MASS MOCA: A summer of performances

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams 413-662-2111, massmoca.org

Wilco and the Solid Sound Festival return to Mass MoCA to kick off a summer full of festivals, concerts, performances and events. Highlights include Courtney Barnett’s boutique touring festival, Here and There; performances by Kraftwerk, The Roots and They Might Be Giants and Cirque Kalabanté; and two exhibition openings — Amy Yoes’ “Hot Corners” and “Defining Moments” by Shaun Leonardo and Bruno Miguel.

Exhibition openings

Saturday, May 28: Amy Yoes’ site-specific installation “Hot Corners” will transform a 142-foot hall space in Mass MoCA’s Building 6 into a multiroom, immersive complex with thematic forms and functions. Each of the installation’s five rooms — the Foyer, the Parlor, the Library, the Theatre and the Drawing Room — will be designed with custom-built mobile furniture acting as shifting set pieces for a variety of functions including artmaking, socializing, reflection and performance.

Sunday, June 26: The Kidspace exhibition “Defining Moments” explores how memories are formed, recalled and visualized. Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist Shaun Leonardo and Brazilian pop artist Bruno Miguel share their individual and cultural memories, expressed in a range of mediums from paintings and wall drawings, to mixed media sculpture and collages. Their work delves into the mythic aspects of generational storytelling, the formative role of nostalgia, and the fallibility of collective memory.

Bruno Miguel’s “76 from the series Essas Pessoas na Sala de Jantar (These People in the Dining Room)” is part of “Defining Moments,” a new exhibition opening at Kidspace at Mass MoCA.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRUNO MIGUEL

Festivals

'Prince' Billy and many more. There’s also a full comedy lineup, family fun for all ages, local food, craft beer, camping and naturalist activities. Three-day passes start at $249.

May 27-29: Solid Sound, a three-day festival curated and headlined by Wilco, includes music by its members’ side projects, as well as many other musical performers. This year’s lineup features Sylvan Esso, Japanese Breakfast, Bonnie

Saturday, June 25: Time of Now. The third iteration of Time of Now — Mass MoCA’s annual festival of thought and performance — explores themes of fragility, community and repair, through pop-ups, performances, talks and film screenings by artists, musicians, dancers, designers and thinkers, including artists Lily Cox-Richard and Jessica Jackson Hutchins — who will be presenting a performance for four dancers wearing her ceramic sculptures — and a conversation on debt between anthropologist Elizabeth Sweet and kelli rae adams, as well as screenings of video by performers Helga Davis, Treya Lam and more. With admission. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

July 28-30: Bang on a Can and MASS MoCA present LOUD Weekend, a fully-loaded, eclectic super-mix of minimal, experimental and electronic music over three days throughout the museum’s expansive campus. Lineup will be announced in June. Threeday passes begin at $109.

Saturday, Aug. 13: Here and There. Courtney Barnett’s boutique touring festival offers a rotating line-up featuring some of the most exciting songwriters in music today. Curated by Barnett, the North Adams festival will feature Barnett, Lucy Dacus, Men I Trust, Faye Webster, Bartees Strange, The Beths, and Hana Vu. Tickets start at $60.50.

Sept. 23-25: FreshGrass North Adams. FreshGrass is a family-friendly festival, brimming with the best of bluegrass and roots on four stages, and also in galleries, brick-lined courtyards and grassy field. FreshGrass | North Adams 2022 features Gary Clark Jr., Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled by Turtles, Yola, The Jerry Douglas Band, Aoife O’Donovan, Sierra Ferrell and many more. Three-day passes start at $129.

Performances and events

Friday, June 10: Kraftwerk; tickets sold out. 8 p.m.

June 2, July 14, Aug. 11: Summer Open Studios, see the works-in-progress of artists participating in the Assets for Artists’ residency program. Free. 5 to 7 p.m.

