Mass MOCA

The ubiquitous world of art, dance and music is exceptional in its ability to create connections between continents and cities: Paris, London, the Berkshires or Beirut. Having previously appeared at Mass MoCA, the Mazatlan, Mexico-based Dance Company Delfos Danza Contemporánea is making its debut at the 2012 Al-Bustan Festival in The Lebanon with a kaleidoscopic program titled “Luminous Passages” Pasajes luminosos. The program primarily explores the ‘why’ of the universal themes. One senses that the group exploits dance as playgrounds and catharsis for human relationships as well as instincts.

After high school in East LA four Chicano friends- Harry Gamboa, Jr,, Gronk, Willie F. Herron III, and Patssi Valdez- hung out and made conceptual, graphic and performance art together. The initial reactions of their community were expressed by the Spanish work Asco- disgust, vomit, revulsion. They liked the word which stuck with them. It was used for the movement which was active, under the art world radar from 1972-1987. Now the ephemera and documents of that transient expression are the subject of a bi coastal project between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Williams College Museum of Art.

With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival taking a hiatus and the Clark Art Institute in the midst of construction and renovation it may prove to be a challenging summer for Mass MoCA. We discussed with Thompson how best to continue to grow cultural tourism through synergy among the arts organizations of the Berkshires. In the past two years the 6,000 visitors for the Wilco weekends brought much needed revenue to the region. We need more such initiatives. This is the final chapter of the dialogue with Thompson.

Helping artists to fabricate and install new works entails trust, commitment and risk taking. All of those elements went terribly wrong in a project with the artist Christoph Buchel. Ever escalating demands resulted in legal action that brought Mass MoCA to a standstill. Eventually a judge found in favor of the museum. It is painful even now to revisit the incident from which Joe Thompson and the museum have moved on.

On Thursday, April 5, at 8 PM for a concert sponsored by Berkshire Gas. Rolling Stone Magazine says, "With the exception of U2, no other band has stayed on top of its game like Los Lobos", and they are touring in support of their acclaimed new album - their first in four years - Tin Can Trust.

During the twelve years of developing Mass MoCA, before it opened in 1999, Joe Thompson and his wife Jennifer cooked and sold hot sauce to help pay their bills. Twenty five years later in further developing the vast museum complex Thompson discussed the once unthinkable notion of running out of vacant real estate.

On an unseasonably mild February afternoon, during the off season, we sat with Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, for an in depth overview of his 25 years of developing the largest contemporary art museum in North America. In this first installment we discussed the beginnings and mandates for the 17 acre campus and its 650,000 square feet of "developable" space. We spoke on the record for an hour and a half then another hour after that. It is most unusual to spend that much time with a busy museum director.

Sing Your Song screens as part of MASS MoCA's Cinema Lounge documentary series on Thursday, March 1, at 7:30 PM. Revealing how Belafonte gained so much prominence the film leads us through all stages of his life.

On Route 7 between Williamstown and Pittsfield Coyote Flaco is one of several restaurants clustered not far from Williamstown. It is one of seven restaurants in a chain. Overall the food is good for the price. On a busy Saturday night we were lucky to be seated promptly without a reservation.

The Cartographer's Conundrum is a major multi-disciplinary installation By New York-based artist Sanford Biggers. This new work is inspired by the Houston, Texas based artist, scholar and Afro-futurist John Biggers (1924-2001). A cousin of his subject, Sanford Biggers' goal is to both study and expand the emerging genre of Afro-futurism, which engages science-fiction, cosmology and technology to create a new folklore of the African Diaspora.

Catherine Russell, who has earned comparisons to jazz icons such as Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith, will share her soulful blues on Saturday, February 18, at 8pm in MASS MoCA's Hunter Center in a concert sponsored by Amtrak.

Some 200 senior citizens stayed up late last night at Mass MoCA to cheer on their peers Jane and Jeff Hudson. They were cool to the point of stoic performing loud synthrock with pulsing, robotic, rhythm tracks. The occasion marked the re-release of their 30-year-old indy album Flesh. It was a fun night.

