For MASS MoCA, a Celebration That Has Been 15 Years in the Making [Berkshire on Stage]

By Larry Murray

This month marks 15 years for MASS MoCA in North Adams, so they’re throwing a party with Bhangra funk, fun food, festive spirits and dazzling new art. On Saturday (May 24), beginning at 4pm and lasting long through the night, dance-party favorite Red Baraat and soul-stirring spinner DJ Rekha; pop-ups from past performers including Mark Mulcahy, Cynthia Hopkins and Mark Stewart; and an opening reception for a series of dynamic and immersive new works by Brooklyn-based artist Teresita Fernández, “As Above So Below,” fill the bill at a MASS MoCA-sized celebration of their first 15 years!

“With so many good friends and terrific performers from our first 15 years, you never know who may show up,” says museum director Joseph Thompson. “Expect a rollicking dance party with lots of friends and family returning to MASS MoCA, interesting food trucks and newly concocted drinks, a few surprises and excellent art and music from stem to stern.” Thompson notes, “We’ll start with Teresita Fernández’s exquisite, lustrous installation of gold and graphite, which opens at 4pm, and dance under the stars with Red Baraat and DJ Rekha.”

The mid-career exhibition of sculptor Fernández, “As Above So Below” opens with an artist’s reception from 4-6pm in the main galleries. Primarily using graphite and gold, Fernández creates works that shift in scale from the colossal to the infinitesimal utilizing natural and manufactured light to create an ever-changing atmospheric landscape. The result is a space in which the viewer can become immersed, or even lost, in the artworks. The opening reception includes local food and wine. Museum galleries are open until 8pm.

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