Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opens its new wing
Celebrating 20 years of Artists-in-Residence, Contemporary Art, and the new wing designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, Stefano Arienti, Luisa Lambri, Todd McKie, Lee Mingwei, Abelardo Morell, Victoria Morton, Luigi Ontani, Ana Prvacki, Cesare Pietroiusti, Luisa Rabbia, Elaine Reichek, Dayanita Singh, Su-Mei Tse, Taro Shinoda, Nari Ward, Danijel Zezelj
Opening
19 January 2012
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
280 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will open its new wing designed by Renzo Piano with exhibitions and projects by eighteen Artists-in-Residence. “Artists have enlivened the Gardner Museum since it first opened in 1903,” said Anne Hawley, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “This landmark occasion—the opening of a new wing and the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of our vibrant residency program—is a rich opportunity to celebrate these contributions in their totality and to appreciate the many profound ways that contemporary artists have helped shape and interpret the Museum.” Stefano Arienti, Lee Mingwei, Cesare Pietroiusti, and Ana Prvacki, have each created site-specific projects that will launch the building’s grand opening in addition to four inaugural
Exhibitions include paintings and sculptures by Victoria Morton, titled Tapestry (RADIO ON): New Work by Victoria Morton. The exhibition, Morton’s first solo exhibition in an American museum, features artwork created for the main gallery and a performance by the artist with six other artists/members of the band Muscles of Joy. In the smaller gallery, Points of View: 20 Years of Artists-in-Residence at the Gardner, surveys the program through works by Heather Ackroyd and Daniel Harvey, Todd McKie, Abelardo Morell, Luisa Rabbia, Elaine Reichek, Dayanita Singh, Taro Shinoda, Su-Mei Tse, Nari Ward, and Danijel Zezelj combined with objects and works from the collection and archives. Portrait by Luisa Lambri is a selection of photographic meditations on the Gardner Museum’s unique spaces. The exhibition in the historic building is accompanied by an artist book, which incorporates excerpts from the diary of the Museum’s architect, Willard T. Sears (1837–1920), and Lambri’s photographs. Inaugural exhibitions also include an outdoor work by Stefano Arienti. Installed on the exterior of the new wing, Ailanthus is 36-foot-high by 16-foot-wide drawing of a bright red Ailanthus, also known as the Tree-of-Heaven.
Artist Projects
Stefano Arienti: Libro Azzurro
Lee Mingwei: The Living Room
Cesare Pietroiusti: Production and Free Distribution of Drawings Workshop
Ana Prvacki: Performing Daily Practice
Exhibitions
Tapestry (RADIO ON): New Work by Victoria Morton
January 19, 2012–May 28, 2012
Points of View: 20 Years of Artists-in-Residence at the Gardner,
January 19, 2012–August 13, 2012
Luisa Lambri: Portrait
January 19, 2012–October 15, 2012
Stefano Arienti: Ailanthus
January 19, 2012–June 30, 2012
Organized by
Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Media Contact
Michael Busack
1 617 278 5107
mbusack [at] isgm.org
Opening year exhibitions are made possible in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Media Sponsor: Boston Globe Media, Inc.
