Upcoming exhibitions

Firelei Báez 
April 4–September 2, 2024 
This is the first US museum survey dedicated to the richly layered work of Firelei Báez. The exhibition will feature approximately 40 works—paintings, immersive installations, and works on paper spanning nearly two decades of the artist’s practice—and showcase Báez’s profoundly moving body of work, which explores the complicated and often incomplete historical narratives that surround the Atlantic basin. The exhibition will travel across North America to the Vancouver Art Gallery and Des Moines Art Center, and is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue co-published by the ICA and DelMonico Books. Organized by Eva Respini, Deputy Director and Director of Curatorial Programs, Vancouver Art Gallery (former Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston), with Tessa Bachi Haas, Curatorial Assistant, ICA/Boston. 

Wu Tsang: Of Whales
February 15–August 4, 2024 
Wu Tsang is an interdisciplinary artist who makes narrative and documentary film, live performance, and video installations. The immersive installation Of Whales forms part of her filmic trilogy inspired by Herman Melville’s classic 1851 American novel Moby Dick. Of Whales offers a meditation from the perspective of a sperm whale, who plunges to the depths of the ocean and resurfaces each hour for a breath of air. Created on the Unity gaming platform with extended reality (XR) technologies, the dynamically generated real-time video and multi-channel sound installation immerses visitors in a dreamy oceanscape. First presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, the work features a musical score composed by Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda, with Tapiwa Svosve, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, Miao Zhao, and Ahya Simone. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Tessa Bachi Haas, Curatorial Assistant. 

Igshaan Adams
February 13, 2024–February 17, 2025 
Multidisciplinary artist Igshaan Adams explores how people inhabit and move through space in his large-scale weavings. In this monumental new commission titled Lynloop for the ICA, Adams creates a multipart weaving based on aerial images of a sports complex in a neighborhood near the colored township where he grew up. Adams looks for “desire lines”—a term urban planners use to describe paths created by pedestrians over time that fall outside of planned walkways. The formation of desire lines represents an act of transgression in the face of fixed boundaries, especially given the forcibly separation of communities along racial castes by the government during Apartheid. A rich mix of soft colors, mohair, and gold chain, Lynloop softens memories of childhood while reflecting on their impact. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. 

Wordplay
ICA Collection 
Through December 1, 2024 
Drawing primarily from the ICA’s permanent collection, Wordplay showcases how contemporary artists have played with words to animate and expand their art practices. Text has been part of visual expression for centuries, but “text art” as a genre began to proliferate with the emergence of conceptual art in the 1960s. Artists in the exhibition use text to probe philosophical questions, express and subvert political messages, challenge notions of identity, and connect their artwork with multiple references, writers, and cultural icons. This exhibition will feature many recently acquired works that have never been on view by artists Kenturah Davis, Taylor Davis, Joe Wardwell, and Rivane Neuenschwander, alongside work by Jenny Holzer and Glenn Ligon who have pioneered the creative engagement with language. Organized by Ruth Erickson, Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Erika Umali, Curator of Collections.