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December 08, 2006

Comments

mcmc

Looked to me like the curators said to themselves, "all sorts of people who are unfamiliar with contemporary art will be coming to see the new building. We must educate them!" And so they put up a show of artists such people might actually have heard of, and then a page of explanation next to each piece. The whole thing kind of felt like an exhibit specially designed for high school field trips.

I thought the show of Boston artists was more interesting, if only because less predictable.

mcmc

I meant to ad this before I posted that comment:

This isn't a strategy likely to excite a critic from the Times, but maybe not the worst choice for the suddenly much larger Boston audience. But the labels really were intrusive, I thought.

JL

But the labels really were intrusive, I thought.

(Catching up--internet access was down yesterday) The ICA, in my experience, is second only to the Harvard museums for intrusive, heavy-handed labels and general curatorial approach. And even Harvard's better than it was a decade or so ago. But yes, there probably was an added bit of anxiety on the part of the curator's to explain everything. We'll see if they settle down.

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