Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

The Institute of Contemporary Art was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936 with offices rented at 114 State Street with gallery space provided by the Fogg Museum and the Busch–Reisinger Museum at Harvard University. The Museum planned itself as "a renegade offspring of the Museum of Modern Art", and was led by its first president, a 26-year-old architect named Nathaniel Saltonstall. The first exhibit curated by the new museum was "the first survey show of Paul Gauguin in the Boston Area." In 1948 the "Institute of Modern Art" changes its name once again to the "Institute of Contemporary Art" (ICA) to "[distance] itself from the ideological inflections the term 'modern' has accrued in favor of its original meaning: 'that which exists now.'" In 1972 the ICA installed the first Douglas Huebler solo show, and it briefly moved to 137 Newbury Street. A year later, in 1973, the ICA found a more permanent home at 955 Boylston Street in a former police station. The Museum occupied this building for 33 years over which many exhibits and performances were mounted. Highlights from the first decade of the ICA at this location include a 1976 retrospective of Claes Oldenburg in which Oldenberg himself attends, the first showing of David Hockney artworks in America in 1977, and in 1980 the museum hosted both the first United States museum exhibition of purely Dada artworks as well as a roller disco fundraiser. in 2009, and Mark Bradford in 2010. ==Buildings==

Main building Formerly located on Boylston Street in the Back Bay neighborhood, the ICA moved to a new facility in the Seaport District of South Boston. The museum celebrated the completion of its new building the weekend of December 9–10, 2006. The new building coincided with the museum's launch of its first permanent collection. The new building was designed by the architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. It is one of that firm's first structures to be built, and the first to be built in the United States. It is also the first new art museum to be built in Boston in over a century. The building is located between the Courthouse and World Trade Center stations on the MBTA Silver Line. The building's design, which echoes that of nearby waterfront gantry cranes, has been celebrated by many critics for its openness, represented by its exterior grand staircase, and willingness to embrace the surrounding harbor. The ICA was the recipient of the 2007 Harleston Parker Medal, awarded to "the most beautiful piece of architecture" in Boston. It has also been called a "botched box" by architecture critic Philip Nobel, who criticised it for having poor circulation, a dull façade facing land, and casting into shadow the harborside promenade that Elizabeth Diller once referred to as "Boston's only viable civic space." ICA Watershed In 2018, the ICA transformed a condemned 15,000-square-foot building in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston into the "ICA Watershed". The renovation was designed by Alex Anmahian and Nick Winton. Admission to the Watershed is free. The ICA offers ferry service from its main building to the Watershed, which is open each year from spring through fall. Each year, an exhibit by one artist fills the space. The 2018 exhibit was by Diana Thater, and the 2019 exhibit was by John Akomfrah. The planned opening of the 2020 exhibit by Firelei Báez was delayed by the ICA's closure, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the museum closed because of the pandemic, the building was used as a staging area for delivery of food to East Boston residents. Báez's work was presented in the following 2021 season instead. The 2022 exhibit was entitled "Revival: Materials and Monumental Forms" and featured works by six artists working in the shared theme of reclaimed materials. The space returned to presenting works by a singular artist in 2023, with sculptures by Guadalupe Maravilla. The 2024-2025 seasons saw installations by Hew Locke (The Procession) and Chiharu Shiota ("Home Less Home"), respectively. As of Spring 2026, the space is set to open in May with kinetic and film works by Lucy Raven. ==Exhibitions==

The ICA's exhibition program has included the Momentum series, focusing on the work of emerging artists; the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, an annual, site-specific commission in the museum lobby; the James and Audrey Foster Prize, a biennial exhibition and award for Boston-area artists; and selections from the permanent collection. The West Gallery (known today as Bridgitt and Bruce Evans Family and Karen and Brian Conway Galleries), the largest exhibition space, has featured solo and group exhibitions. Highlights include: • Super Vision (2006) • Philip-Lorca diCorcia (2007) • Street Level (2008) • Anish Kapoor (2008) • Tara Donovan (2008) • Shepard Fairey (2009) • Mark Bradford (2011) • Liz Deschenes (2016) • Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist (2017) • William Forsythe: Choreographic Objects (2018-2019) • Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING (2019-2020) • Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” (2021) • Simone Leigh (2023) • Derrick Adams: View Master (2026) ==Management==

Directors • 1998–2024: Jill Medvedow • 2025–present: Nora Burnett Abrams Chief curators • 2010–2014: Helen Molesworth • 2015–2023: Eva Respini • 2023–present: Ruth Erickson ==References==