights movement, with key figures in the genre penning scathing indictments of the racist status quo — Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn,” Duke Ellington’s “New World a-Comin,’” to name a few. The medium, filled with room for musical improvisation and opportunities for strangers to come together through song, was a fitting genre for this movement, leading Martin Luther King Jr. to proclaim that “much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this [jazz] music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.” In “STAGED,” Jason Moran recreates the iconic venues throughout New York City in which Black artistry flourished after the Great Migration and changed the landscape of American music. From the integrated Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to Studio Rivbea in the East Village, Moran pays homage to the places where jazz was created as a celebration of and tool towards freedom — both musically and otherwise.](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Slaying with Sol LeWitt 🌈
Thanks to @alexismichelleofficial for visiting, and for snapping this fabulous picture!
Share your own pics with us at #massmoca!
Jun 18
![Slaying with Sol LeWitt 🌈
Thanks to @alexismichelleofficial for visiting, and for snapping this fabulous picture!
Share your own pics with us at #massmoca!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Whether you want to wander the galleries, experience some larger-than-life outdoor art, or grab a delicious treat, there are plenty of ways to celebrate Father`s Day at MASS MoCA with the family this year!
Jun 16
![Whether you want to wander the galleries, experience some larger-than-life outdoor art, or grab a delicious treat, there are plenty of ways to celebrate Father's Day at MASS MoCA with the family this year!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Check out this look behind the scenes into the creation of "Almanac" by Carly Glovinksi, opening this Saturday June 15 in the Hunter Hallway!
Almanac is Glovinski’s largest pressed flower work to date. Spanning 100 feet, the work envisions the late April through mid-September northeastern New England growing season through hundreds of painted and cut-out blooms of dozens of flower varieties: cold hearty daffodils, violas, and bleeding hearts, to irises, Queen Anne’s lace, morning glories, and cosmos. By observing, tending, and preserving these flowers, the installation becomes a visual record of time and seasons passing, as well as a commentary on the labor of care.
Check the link in our bio to learn more about the work and the artist!
Jun 13
![Check out this look behind the scenes into the creation of "Almanac" by Carly Glovinksi, opening this Saturday June 15 in the Hunter Hallway! Almanac is Glovinski’s largest pressed flower work to date. Spanning 100 feet, the work envisions the late April through mid-September northeastern New England growing season through hundreds of painted and cut-out blooms of dozens of flower varieties: cold hearty daffodils, violas, and bleeding hearts, to irises, Queen Anne’s lace, morning glories, and cosmos. By observing, tending, and preserving these flowers, the installation becomes a visual record of time and seasons passing, as well as a commentary on the labor of care. Check the link in our bio to learn more about the work and the artist!](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Take Part
Partnerships
![River Street Billboard Project](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/billboard_square.jpg)
River Street Billboard Project
![Sol LeWitt <span class="title-light">A Wall Drawing Retrospective</span>](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Sol-LeWitt-Partnership-Homepage.jpg)
Sol LeWitt A Wall Drawing Retrospective
![The Hall Art Foundation](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/HAF_Thumb.jpg)
The Hall Art Foundation
![Solid Sound Festival](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SS_Thumb.jpg)
Solid Sound Festival
![Clark Art Institute](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Clark_Thumb.jpg)
Clark Art Institute
![FreshGrass Festival](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FG_Thumb.jpg)
FreshGrass Festival
![<span>Bang on a Can</span>](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BOAC_Thumb.jpg)
Bang on a Can
![Jacob’s Pillow](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/jacobs-pillow-thumbnail-square.jpg)
Jacob’s Pillow
![Sundance Institute](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Sundance_Thumb.jpg)
Sundance Institute
![The Philadelphia Museum of Art](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Beuys_Square.jpg)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
![Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MCLA_Thumb.jpg)
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
![Williams College Museum of Art](https://massmoca.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WCMA_Thumb.jpg)
Williams College Museum of Art