Artist Alicja Kwade Creates 'Immersive Structure' for Historic Crane Estate on Boston's North Shore

  • IPSWICH, Massachusetts
  • /
  • March 12, 2018

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Rendering for TunnelTeller at Crane Estate by Alicja Kwade.

The Trustees announces the third installation in its contemporary Art and the Landscape public art initiative will be coming to Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, a National Historic Landmark located in Ipswich, Mass., this May. The installation will feature an original piece specifically designed for the site of Castle Hill’s former hedge maze by Berlin-based, award-winning, Polish artist Alicja Kwade who is internationally recognized for creating works that interpret and question reality, time, science, and space. Titled TunnelTeller, the new work for Castle Hill represents Kwade’s first large-scale public artwork commission in the U.S.

Crane Estate
courtesy The Trustees

A rapidly rising star in the art world, Kwade recently had two new works presented at the Venice Biennale. She presented her first U.S. solo exhibition at 303 Gallery in New York in the spring of 2016 and has since opened several other international exhibitions, including her first, large scale, solo museum show in Asia, ReReason currently on view through April at Yuz Museum in Shanghai.

The Trustees launched its Art and the Landscape initiative in the spring of 2016, working with independent curator Pedro Alonzo and renowned national and international artists to create site-specific, outdoor art aimed at enhancing and enriching visitor experiences at its properties. The first installation, The Meeting House was created by Los Angeles-based artist, Sam Durant for the Old Manse in Concord from the summer through fall of 2016. The second piece, A New End was created for World’s End in Hingham with Berlin-based artist Jeppe Hein where it was on view from August 2016 through September 2017.

Kwade’s piece TunnelTeller ill open to the public on Saturday, May 19, 2018 and on view at Castle Hill through April 2019.

"The Crane family were industrialists known for their work with many designers and artists in their day at this iconic site," says Barbara Erickson, Trustees President & CEO. "How appropriate that a new artist is creating an original work on the site now. We are thrilled to welcome Alicja Kwade and share her new installation with our many annual visitors."

Previous project by Alicja Kwade for Venice Biennale.

Alonzo and The Trustees invited Kwade to visit Castle Hill to create a new work of art that embodies the spirit of the place and interprets the natural and cultural surroundings with a nontraditional form of expression. Resting upon the outlines of the former hedge maze once located to the east of the Great House at Castle Hill overlooking Cape Ann and Crane Beach, the structure will draw upon the property’s gilded era majesty, the Crane family history, and the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.

"It will be an immersive structure designed to challenge the viewer’s notions of space and perception," says Alonzo.

At a moment of tremendous diversity in the arts where virtually any material and combination of unique mediums are being used as a means of artistic expression, Alicja Kwade stands out for her ability to use raw materials and everyday objects to create bold works that imbue meaning, creativity, and surprising functionality.

Alonzo is an independent curator based in Boston and adjunct curator at Dallas Contemporary who specializes in producing exhibitions that transcend the boundaries of museum walls and spill out into the urban landscape. He has been working as the exclusive curator for The Trustees’ progressive Art and the Landscape initiative since its inception. Locally, he is best known for curating the giant black-and-white work by French artist JR, which was on display in the early part of 2015 on the side of 200 Clarendon in Boston (formerly known as the John Hancock Tower). He also organized exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)/Boston, where he served as an adjunct curator from 2011-2013 on high profile works by Os Gêmeos (2012), including the first Rose Kennedy Greenway mural, as well as Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand (2009) and Dr. Lakra (2010).

The installation is expected to be completed in early May. A public opening is scheduled for Saturday, May 19 at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate during The Trustees' annual Home Sweet Home open house day. The installation will be free and open to the public with admission when the property is open, from sunrise to sunset. Join the Art and The Landscape conversation with The Trustees on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:@thetrustees #thetrustees #artXlandscape and visit www.thetrustees.org for additional details.


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