For its fall 2021 and spring 2022 seasons, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia mounts a series of exhibitions interrogating critical social and cultural issues of our time. ICA continues to challenge and explore the definition of a contemporary art institute, fostering bold and innovative programming, along with international partnerships—this year with Dakar and Oslo—that provide a platform for established and emerging artists, create groundbreaking curatorial exchange, and further the conversation around ideas about art and society.

Exhibitions in the upcoming seasons include the first major retrospective on the groundbreaking and prescient work of video/performance artist Ulysses Jenkins in Without Your Interpretation; RAW Académie Session 9: Infrastructure, an international collaboration led by Linda Goode Bryant, with Dakar-based Raw Material Company, which proposes a radical rethinking of the infrastructure and value systems in contemporary art and pedagogy; and Re_, presenting the work of artist Sissel Tolaas, who uses olfactory sense to educate the body, and to create poetic and deeply researched works; and a new partnership with Maharam to produce graphic wallcoverings to activate ICA’s 36th Street façade.

“For almost 60 years, ICA has amplified the work of artists deserving of recognition, offering alternative perspectives that change how art, design, and architectural history is told,” says Zoë Ryan, Director of ICA. “Our Ulysses Jenkins exhibition, which exudes a sense of joy while addressing critical social and cultural issues has afforded us the possibility of furthering the legacy of this groundbreaking figure in video and performance art. Our forthcoming curatorial project with RAW Académie in Dakar, directed by the visionary Linda Goode Bryant, comes at a particularly strategic time for us, as we rethink our role and responsibilities as an institution. RE_, with Berlin-based artist Sissel Tolaas, resonates in this moment when many have lost their sense of smell and taste as a side effect of COVID-19, making the artist’s research ever more relevant.” Ryan continues “By inviting audiences to share in a conversation on art and society, we advance our mission and purpose and further an exchange of ideas.”

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