This story was updated March 27, 2023.
The Currents of Culture
New exhibitions at ICA extend its mission of providing platforms for fresh and fierce new voices
Published: February 24, 2023
The Institute of Contemporary Art has a long history of offering major artists an early platform to showcase their work.
Famously, Andy Warhol staged his first solo exhibition at ICA in 1965, and artists like Robert Mapplethorpe, Becky Suss, and Cauleen Smith have been propelled into the limelight after exhibitions at Penn’s renowned center for contemporary art. Support for the ICA Impact Fund, and from a community of generous donors who have made substantial contributions to support exhibitions and public programming, enables ICA to continue bringing new voices and exciting, compelling art to campus season after season.
This spring, ICA welcomes two rising stars, Carolyn Lazard, GFA’19, and Terence Nance, for their first solo U.S. museum exhibitions. Both launched with an Opening Celebration on March 10, and will run through July 9. ICA will develop programming surrounding these shows and their artists, building upon its history of community engagement and dialogues on key current issues through the lens of contemporary art.
“ICA has a longstanding reputation of identifying and supporting rising talents who challenge audiences to think in new ways, and this season’s artists are no exception,” says Zoë Ryan, Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the ICA. “Terence Nance and Carolyn Lazard are at the forefront of a new generation of creatives who are boldly exploring difficult and important issues in profoundly personal ways.”
Lazard, a Weitzman School of Design graduate, produces work that explores the social and political dimensions of care, living with chronic illness and disability, and the ways in which dominant culture seems to value efficiency and ability over life itself. They return to Penn with their multimodal exhibition, “Carolyn Lazard: Long Take,” made possible in part by support from the Inchworm Fund, an endowment created to advance ICA’s spirit of exploration.
“Long Take” features a dance performance experienced through the reading of the score, the sound of the dancer’s movement and breath, and an audio description. By using text and sound rather than moving images, Lazard encourages us to think about accessibility in art and how collaborative endeavors can expand possibilities for shared experiences. Seating in the exhibition space has been modified to make it comfortable and welcoming for visitors with varying access needs.
“Carolyn Lazard’s artistic practice brings to the fore perspectives on care that are pivotal to sparking change across fields, modeling how artistic process and artwork can be in service to restorative practices,” says Meg Onli, curator of the exhibition. Lazard joined Onli for a discussion on the process and meaning behind “Long Take” on Saturday, March 11; watch video from their conversation here.
Running concurrently in ICA’s first-floor space, “Terence Nance: Swarm” highlights the experimental, genre-defying works of the artist during a 10-year period spanning 2012 to 2022. A Peabody Award winner, Nance “is constantly challenging himself to explore new mediums while investigating the boundaries of romantic and familial relationships, gender, and spirituality,” says Maori Karmael Holmes, Mediamaker-in-Residence and Lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Curator-at-Large at Penn Live Arts. “He makes work that isn’t easily categorized.”
Holmes, who curated “Swarm,” is Founder and Artistic Director/CEO of BlackStar Projects, which produces the BlackStar Film Festival. She will be a co-honoree at the 2023 ICA Benefit in April. Nance will join Holmes for a conversation on Friday, April 28.
Admission to ICA is Free for All, thanks to Amanda, C’95, and Glenn Fuhrman, W’87, WG’88, and plans are continually developing for special events and programming related to the exhibitions on display through July 9. Sign up for the ICA newsletter to stay up to date on future developments and discover ways to engage with the art and artists of our time.
