Boston, United States

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

The ICA Boston traces its origins to 1936, when it was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art, briefly affiliated with New York's MoMA before charting an independent course. For much of its history it functioned as a non-collecting kunsthalle, presenting exhibitions of new art without building a permanent collection. That changed with its 2006 move to a dramatic cantilevered building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro on Boston Harbor, whose glass-walled galleries and projecting "Mediatheque" reach out over the water. With the new building came the decision to build a permanent collection focused on art of the twenty-first century, alongside a notable program supporting emerging artists, including the seasonal ICA Watershed space across the harbor. The ICA shows how an institution can transform itself: from a modest exhibition society to a collecting museum and architectural landmark. Its…

Founded in 1936; since 2006 housed in a cantilevered Diller Scofidio + Renfro building on Boston Harbor.