Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

The exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe originated at Mass MoCA. We reviewed the Guggenheim Museum installation for Maverick Arts in 2008. This was one of three major exhibitions featuring contemporary Chinese artists. The others were Huang Yong Ping in 2006 and the current, 2012-2013 installation by Xu Bing.

That opening night for the 2012 season, June 26, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival is inching ever closer. In her second season as artistic director Jenny Gersten is finalizing casting for a lively mix of classics and new works. Many WTF alumni like Blythe Danner and Brooks Ashmanskas are on board as well as last season's Lily Taylor. We are excited to see Tyne Daly penciled in. As a sidebar to the 62 Center for the first time Mass Moca is in the mix hosting a new work by rock star David Byrne.

The final details have been completed for the 2012 season of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Elephant Man starring uber hunk Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson has been slated for the Nikos Stage. In partnership with Mass Moca and ambitious musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim will be workshopped at the Hunter Center.

A members' reception for the opening of Oh, Canada will be held on Saturday, May 26, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. At 9:00 PM, Brandon Canning, co-founder of Broken Social Scene, will DJ a dance party interspersed with musical interludes by Oh, Canada artist/musicians to celebrate the opening. Other Canadian performing artists will grace MASS MoCA's stages and courtyards throughout the summer and fall.

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.

Photographer Leonard Nimoy, whose exhibition Secret Selves is on display through January 2, 2011, at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) will offer insight into his creative and technical process during a talk at the museum on Thursday, October 21, at 5 PM. Nimoy strives to reveal his subjects' other half in Secret Selves. Shot in nearby Northampton, Massachusetts, in 2007, the series is exhibited for the first time at MASS MoCA.

With seven additional visual art destinations over last year’s offerings and 11 new galleries, this year’s DownStreet Art initiative â€" organized by the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) â€" not only will increase in scope and size; its installations will highlight communities from around the world.

The conceptual/ minimalist artist, critic, philosopher and theorist, Donald Judd (1928-1994) had radical ideas founding a contemporary art museum on a 340 acre former military base in Marfa, Texas. Today Marfa's Chinati and Donald Judd Foundations are major destinations for cultural tourism. As with Dia Beacon, in New York, and Mass MoCA in North Adams there has been a dramatic impact on the local economy and lifetstyle. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of who you talk to. In Marfa we got an earfull.

Exhibitions at Mass MoCA in North Adams are usually on view for a long time. The Sol LeWitt installation, for example, is scheduled for 25 years. But internationally acclaimed landscape painter, Stephen Hannock, who has a studio in the Berkshires, has set a new record for the briefest exhibition at the museum. Last night was the opening and closing for works that were completed the night before the event. This was an opportunity to view two major paintings before they leave town.

Rock fans in the Berkshires just got a shot in the arm. Wilco, the Chicago band that blew the roof off of Tanglewood two summers ago, will give two performances at Mass MoCA during the Solid Sound Festival from August 13-15. Far out. The weekend of music, art, and interactive events will feature Wilco's only East Coast performance this summer.

An installation by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is in the process of being constructed and installed in the largest gallery at Mass MoCA in North Adams. Just up the road the Williams College Museum of Art will simultaneously mount an installation of his work Juggernaut from December 1 through October 31, 2010. The renowned artist is a Williams alumnus.

New York's eclectic string quartet ETHEL created an original score for the Mexican Sci-Fi film La Nave de los Monstruos ("Ship of Monsters."). The group delivered a perfect melding of strings and sound effects to accompany the B-Film classic. While the film and performers were lighthearted and campy, the music had a surprising depth, performed with an ear for improvisation.

During Open Studios Weekend, Philadelphia based Dr. Dog rocked Mass MoCA with a people pleasing blend of psychedlia, 7th chords and synchronized foot stomping. Northampton's Winterpills, who toured with Cake last fall, opened for them. It was the first appearance by both bands at Mass MoCA which once again found a younger audience much in evidence.

The Fifth Annual North Adams Open Studios will occur on the weekend of October 17 and 18. During the Columbus Day weekend there was a preview of the anticipated mayhem with opening of the Eclipse Annual and Studio 21 South. Organizer Phil Sellers is upbeat about the city wide event.

For 26 years John Barrett has served as the Mayor of North Adams. He is running for yet another two year term. In a meeting with artists of the Eclipse Mill complex he related the epic struggle to salvage a depressed city largely through his personal efforts to help Tom Krens and then Joe Thompson in their plan to transform the abandoned Sprague Electric campus into Mass MoCA. Some $35 million in state revenue was used to renovate the museum which is celebrating its first decade.

From Thursday, July 16 through Saturday, August 1, Bang on a Can and MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) will present the eighth annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA. The Festival is dedicated entirely to programming today's most innovative new music and includes public performances, workshops for participants in everything from Balinese music to improvisation, master classes, music business seminars, and more.

As part of the Tenth Anniversary celebrations the artist, Richard Criddle, who has been in charge of installations and fabrication for Mass MoCA gave a power point presentation of some of his most interesting and challenging collaborations with artists. The slide lecture was followed by a guided tour of the museum's efficient workshops. But Criddle's dog Winston had the day off.

Last year MCLA and the City of North Adams combined to turn vacant downtown stores into the seasonal galleries called Down Street. The programming has been expanded to include 27 museums and galleries. The fun begins on Memorial Day Weekend with the Berkshire Salon at the Eclipse Mill Gallery and the 10th Anniversary Ball at Mass MoCA. Let the games begin.

From the outset, Mass MoCA has kept an eye out for future arts lovers through Kidspace. With the addition of Cribs, a new installation by Matt Bua, that commitment has grown.

Happily, midwinter in the Berkshires is anything but quiet. In fact, that's when many of our resident cultural institutions do their best work. A survey of what's coming up between now and Spring.

On the coldest night of the Berkshire winter, Philip Glass was welcomed back to the Hunter Center at Mass MoCA with the warmth and love that only a family of admirers can provide. For two hours he chatted amiably with Boston Phoenix critic Gerald Peary about the films he has scored, and entertained the audience by playing several excerpts from his work.

This is the third, self published book by artist/ entrepreneur, Eric Rudd. The superb images in this picture book were photographed by Kelly Lee who worked for ABC News and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in D.C. before he settled in the Berkshires.

With Labor Day Weekend approaching Jordan Young will be heading back to college. For the past summer he was an intern at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art with a range of duties and challenges. Overall he reports that it was a remarkable experience.

Berkshire residents are reveling in an amazing array of area arts offerings. Our monthly Preview serves to help guide your choices with helpful facts, insider details and handy links. The only mistake would be to procrastinate. Nothing gold can stay.

For too many years it has been dead in downtown North Adams in the shadow of Mass MoCA. Visitors to that museum did not spill over to depressed Main Street. But that may change as there is now a map guiding visitors to some dozen or so arts venues. It is creating a real buzz for Northern Berkshire County.