On this World Poetry Day, we’re looking back to 2007, when Jenny Holzer’s “PROJECTIONS” — the artist’s first indoor projection work in the United States — swept through Building 5.

As the name states, “PROJECTIONS” featured just that — projections — of selections from the Novel laureate poet Wisława Szymborska’s book “View with a Grain of Sand,” a collected volume of poetry documenting life’s improbability as well as its transient beauty.

Combining Holzer’s unmistakable signature style, Szymborska’s poetry, and beanbags, the work served as a place to gather and let the absurd wash over you.

Vincent Valdez’s “Since 1977,” now on view in “Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream...,” takes the form of an abstract self-portrait, depicting each U.S. president who was in office from the artist’s birth year, 1977, through when the piece was completed.

While creating this series, Valdez challenged himself to make each president recognizable while rendering only the eyes, forehead, and hair. With each successive portrait, the subject sinks further downward, ultimately resolving into a solid black void.

What begins as portraiture slowly dissolves into absence, leaving behind a stark reflection on time and erasure.

“Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream...” was co-organized by MASS MoCA and @camhouston, and is on view through April 5.

In 1928, Maria Lani blew into Paris claiming to be a famous German actress. She persuaded fifty artists — Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, André Derain, and Henri Matisse among them — to immortalize her in paintings and sculptures, which would appear as an important plot device in a forthcoming film. Unveiled as an exhibition in New York, the artworks traveled to Chicago, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Paris. But, in 1931, as legend eventually had it, Lani and her husband, Max Abramowicz, vanished without a trace, and so did the art. The film was never made.

Join the writer and illustrator of the the graphic novel “The Woman with Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was” in the R&D Store at MASS MoCA on March 21 to discuss the book chronicling Lani’s life and get closer to the bottom of this enigmatic history.

Thank you for joining us for the Open Rehearsal Experience of Shamel Pitts | TRIBE: “Marks of RED” this past weekend, which transformed the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA into a wash of red, and transported viewers into Pitts’ undulating, Afrofuturist universe. 

This summer, the company will perform another work from their RED series – “Touch of RED,” which premiered at MASS MoCA in 2022 – as part of the opening week of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, June 24-28.

Additionally, mark your calendar for the World Premiere of “Marks of RED” on March 20—21 at @walkerartcenter, co-presented by @northropumn.

Tree roots cracking through asphalt, birds mistaking pavement lights for water — just a glimpse of the richly layered world of Robin Frohardt’s “Shopping Center of the Universe.”

Last week, Frohardt — whose “The Plastic Bag Store” wowed audiences at MASS MoCA in 2024 — joined us in the Hunter Center for a preview of her genre-defying live-cinema work, blending puppetry, prose, original music, and handmade sets into a sharp, imaginative meditation on growing up amid big-box stores.

📸: Greg Nesbit

On April 25, join us for an intimate conversation with artist Steve Locke and MASS MoCA curator Evan Garza, celebrating the publication of Locke’s first career monograph “Steve Locke: I Said What I Said” (MASS MoCA/DelMonico Books), edited by Garza.

The book explores three decades of Locke’s career and grew out of their recent exhibition, “Steve Locke: the fire next time” at MASS MoCA (Aug 2024–Nov 2025), selected among the Top Ten in Artforum’s Best of 2024. The two will discuss the absurdity, curiosity, desire, and rage that define contemporary American consciousness and its legacies of discrimination. Garza will guide us through Locke’s career-long conceptual exploration of portraiture, perceptions of the male figure, and themes of modernism and racial violence.

See the link in our bio for tickets to this illuminating conversation and to order the book!