Mass MOCA, part 1
I went to Mass MoCA while I was in Vermont. If you have never been there I highly suggest visiting. Right now there are at least five amazing shows up.
Sol Lewitt, A Wall Drawing Retrospective is a collection of 105 wall drawings in a 27,000 square foot mill building renovated just for this show. The drawings were conceived in the last years of Lewitt’s life, and were executed by his assistants as a posthumous retrospective. They are stunning, as is their interaction with the building.
Eastern Standards: Western Artists in China is a show of works from western artists now living or working in China. While a lot of the work was incredible, I was especially interested in the artists who use the Three Georges Dam Project as their subject. Edward Burtynsky had two amazing photographs of the huge amounts of ruble that is left after buildings are razed (huge cities are being/ have been razed behind the dams). The scale of the dams and the impoundment lakes is immense, but seeing the scale of something as benign as ruble is sort of extraordinary.
Three Gorges Dam Project, Wan Zhou #4,
Yangtze River, China 2002
My favorite piece in the show was Catherine Yass’s Locks. It was a projection of two simultaneous 16mm films, showing the ascent and descent through the giant series of locks, constructed around the Three George’s Dam.
Basically you are standing in the room, as the lock doors open and close around you. It was very beautiful and surreal. I tried to record some, but alas, I am a terrible secret filmer, and doesn’t look like much.
It also reminded me tremendously of Peter Hutton’s Two Rivers with projects his films traveling up the Hudson River and the Yangtze River, projected on opposing walls.
See his MoMA retrospective for more info.
Ill post on my two favorite shows, Badlands and Anslem Kiefler later.
One more photo. From one building, looking into the Sol Lewitt building.
All photos me, @ Mass MoCA, original artists hold all rights