Cancel your hotel reservations and put away the tent and camping gear. Damn. There will be no Wilco Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA this June as there has been for the past two years. That's tough darts for fans and merchants alike. The rock band will perform a benefit for MoCA on a date TBA and return with the festival in 2013.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA will co-present leading Australian contemporary dance company Chunky Move in Connected. Based in Melbourne, the company brings “blasts of choreographic excitement” (Jack Anderson, New York Times) to its performances.

It is that time of year when we look back at the highlights and insights of the past season. Take a deep breath and anticipate what lays ahead for 2012. There is much to remember as well as look forward to.

Darrah Carr Dance will present two separate repertories-ModERIN and Irish Extravaganza. Both will feature Irish duets and fusion works, with the Irish Extravaganza also concentrating on traditional group dances. The program will also feature live music on the accordion and spoons

Today Jeff and Jane Hudson are antique dealers with a shop at Mass MoCA. On January 14 their presence at Mass MoCA will explore a different approach. Back in the day they performed as The Rentals and later simply as Jeff and Jane. At least for one night they plan to knock the rust off the pipes and polish their rock n roll shoes. Should be a hoot.

January 2012 will kick off the momentous 80th Anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts honoree, and America’s longest-running international dance festival. Founded in 1933 by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn as a retreat for his company of Men Dancers, Jacob’s Pillow has been a mecca of dance for eight decades.

For the past three years Mass MoCA curator, Denise Markonish, has trekked across Canada making hundreds of studio visits. When not on the road she has researched exhibitions and catalogues. Few American curators and critics are as broadly informed on the vast and complex topic of contemporary art in Canada. It is a project she took on almost by default given the general lack of interest and commitment. In June the museum will exhibit the work of 64 artists in what should prove to be an eye opening and ground breaking overview. This is the third and final segment of a critical dialogue.

The concept of Mass MoCA was initiated more than twenty years ago by Tom Krens then the director of the Williams College Museum of Art. When he departed for the Guggenheim Joe Thompson took over. The museum opened some eleven years ago with Laura Heon as chief curator and her associate Nato Thompson. Both have since parted. The team of curators Susan Cross and Denise Markonish accentuate Chapter Two of the museum's evolving history. When Markonish was hired the museum was in the midst of an ugly conflict over a later abandoned project by Christoph Buchel in the vast Building Five.

On May 26 Mass MoCA curator, Denise Markonish, will present the result of a three year long survey of contemporary art in Canada. From some 400 studio visits she has selected roughly sixty artists. During an in depth dialogue we explored our common roots as alumni of Brandeis University and its troubled Rose Art Museum. In this first installment we explore her education and career as a young curator prior to joining the staff of Mass MoCA. The article has links to parts two and three.

In the galleries the new exhibition Sanford Biggers: The Cartographer's Conundrum will open on February 5, while the group exhibition Invisible Cities debuts on April 15. Series offered this season will include the exciting Alt Cabaret which features music and dance and MASS MoCA's Thursday night Cinema Lounge series, titled Strategic Thinking, with four films most followed by Q&As with filmmakers.

For the second season this summer there will be head to head musicals in Pittsfield. Berkshire Theatre Group has announced that A Chorus Line will be presented at the Colonial Theatre. While a few blocks away Barrington Stage will feature Fiddler on the Roof. Both theatre companies have yet to announce their complete summer season of plays and performances.

In this fourth and final installment David Ross discusses the phenomenon of museum expansions and the creation of global satellites by the Guggenheim. He applauds Adam Weinberg for moving the Whitney to the Meatmarket. Surprisingly, he says that as the Whitney's director he would have lacked the guts for such a bold decision.

Mass MoCA's B-10 is an intimate stage in a tall room, and Amidon flooded it with good-natured whimsy and the haunting voice of a gen-something folk balladeer in full command of his instruments, his idioms and the philosophical logic of the non-sequitur.