Preservation Nonprofit Enlivens New England Sites With Contemporary Art Installations

  • BOSTON, Massachusetts
  • /
  • September 29, 2016

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Jeppe Hein: A New End. On view through October 2017 at World’s End in Hingham, MA.
Photo by Mark Gardner. Courtesy of The Trustees.

Art and The Landscape, a two-year outdoor art initiative presented by The Trustees, Massachusetts' largest conservation and preservation nonprofit, features installations by renowned artists Sam Durant and Jeppe Hein. The multi-year program, curated by independent Boston-based curator Pedro Alonzo, aims to enhance and enrich visitor experience at two of The Trustees’ historic sites in Massachusetts by presenting compelling contemporary art in the context of a public landscape. Sam Durant’s The Meeting House is installed at the Old Manse in Concord, and is on view through October 31, 2016. Jeppe Hein’s A New End is located at scenic World’s End in Hingham, and will be on view through October 2017.
More information on each exhibit can be found at thetrustees.org/art.

Sam Durant: The Meeting House

On view through October 31, 2016
at The Old Manse in Concord, MA

The Old Manse in Concord is a National Historic Landmark built in 1770 and former home and gathering place for politicians, deep thinkers, and transcendentalists including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Sam Durant’s The Meeting House, located in the North Fields near Old Manse, refers directly to the historical site through a structure based on the houses of the first emancipated African men and women in Concord. The pavilion features an open framework that is designed to function as a platform for the public to share and explore history, artwork, and issues of race, while reactivating The Old Manse as a setting for critical discussions.

Installation view of Jeppe Hein, A New End, 2016, at World’s End in Hingham, MA.
Photo by Warren Jagger. Courtesy of The Trustees.

On view through October 31, The Meeting House will feature a series of public programs through which visitors may gain a deeper understanding of the background and challenges of African Americans in the region and explore and discuss many of the same issues faced today.

Inside the Old Manse itself, Durant has installed replicated post-colonial African artifacts as well as a reinterpretation of existing pieces through the lens of the enslaved people who may have impacted them. Items displayed include a manuscript written by Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American female poet; a warning poster from April 1851 directed at freed slaves; a slave ship plan view from Boston’s Museum of African American History; and a pamphlet from the Concord Anti-Slavery Society

Sam Durant: The Meeting House. On view through October 31, 2016 at The Old Manse in Concord, MA.
Photo by Alex Jones. Courtesy of The Trustees.

Engage with The Meeting House in these free public discussions:
A House of My Own: A musical narrative: Saturday, October 8 from 4:30PM-5:30PM
Lyceum III A New Framework for Dialogue: Saturday October 15 from 2PM-4PM
Lyceum IV New England Town Hall Meeting: Sunday, October 16 from 2PM-4PM at First Parish in Concord

Jeppe Hein: A New End
On view through October 2017 at World’s End in Hingham, MA

Internationally celebrated contemporary artist Jeppe Hein has created a new site-specific mirrored labyrinth installation at the scenic World’s End in Hingham. Hein’s A New End is made of mirrored posts of differing heights, whose form mimics the shape of the surrounding drumlin formations. Hein draws inspiration from the stunning natural beauty and landscape at World’s End, which features a combination of Frederick Law Olmsted-designed and natural landscapes with spectacular views of the Boston’s harbor and skyline. The stainless steel totems start at a height of 3 feet and rise to 9 feet towards the center. From a bird’s eye view, the configuration of the posts resembles the cross section of a nautilus shell.

A New End is positioned at the foot of the hill where the sand bar begins, allowing for an interaction with the vegetation, hillside and Hingham Harbor. A yearlong presence on the site will allow visitors to experience the structure throughout all four seasons as it is transformed by the stark changes in color and light, distorting the landscape through reflection.

Additional programming:
Curator Walks with Pedro Alonzo: October 22, February 4 & May 20 at 11AM and 2PM

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