June 10 and 11: “Aún Los Gallos Lloran (Even Roosters Cry).” Armando Cortés activates his installation “Castillos” — on view in the exhibition “Ceramics in the Expanded Field” — with a performance exploring his Mexican roots while using the traditional sport of cockfighting as a metaphor for the rituals of masculine bravado and the relationships between men. With admission. 2 p.m.

Saturday, June 18: Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience’s Juneteenth Celebration. Grammy-winning zydeco master, educator, activist and eighth-generation Louisiana Creole Terrance Simien brings his red hot band back to Mass MoCA for a special night of music, storytelling and joy on the eve of Juneteenth to celebrate the holiday. Tickets start at $22. 8 p.m.

Sunday, June 26: Cirque Kalabanté, “Afrique En Cirque.” Montréal-based Cirque Kalabanté combines breathtaking acrobatics with live music played on the traditional instruments of their native Guinea, including kora, djembe and various kinds of percussion. Tickets start at $22. 4 p.m.

Saturday, July 2: Pop-folk singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale conjures up a dreamy, dark and enticing sonic landscape. Her exquisite writing and musicianship have created opportunities to share the stage with the likes of Mt. Joy, Iron & Wine, Lucius and Rufus Wainwright. Tickets start at $18. 8 p.m.

Cirque Kalabanté performs at Mass MoCA on June 26.

Photo provided by Peter Graham

Friday, July 8: The Roots in concert. Formed in 1987 in Philadelphia, The Roots have become one of the best known and most respected hip-hop acts in the business. Tickets start at $60. 8 p.m.

July 14-Sept. 8: The Chalet. The museum’s summer fun spot returns with the reopening of The Chalet, “Oh, Canada” artist Dean Baldwin’s sculpture-turned-riverside-beer-garden, for one night of local music and performance each week. Free. 6 to 10 p.m. Lineup will be announced in June. No performance July 28.

Saturday, July 16: Tony Award-winning star of stage and screen John Cameron Mitchell (“Joe vs. Carole,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”), one of alt culture's boldest creators, joins forces with international cabaret star Amber Martin and a bevy of special guests in an evening of songs and stories spanning his singular career — all backed by the Hedwig house band Tits of Clay. Tickets start at $35. 8 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 18: Roomful of Teeth, the ensemble of Grammy-winning vocal titans led by Williams College faculty, Brad Wells, returns to its summer home at MASS MoCA to create new works and hone techniques, culminating in a knock-out performance. Tickets start at $22. 8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 3: An Evening with There Might Be Giants. This event is sold out. 8 p.m.

Ongoing exhibitions:

For a full list, please visit massmoca.org

“Amy Hauft: 700,000:1 | Terra + Luna + Sol,” on view through Jan. 2023.

“Ceramics in the Expanded Field,” on view through April 2023.

“Choreopolitics: Brendan Fernandes & nibia pastrana santiago,” on view through 2023.

“Gamaliel Rodriguez: La travesia / Le voyage,” on view through Jan. 15, 2023.

“Glenn Kaino: In the Light of a Shadow,” on view through Sept. 5.

“James Turrell: C.A.V.U.,” on extended view.

“James Turrell: Into the Light,” on view through at least 2025.

“James Turrell, Nicholas Mosse and William Burke: Lapsed Quaker Ware,” on view through October.

Jenny Holzer, on extended view.

“kelli rae adams: Forever in Your Debt,” on view through 2022.

Laurie Anderson, on view through at least through 2022.

“Lily Cox-Richard: Weep Holes,” on view through Jan. 2023.

Louise Bourgeois, on view at least through 2022.

“Marc Swanson: A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco,” on view through Jan. 2023.

“Martin Puryear: Big Bling,” on extended view.

“Sarah Oppenheimer: S-334473,” on extended view.

“Shaun Lenardo: You Walk,” on extended view.

“Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective,” on view through 2043.

“Spencer Finch: Cosmic Latte,” on view through at least 2025.

“Taryn Simon: The Pipes,” on extended view.

“Yto Barrada: Ways to Baffle the Wind,” on view through May 29, 2023.