ICA Boston to Revisit Nine Decades of Exhibitions and Initiatives in ‘90 YEARS’

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston will mark its 90th anniversary with ‘90 YEARS,’ an exhibition tracing the museum’s history through nine exhibitions and initiatives. On view from October 15, 2026, through March 7, 2027, in the Bridgitt and Bruce Evans and Karen and Brian Conway Galleries, the project revisits episodes ranging from the institution’s early presentations of modern Mexican painting to its later investments in video art, architecture, and a permanent collection.

One of the oldest museums in the United States devoted to contemporary art, the ICA was founded in 1936 as the Boston Museum of Modern Art, a sister institution to New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In 1948, it adopted the name Institute of Contemporary Art to signal its commitment to contemporary artistic expression. According to the museum, it has operated across 13 locations while maintaining a focus on artistic experimentation and the ideas shaping contemporary culture.

Among the exhibition’s historical highlights is ‘Modern Mexican Painters,’ presented in 1941. The project introduced many US audiences to Mexico’s contemporary painting scene, including the work of José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The anniversary presentation also looks to the ICA’s 1966 survey of Andy Warhol and the premiere of ‘Exploding Plastic Inevitable,’ a multimedia event combining live music, dance, and projected video that featured the Velvet Underground.

Another section examines the Contemporary Art Television Fund, a partnership between the ICA and WGBH’s New Television Workshop that ran from 1984 to 1991. The initiative commissioned and co-produced more than 20 works of video art for home broadcast by artists including Laurie Anderson, Joan Jonas, and Tony Oursler. The exhibition also considers the opening of the ICA’s waterfront building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in 2006, and the development of the museum’s permanent collection beginning that year.

Works associated with the collection include Yayoi Kusama’s ‘LOVE IS CALLING,’ described by the ICA as one of the artist’s largest infinity mirror rooms, as well as Simone Leigh’s ‘Cupboard IX’ and Glenn Ligon’s ‘Rückenfigur.’ The exhibition further connects the museum’s collecting activity with its commissioning history, recalling the ICA’s 2022 commission for Leigh to represent the United States at the 59th Venice Biennale and the subsequent return of her sculptures to Boston in a traveling survey exhibition.

‘90 YEARS’ is being organized collaboratively by members of the ICA’s curatorial and collections teams: Meghan Clare Considine, Jeffrey De Blois, Ruth Erickson, Max Gruber, Tessa Bachi Haas, and Erika Umali, with Brianne Chapelle. A joint opening celebration for ‘90 YEARS’ and two exhibitions already on view — Leilah Babirye’s ‘Embaga ya Naki ne Naki (Wedding of Naki and Naki)’ in the Fotene Demoulas Gallery and Cynthia Daignault’s ‘Valley’ in the Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser Gallery, both running from August 27, 2026, through January 18, 2027 — is set for Tuesday, October 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., free for members with an RSVP required.