We’ve enjoyed a glorious and jam-packed summer at ICA, with plenty of Ruffneck Constructivists and ICA@50 programs to attend and mull over. ICA staff writer April James and former Editor-at-Large Rachel Pastan have expertly preserved our memories of these events in some delightfully succinct program capsules—a new, regular feature for icaphila.org.
Conversation: Zoe Strauss and Ashley Thompson (June 4)
“Strauss was documenting the 2012 presidential campaign for Magnum when Thompson, who had recently purchased his first DSLR camera, saw her taking pictures of the Presidential Pawn Shop and pulled his car over to ask advice…”
SWARM (June 11)
“The performers’ shadows moved rhythmically across towering swirls of green and purple video images, suggesting primordial forests and cosmic space, which were projected onto the walls. A glass harmonica was played, and the dancing took place on many levels, including on a table top…”
Josh Kline, Benjamin Tiven, and Noa Giniger in Conversation About Nothing (June 25)
“Noa Giniger… was a rather immaterial and ephemeral presence on a big monitor via Skype, [her] works in various mediums often reside in liminal, transitional states, and challenge our conception of linear time.”
BlackStar Film Festival Opening Celebration (July 31)
“Philadelphia came out and supported the event: nearly five-hundred people filled ICA and there was dancing both inside and out…”
Kahlil Joseph Screening and Conversation in conjunction with BlackStar film festival (August 1)
“‘Shea butter and a lot of rubbing,’ was the answer to one of the less serious questions (“How do you get your hair to look like that?”) posed by audience members in the packed auditorium following the screening…”
ICA@50 Closing Party (August 17)
“Jeremiah Misfeldt, who promised to lift the curse he had placed on ICA a decade ago… engaged the crowd in collective action: a piece of paper was distributed to everyone; the group was led in several centering breaths, and then instructed to rip in half each sheet of paper. This led to both a collective sigh of relief and spontaneous applause…”