{"id":15307,"date":"2020-03-03T15:21:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T20:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15307"},"modified":"2020-03-03T15:39:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T20:39:19","slug":"massart-art-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/03\/03\/massart-art-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look Inside The New MassArt Art Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts College of Art and Design\u2019s galleries in Boston reopened as the MassArt Art Museum (MAAM)<\/a> on Feb. 22 after a $12.5 million rebranding and renovation that took nearly two years.<\/p>\n

The renovation by Boston\u2019s designLAB Architects and Dimeo Construction of Boston, Providence, and New Haven makes the contemporary, non-collecting museum inside feel fresh, crisp, spare, bright. Exhibition space has expanded by 21 percent, from 12,400 to 15,000 square feet. It doesn\u2019t immediately feel larger, but the new layout feels more clearly organized and better at foregrounding the art. The renovations also add new lighting, an elevator, and an expanded art preparatory workshop and load-in area. New climate and humidity controls \u201callow for year-round programming for the first time,\u201d according to the institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because of the new facilities we will be able to attract a wider range of artists and we\u2019ll be able to accommodate a wider range of artwork,\u201d says Lisa Tung, executive director of MassArt\u2019s exhibition halls since 2008.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Arne Glimcher Plaza outside the MassArt Art Museum on Huntington Avenue, Boston, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"MassArt<\/a>
MassArt Art Museum staff include (from left) Chief Preparator Rob Gainfort, Assistant Curator Darci Hanna Executive Director Lisa Tung and Associate Director Chlo\u00e9 Zaug, Feb. 25, 2020. Not pictured: Museum Coordinator Mariah Azoti and Curator of Education Mesma Belsar\u00e9. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The changes address a significant problem that has faced the venue: Though Massachusetts College of Art and Design\u2019s galleries have consistently staged some of the sharpest exhibitions in the region, too many people in the greater Boston art scene are unfamiliar with the exhibition space. Part of the problem was that the entrance was hidden inside a nondescript brick college building. To find the galleries, you had to travel down two hallways, with few signs to guide you.<\/p>\n

The renovation makes the facility much more visible by moving the entrance right onto Huntington Avenue, close to the Longwood Medical Area MBTA Green Line stop, and splashing the new MAAM logo large across the building\u2019s upper floors.<\/p>\n

The new MassArt Art Museum (MAAM) name and brand\u2014developed with the Boston’s Moth Design and Boston messaging firm 43,000 Feet\u2014serves to clarify what the place does and signals ambition. \u201cIt signifies another level of quality,\u201d Tung says.<\/p>\n

Admission remains free. \u201cBecause we\u2019re free, it allows more people to experience this,\u201d Tung says, before noting, \u201cI don\u2019t want people thinking it\u2019s free so it\u2019s not as good. It\u2019s free and it\u2019s just as good or better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wall<\/a>
Wall collages by Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom) in the MassArt Art Museum’s lobby, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wall<\/a>
Wall collages by Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom) in the MassArt Art Museum’s lobby, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The changes are the end result of work with a museum consultant more than a decade ago, Tung says, who recommended that the MassArt galleries needed a more visible front door, should professionalize their facilities (improve climate controls), be more community focused (public programming and education), and have a more readily identifiable logo and brand.<\/p>\n

