Salty > Sour Seas at the ICA

For more than 75 years, the ICA has presented contemporary art in all media—visual arts, performance, film, video, and literature—and created educational programs that encourage appreciation for contemporary culture. At the close of the 1990s, several innovative programs strengthened the ICA’s public role, including the teen filmmaking program Fast Forward, and ICA/Vita Brevis, whose temporary installations throughout public spaces in Boston drew critical and popular acclaim. In 2006, the ICA opened its visionary new building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, on the Boston waterfront. In its new facility, the ICA has expanded the scope and size of its exhibitions and programs—increasing its audiences tenfold and serving as a catalyst for contemporary art in Boston.

Throughout its history the ICA has been at the fore in identifying and supporting the most important artists of its time and bringing them to public attention. Among the artists whose work has been introduced to U.S. audiences by the ICA are Georges Braque, Oskar Kokoschka, and Edvard Munch. Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Laurie Anderson, and Roy Lichtenstein were each the subject of ICA presentations early in their careers. More recently, the ICA was pivotal in the careers of numerous visual and performing artists including Bill Viola, Kara Walker, Cildo Meireles, Cindy Sherman, Cornelia Parker, Shepard Fairey, Young Jean Lee, Jay Scheib, Trajal Harrell, and Rashaun Mitchell.

In hopes of spurring many more artists, the ICA offers visitors of all ages the chance to create artworks of their own in the Bank of America Art Lab every Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 PM. Developed in collaboration with arts education students from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and professional artists, these activities focus on the creative process and allow participants to learn by doing. Past projects have been co-created by Nick Cave, Wes Bruce, Dave Ortega, Susannah Lawrence, and Ekua Holmes.

This season artist Evelyn Rydz explores our shorelines to see what our oceans have left behind. Reproducing plastic bottles, refrigerators, ropes, bags, and other common items discarded by humans and sculpted by the currents, her art reflects the beauty, strength, and mistreatment of our oceans and seas. At the ICA, Rydz’s investigations continue in Salty > Sour Seas, in which she reimagines the museum’s Bank of America Art Lab as an art studio and scientific laboratory for visitors of all ages to experiment, play, and create. This interactive installation uses the ICA’s unique site to consider what Boston Harbor might look like above and below the water’s surface in the future. Salty > Sour Seas is free for all visitors with museum admission.

Catch a ride on Rydz's wave and head to the ICA this Saturday, March 10th for this awesome art installation inspired by the sea! Devour the details of the ocean blue and see what you can do when you focus on your creative process.