Red Baraat (photo Erin Patrice O’Brien)
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – MASS MoCA will mark its 15th anniversary on Saturday, May 24, 2014, beginning at 4pm with a series of events culminating with a dance party featuring the Bhangra funk of Red Baraat and tunes by DJ Rekha. The hours leading up to the dance concert, which takes place at 8:30pm, will feature pop-ups from past performers including Mark Mulcahy, Cynthia Hopkins, and Bang on a Can’s Mark Stewart and an opening reception for As Above So Below, a series of dynamic and immersive new works by Brooklyn-based artist Teresita Fernández. Museum galleries will be open until 8pm.
The mid-career exhibition of sculptor Fernández, As Above So Below, opens with an artist’s reception from 4 to 6pm in the main galleries. Primarily using graphite and gold, Fernández creates works that shift in scale from the colossal to the infinitesimal utilizing natural and manufactured light to create an ever-changing atmospheric landscape. The result is a space in which the viewer can become immersed, or even lost, in the artworks. The opening reception includes local food and wine.
Teresita Fernandez
Food trucks and well-stocked bars line up with fun fare, festive cocktails, and cheap beer at 6pm in MASS MoCA’s central courtyard. Dancing begins at 7pm, when DJ Rekha – long-remembered for leading the charge at a legendary Bollywood-themed dance party in February 2008 – fills the courtyards with lively music. At 8:30pm Red Baraat, who unleashed a Bhangra-funk explosion in the Hunter Center that people still rave about, cranks up again for the 15-year crowd.
Pop-up performances are expected by MASS MoCA veteran Mulcahy (Hunter Center, 2007; Solid Sound 2013), who is currently on tour supporting his fabulous new album Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You. Also performing is multi-hyphenate talent Hopkins (Hunter Center, 2009 and 2010), whose performances are filled with music, grace, and humor. The always-captivating Bang On A Can All-Stars’ Mark Stewart (Bang On A Can Summer Festival, 2001-2013) takes time out from touring as musical director for Paul Simon and Sting to join the party. Stewart was last seen convincing Wilco’s Nels Cline, actor Ron Rifkin, and hundreds of art world glitterati at the MASS MoCA gala to clap, play, and sing along during his 2013 benefit performance. With over 2,000 artists who have exhibited and performed through the years at MASS MoCA, you never know who might show up.
“With so many good friends and terrific performers from our first fifteen years, you never know who may show up,” says museum director Joseph Thompson. “Expect a rollicking dance party with lots of friends and family returning to MASS MoCA, interesting food trucks and newly concocted drinks, a few surprises, and excellent art and music from stem to stern.” Thompson notes, “We’ll start with Teresita Fernández’s exquisite, lustrous installation of gold and graphite, which opens at 4pm, and dance under the stars with Red Baraat and DJ Rekha.”
MASS MoCA’s “Celebrate 15 Years!” party takes place on May 24, 2014. Tickets are $15 for members, $30 for general admission, and $45 for gold star supporters, who receive souvenir schwag for their exemplary support. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA box office, located on Marshall Street in North Adams, from 11am to 5pm (open every day except Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at MASS MoCA.
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying important new art of our time, across all media: music, art, dance, theater, film, and video. Hundreds of works of visual and performing art have been created on its 19th-century factory campus during fabrication and rehearsal residencies in North Adams, making MASS MoCA among the most productive sites in the country for the creation and presentation of new art. More platform than box, MASS MoCA strives to bring to its audiences art and shared learning experiences that are fresh, engaging, and transformative.
From June 21 through September 1, 2014, MASS MoCA’s galleries are open 10am to 6pm every day, Sundays through Wednesdays, with extended evening hours to 7pm on Thursdays through Saturdays, when performing arts events are often featured. In non-summer months, MASS MoCA’s galleries are open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. As of June 21, 2014, gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $6 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit MASS MoCA.