P R E S S R E L E A S E S 2000

May 3, 2000

The Big Bang: Party Celebrates Opening of MASS MoCA's Second Year

(May 3, 2000--North Adams, MA) An evening of dancing under the stars, magical theater and a private viewing of a groundbreaking new exhibition -- that's what MASS MoCA visitors will find on Saturday, June 3 at The Big Bang: An Unnatural Benefit to celebrate the opening of MASS MoCA's second full season. The night will kick off with a special benefit performance of Robert Lepage's Geometry of Miracles followed by an exclusive first look at Unnatural Science, MASS MoCA's new exhibition, and dancing under the moonlight in MASS MoCA's dramatic Courtyard C.

"The Big Bang party will be a blast, and will provide vital financial support for our art and education programs," commented Joseph Thompson, Director of MASS MoCA. "We've put together a truly exceptional exhibit in the galleries and we are very pleased that the amazing theatrical genius Robert Lepage was available to kick off the season of Unnatural Science with his stunning work Geometry of Miracles."

Geometry of Miracles, a creation of Lepage and his company Ex Machina, is an investigation of mysticism and architecture tracing the connection between the great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Russian mystic Georgi Gurdjieff. Wright's wife, Olgivanna brought the Russian to the architect's Wisconsin commune, thinking that Gurdjieff's movement would help apprentices free their minds.

Newsday described Lepage's startling and beautiful stage images as "witty and profound" and went on call it, "a work that is mystical, organic, and masterful" saying, "the technical expertise of this company is amazing." The New York Times called the piece, "another installment in what one might call the Cirque de Lepage, a veritable three-ring circus of images and effects that could only have been assembled in hallucinations if not constructed in Ex Machina's workshops."

Unnatural Science is a museum-wide exhibition that brings together contemporary works that use the discoveries, inventions, and methods of science as a springboard for fantastic aesthetic and intellectual investigations. Unnatural Science features fourteen works by fifteen artists, including several room-sized installations, all of which are united by an idiosyncratic approach to scientific authority. The pieces were created between 1987 and 1999 by such artists as Kiki Smith, Matthew Ritchie, Catherine Chalmers, Steina, and Lim Young-sun. Many of these works remain in the artists' personal collections and have rarely been exhibited due to their great size. The scale of MASS MoCA's unusual exhibition spaces enables it to bring together the monumental and complex ensemble of work in Unnatural Science, an exhibition that literally could be shown nowhere else in the world.

Also opening at The Big Bang is a new work by Tim Hawkinson. The massive 300-foot installation in the football field-sized Building 5, entitled Űberorgan, is made up of 12 translucent bus-sized bags reminiscent of body organs. Each of the enormous inflated bladders play a single tone by emitting air through a plastic reed assembly and into 24-foot-long sounding tubes, or "resonators." The clustered bladders, some on the floor, some suspended in the air, form a gigantic, biomorphic sound machine.

"This is going to be the party of the season," said Jennifer Trainer, Director of External Affairs, "with great dancing, great art, and great theater. Don't miss it!"

Tickets to The Big Bang are $140 for orchestra and $125 for mezzanine. Tickets Tickets are available by calling the MASS MoCA Box Office at 413.662.2111 or online at www.massmoca.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person from 10 - 4 Tuesday through Sunday at MASS MoCA at 87 Marshall St. in North Adams, Mass. Geometry of Miracles will also be performed on Friday, June 2 at 8:00. MASS MoCA's opening weekend will include Patti Smith performing in Concert Courtyard D at 6 pm.

General support of the 2000 season is provided in part by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dept. of Economic Development/Office of Travel and Tourism; the Fund for Adams of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; Ellis L. Phillips Family Foundation; the Robert Lehman Foundation; the LEF Foundation; the Peter Norton Family Foundation; the Brownrigg Trust in memory of Lynn Laitman; Jack and Jane Fitzpatrick; Nancy Fitzpatrick and Lincoln Russell; Allan and Judy Fulkerson; Jane and Taylor Briggs; Carmela and Paul Haklisch; the High Meadow Foundation; the Bari Lipp Initiative for Dance; and Philip Scaturro.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org

MASS MoCA 87 Marshall Street North Adams, Mass. 01247 413.MOCA.111