For the MassArt Art Museum\u2019s debut, the front doors open onto a kaleidoscopic wall collage in the entryway and lobby assembled from cut-up old MassArt exhibition catalogues by the collaborative Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom). The mod lobby has a minimalist reception desk on the right side. Behind it is a new \u201cBig Ideas Studio\u201d education and workshop space furnished with long white tables and rainbow hued seats to accommodate three dozen people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want MAAM to feel like a place people can just hang out,\u201d Tung says.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The MassArt Art Museum’s Barkan Family Big Ideas Studio, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking into the MassArt Art Museum’s Barkan Family Big Ideas Studio (left) and lobby, Boston, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Straight ahead, beyond glass doors, a pink and blue cartoon tree by Momo Pixel beckons you into \u201cGame Changers,\u201d a smart, thoughtful exhibition in the renovated Bakalar Gallery of artists exploring the intersection of art, video games and other immersive digital experiences. \u201cThey are mixing these worlds,\u201d says Assistant Curator Darci Hanna, the lead organizer of the exhibition. \u201cThey work in the digital dimension. They\u2019re bringing these virtual worlds into the real world too.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Momo Pixel<\/a>\u2019s game \u201cHair Nah,”<\/a> players smack white hands away from \u201cthe perverse action of touching a Black woman\u2019s hair without permission.\u201d Skawennati uses the virtual world “Second Life” to revisit watershed moments in indigenous history. Brent Watanabe modifies \u201cGrand Theft Auto V\u201d to follow a deer wandering the violent video game. Tracy Fullerton\u2019s game explores Henry David Thoreau\u2019s Walden. Juan Obando modifies \u201cPro Evolution Soccer\u201d to stage a match between Mexico\u2019s anti-capitalist indigenous Zapatista movement and Italy\u2019s Inter Milan soccer team\u2014which Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos proposed, but which never came to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cGame Changers\u201d is an exhibition mainly of artists of color working to integrate digital spaces and, as Hanna says, \u201cmake these realms more welcoming for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Momo<\/a>
Momo Pixel installation in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tracy<\/a>
Tracy Fullerton’s “Walden, A Game” (2017) in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Juan<\/a>
Juan Obando’s installation in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back at the main lobby, as you climb the blonde wood stairs to the second floor, one of the tentacles of Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s showstopper installation \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d reveals itself. The Portuguese artist\u2019s first U.S. solo exhibition offers the debut of a newly commissioned piece: a 30-some-foot-tall inflatable sculpture that is part soft chandelier, part giant octopus. It’s covered with a patchwork of brilliant colors of patterned fabric studded with beads and lights.<\/p>\n

The sculpture is inspired by Elizabeth \u201cMumbet\u201d Freeman, considered to be the first enslaved woman in Massachusetts to successfully sue for her freedom in 1781 under then new Massachusetts Constitution, setting a precedent that led to the abolition of slavery in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking up into Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fun, luscious sculpture is suspended from the 37-foot-tall ceiling and fills the Paine Gallery. Renovations raised the ceiling by about 11 feet, revealing the 1906 building\u2019s original terracotta vaulting and supporting grid of steel girders. The updated gallery offers a blonde wood floor, white walls and tall arched windows with frosted glass, bringing in soft sunlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the first show should be entirely suspended from the ceiling because we could never do that before,\u201d Tung says.<\/p>\n

A sign downstairs highlights that the museum is a certified part of the Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) movement, paying interns as well as the artists the institution presents. \u201cAll the artists who are exhibiting get paid,\u201d Tung says. \u201cArt is not free.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MassArt Art Museum is \u201cteaching museum,\u201d Tung says, with a mission to support faculty and curriculum at \u201cthe only freestanding public college of art and design in the country\u201d (as the school describes itself). They aim, she says, to prepare students for museum careers\u2014including, they hope, helping more people of color find work in the museum field.<\/p>\n

New curatorial offices overlook \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d from 20 feet above the Paine Gallery floor. Tung notes that the office has more desks than they have staff right now\u2014allowing them to accommodate more student assistants and signaling an ongoing ambition to grow.<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The MassArt Art Museum’s new curatorial offices, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The MassArt Art Museum’s new curatorial offices overlooking the Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joana<\/a>
Joana Vasconcelos\u2019s \u201cValkyrie Mumbet\u201d the MassArt Art Museum’s second floor Paine Gallery, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Carpenter<\/a>
Carpenter Andrew Thompson works in the MassArt Art Museum’s renovated and expanded art preparatory workshop, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The MassArt Art Museum’s renovated and expanded art preparatory workshop, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wall<\/a>
Wall collages by Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom) and lockers in the MassArt Art Museum’s lobby, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wall<\/a>
Wall collages by Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom) in the MassArt Art Museum’s lobby. (Photo courtesy MassArt Art Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Skawennati<\/a>
Skawennati uses the virtual world “Second Life” to revisit watershed moments in indigenous history in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Juan<\/a>
Juan Obando’s “The Other Campaign” banners (2019) in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tracy<\/a>
Tracy Fullerton’s “Walden, A Game” (2017) in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Detail<\/a>
Detail of Momo Pixel artwork made from fuse beads in the exhibition “Game Changers” at the MassArt Art Museum, Feb. 25, 2020. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts College of Art and Design\u2019s galleries in Boston reopened as the MassArt Art Museum (MAAM) on Feb. 22 after a $12.5 million rebranding and renovation that took nearly two years. The renovation by Boston\u2019s designLAB Architects and Dimeo Construction of Boston, Providence, and New Haven makes the contemporary, non-collecting museum inside feel fresh, crisp, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[699,698,325,697,696],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15307"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15375,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307\/revisions\/15375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}