Beauty in More than the Art

review by Katelynn Banville

The ICA located in Boston was a cool museum assisted by its location on the Boston seaport. The scenic views of the museum were an added touch to its ambiance. There was a long hallway styled room where one wall was celling to floor windows looking out on to the harbor. There was an audio exhibit which was a cool touch to the room. The museum had a good variety of all types of artwork. Videos, drawings, photos, 3D art, audio. This variety kept the museum interesting because it wasn’t a museum where all you do is look at pictures on the wall.

This hallway audio piece was extremely unique. After sitting staring out into the harbor for a while the piece begins to play. At first you are confused as to why you are hearing bird noises inside the museum. Once you sit there and process it more it almost sounds like names. Words like Andy and Ed where the first hint to the idea that this wasn’t a bird making noise. After looking around there is a list of names on a wall and some text on another wall. It explains that this exhibit was against human “bird-calling” of females which foreshadows the under appreciation of their work. She chose 28 popular male artists names and turned it into a 7-minute-long track of either there first or last name integrated into a bird call that sounds like an actual bird. This exhibit is extremely well thought out and has a great underlying meaning to it.

This piece of art work really gives meaning to contemporary art. It is not just a painting that obviously suggests feminism, it is integrated into a birdcall track that is made up of popular male artist’s names. It really gives you an open mind to really look that deep into all the other artwork inside the museum.