Institute of Contemporary Art

Four years ago, the city’s stodgy art scene got a royal kick in the rear when the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) unveiled its new digs on South Boston’s waterfront. The building’s architecture by itself--an awe-inspiring modern masterpiece that offers a spectacular view of the harbor, an outdoor grandstand, and open gallery spaces—is well worth the museum’s pricey $15 cover charge.

Founded in 1936 as The Boston Museum of Modern Art, the original space was a cramped laboratory where artists were encouraged to create works that both inspired and provoked. Renamed in 1948, the ICA continued to push the envelope with a cavalcade of media, ranging from visual arts, film, video, performance and literature. While many viewed video and digital media as the art scene’s bastard stepchild in the ‘90s, the ICA embraced the marriage of visual design and technology.

In the past, the ICA offered Boston itself as a landscape for artists working on site-specific works. In 1998 for example, the museum hosted a collection of taped interviews featuring local mothers of murdered children.

The MoMA-ized new space continues the site-specific tradition with its Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, located along the eastern interior of the museum’s glass-enclosed lobby. New York-based painter Francesca DiMattio is slotted to unveil her Boston Harbor-inspired addition called “Banquet”—a new, multi-panel painting of monumental scale. On view at the ICA’s Art Wall from Saturday, July 3 until August 2011, “Banquet” serves up a fantastical take on a waterfront scene: the sails of a tall ship intertwine with birds emerging from tiled walls and archways leading out to a stormy sea.

While getting to the museum in South Boston is a bit of a pain (seriously, who takes the Silver Line?), the experience you’ll have at the new site is worth the trek. The museum offers audio tours--narrated by exhibiting artists and ICA curators--you can easily download to your MP3 player. Don’t have an iPod? They’ll rent them out for a small fee.

Nestled beneath the museum’s larger-than-life cantilever is the Poss Family Mediatheque where you have access to one of the museum’s 18 computer stations. Here’s where you can download clips with the art and artists featured at the ICA and check out the museum’s footage-archive collection which offers a glimpse of exhibitions from the museum’s past. Also, the Mediatheque is where you can experience the dramatic, view of the Boston Harbor.

As far as food, Wolfgang Puck’s Water Café offers another stellar view—not to mention some great French-bistro cuisine--where you can open the restaurant’s glass doors for outdoor dining. For those who want to skip the art and head straight for the yummy pastries, museum admission is not required to dine.

The museum is handicapped accessible. All bags (including your laptop) will be checked and stored in the lobby. The ICA has limited space to hang coats nor does it have its own parking garage. However, there’s a paid lot immediately adjacent to the museum. Both the men’s and women’s restrooms are located on the first floor.

HelloMetro Tip: Want to check out the ICA without shelling out $15? Admission is free every Thursday from 5-9 p.m. thanks to Target Free Thursday Nights.

- by Sam Baltrusis, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Sam Baltrusis

Sam Baltrusis has worked for WHDH.com, Spike-TV, VH1, Independent News, Seventeen, Newsweek, and as a regional stringer for The New York Times. He's currently a full-time freelance editor and writer in Boston, where he's an instructor for Mediabistro.com and contributes to various regional publications including Boston Spirit Magazine. Sam also publishes a successful pop culture site, LoadedGunBoston.com, and was recently featured on WCVB-TV's "Chronicle" and Boston's NPR affiliate WBUR.