ICA presents a new body of work by Moyra Davey based on the artist’s recent reading of Jean Genet. The act of reading has long been integral to Davey’s work, which is full of images of books; however this is the first time Davey has ever made a book specifically for a gallery installation.

Moving between photography, writing, and film, Moyra Davey’s highly personal and methodical work draws deeply on the form of the essay. Her art interprets and critiques her own experience as an artist through a generous frame of literary, philosophical, and cultural references, drawing as well on objects, memories, and even dust. Assembling a rich variety of texts, Davey uses them as the materials from which she constructs an almost romantic yet decisively biting point of view.

Organized for MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig) in Vienna by curator Matthias Michalka. Organized at ICA by Chief Curator Ingrid Schaffner. The installation is accompanied by the artist’s book Burn the Diaries (a co-publication of ICA, MUMOK, and Dancing Foxes Press), as well as by a gallery supplement with an essay by Schaffner and an interview with the artist by Michalka.
Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, installation view (2014)

NY Event: Book Launch & Reading with Moyra Davey and Alison Strayer Opening and Walkthrough: Fall 2014READING: Moyra DaveyREADING: Jean Genet2014–15 ExhibitionsMoyra Davey: Burn the DiariesA rapt audience: Penn Art and Culture captures fall 2014 members walkthrough in picturesThefts, Words, Memories: The Penn Gazette on Burn The DiairesVideo: Moyra Davey’s 2012 PennDesign Lecture