PORTLAND, Maine - The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is pleased to announce the opening of its summer exhibition, DOUBLE TROUBLE, on view from from July 8 – September 17, 2021.
DOUBLE TROUBLE exhibits the work of five artists working in the mediums of painting, sculpture, photography, and installation. Working with the idea of the double - as mirror, representation, or iteration - these artworks ask viewers to reflect on the potential of seeing themselves in new ways.
“Originally scheduled for summer 2020, this exhibition was rescheduled due to the pandemic”, notes ICA Director of Exhibitions and curator, Julie Poitras Santos. “I’m so delighted to exhibit these five artists together, whose works capture one’s attention singularly, and interact with each other in the ICA in dynamic and riveting ways. Eliciting strength, incisive method, and joy, the works in this exhibition propel us to consider the transformative power of “troubling” the boundaries that limit and constrain us.”
The doubled body asserts a special fascination. Revealed in countless works of film, literature and other arts, the realm of the doppelgänger provokes the terrifying possibility that we are not in control of ourselves and indeed, to our horror, that this other untethered self operates unbeholden to our desired aims and fancies. The stunt double or body double, by contrast, performs a kind of service, inhabiting a pseudo-self in order to perform a dangerous or unwanted task, providing safe distance and the opportunity to “see” another self.
Much like the literary or filmic character of the doppelgänger or stunt double, the social body shaped by societal expectations, assumptions, and stereotypes, is rarely at rest with a felt sense of who we are. We are constrained within this other self; applied by the limited lenses of gender, race, or nationality, for example, inhabiting a body double composed of countless compromises and personal elections for safety, security, and success.
Using this area of conflict and self-construction as a form of resistance to given scripts and preconceived bodies, the artists in DOUBLE TROUBLE claim the power of the doubled body to upend perceptual habits, move the boundaries of the assumed, challenge notions of identity, perform sleights of hand, and to joyously assert new ways of seeing ourselves.
ARTISTS: Sonia Almeida, Bianca Beck, Sascha Braunig, Lucy Kim, Joiri Minaya
DOUBLE TROUBLE is organized by Director of Exhibitions Julie Poitras Santos. For more information about the exhibition and upcoming public events, please visit the ICA website.
Artwork Credit: Bianca Beck, Body Double, 2018. Image courtesy the artist and Rachel Uffner Gallery.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART AT MECA&D (ICA AT MECA&D):
The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design (ICA), cultivates engagement and dialogue regarding contemporary visual art practices, aiming to foster discourse regarding the critical conversations of our time, and to enhance understanding of visual culture. Located in stunning galleries in Maine College of Art & Design’s landmark Porteous Building, the ICA at MECA&D presents an exhibition calendar of ambitious work by living artists, operates as a learning laboratory for MECA&D students, and a center for public programming regarding contemporary art that engages with the local, national and global art community.
Hosting five exhibitions each year accompanied by a dynamic series of public events and artist talks, the ICA at MECA&D also supports MECA&D graduate student exhibitions and Maine College of Art & Design events. We are dedicated to working across platforms collaboratively and thinking with others to inspire creative action, reimagine our future, and create compassionate communities together through visual art.
Open Wednesday–Sunday, 12:00pm–5:00pm. The ICA at MECA&D is always free.
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COVID-19 Policies:
For the health and safety of our staff and visitors, we ask that all visitors to the ICA agree to the following guidelines:
-- Wear a mask at all times while inside the ICA.
-- Maintain a minimum 6-foot social distance from others.
-- If you are feeling unwell please stay home and plan your visit for a later date. Let's work together to protect our community.