VCU news

CONTACT: Meredith Carrington
Institute for Contemporary Art
Phone: (804) 828-1088
Email: mtcarrington@vcu.edu 

CONTACT: Katrina Reynolds/Delaney Smith
Resnicow and Associates
Phone: (212) 671-5184 / (212) 671-5160
Email: kreynolds / dsmith@resnicow.com

The Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University will reopen to the public on July 17 with new health and safety protocols in place, and has extended the run of “Provocations: Guadalupe Maravilla” and “The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis” through Aug. 9.

The ICA also announced Monday its fall slate of exhibitions, beginning with “Commonwealth,” a multi-institutional, bilingual collaboration among the ICA, Philadelphia Contemporary and Puerto Rico-based Beta-Local. The exhibition explores the complex history and legacy of “commonwealth” through new artist commissions, a hybrid print/digital publication and a series of online programs.

The season also includes “Fernanda Laguna: As Everybody,” the Argentinian artist, writer and activist’s first solo exhibition in the United States, and “Kandis Williams: A Field,” a site-responsive multimedia commission by the Los Angeles-based artist.

In response to events that have shaped recent months, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, the ICA has been adapting its program and exhibition strategy for sustained online programming options and to engage in dialogue with current issues. One example is the transformation of “Commonwealth” by the three participating institutions into a hybrid digital/in-person experience. Many of the commissioned artists also have adapted their new works to be responsive to the current moment.

Another is the launch of "Public Study," a series of collaborative, public programs designed to open up the various processes behind the ICA’s exhibitions, programming and publications — from research and production to learning and dialogue. “Public Study” will be integrated into the ICA’s long-term programming strategy and continue to offer its audiences a critical space to connect and exchange ideas.

“The ICA is a young contemporary arts institution born into an era of social and political tumult,” said Dominic Asmall Willsdon, executive director of the ICA. “This fall, in the midst of a global pandemic, at the height of the U.S. elections, and as people take to the streets to challenge systemic racism, we have an opportunity and duty to work with artists to probe many of the most pressing issues to our community and our country. ‘Public Study,’ in particular, will allow us to build on our longstanding practice of putting dialogue and mutual learning at the heart of our work. Now more than ever, we hope that, through art and research, we can collaboratively create a space for new perspectives, productive conversations and intersectional dialogues.”

“Public Study” offers local, national and international audiences additional opportunities to connect with the art, artists and ideas featured in ICA exhibitions and programs. At a time when social distancing has created a critical need for human connection and exacerbated the isolation of the research process, this slate allows the ICA to continue to connect with its audiences and make the extensive research and study behind its exhibitions public and participatory.

“Public Study” programs connected to this fall’s exhibitions include:

• “Public Annotations,” an exercise that invites people to read, edit and respond to open-access PDFs of key texts related to “Kandis Williams: A Field,” bringing multiple voices and perspectives into the development of ICA exhibitions and related scholarship
• “High on the Tide (Mareadas en la Marea),” a series of international Zoom discussions with the goal of building a toolkit for feminist and gender activism
• A Zoom discussion cohosted by Williams in conversation with communities of women involved in sex/eroticism work, whose expertise has aided in the research and development of Williams’ new ICA-commissioned sculptures
• A series of online programs related to “Commonwealth”

This month, the ICA will launch “1-844-NOT-Z00M,” an art hotline that invites audience members to dial in to hear original poetry, songs or words from artists.

The diverse slate of presentations this fall showcases a wide spectrum of contemporary artistic voices from Virginia, Argentina, California, Puerto Rico and beyond, reflecting the ICA’s focus on both local and global artists and experiences. One focal point is an exploration of feminism and intersectionality, with “Fernanda Laguna: As Everybody” and “Kandis Williams: A Field,” both part of the Feminist Art Coalition, a nationwide collaboration among arts institutions that aim to make public their commitment to social justice and structural change through feminist-centric exhibitions and programming.

The ICA schedule is as follows:

“Commonwealth”

Sept. 12–Jan. 17

“Fernanda Laguna: As Everybody (Como todo el mundo)”

Oct. 10–Jan. 10

“Kandis Williams: A Field”

Nov. 7–Aug. 2, 2021