MASS MoCA, Part 2
On the second day of my long weekend trip to western Massachusetts in March 2026, I visited MASS MoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. Due to the size of the museum, I am covering this visit in three posts. The first post described the building, local history and ecology, and artwork on the exterior. This second part will describe the my favorite exhibits at the museum. The third part will describe the permanent Sol DeWitt exhibit and tips on how to visit the museum.
Almanac by Carly Glovinski was near the gift shop. The beautiful installation of painted and cut flowers represented New England blooms from April through September. This was an excellent photo opportunity for those who enjoy a floral selfie. No Experience Required by Gunnar Schonbeck was a room of inventive instruments, including nine-foot-tall banjos, giant marimbas, and steel drums. Unfortunately, this room has not been maintained since the instruments were brought to the museum in 2011, so many are broken or have no means of being played. Several multimedia pieces created by Laurie Anderson had been set up, while construction of the rest of the exhibit was in progress, including a piece made of LEDs depicting original constellations.
The largest exhibit on display was Powerful Because We’re Different by Jeffrey Gibson, which celebrates the interaction of the Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities. What I most appreciated about the exhibit, besides the bright colors, was the ear plugs provided at the beginning. The entrance was extremely loud, which I expected from attending events like the Be the Voice of Kittacuck Fish Passage Celebrations at Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. However, because I’m highly sensitive to loud sounds, I would not have been able to enjoy the exhibit otherwise. Another exhibit that used multiple senses was Cultural Apothecary by Alison Pebworth. The artist imagines cures to Americanitis, a fictional neurological disorder caused by industrialization and urbanization. Her space includes a tea service where visitors can relax and sip the tasty, calming concoction under the supervision of a gentle apothecary.
The most surprising artwork was S-334473 by Sarah Oppenheimer, a pivoting rectangle made of metal and glass built into Building 6. Visitors can gently spin the balanced art pieces. Nearby is Building 6 Portrait: Interior by Barbara Ernst Prey, a large painting depicting the building just before it was renovated. Another hallway of the same building is lit by Cosmic Latte, an arrangement of LED bulbs created by Spencer Finch and intended to look like the Milky Way. For me, this was the prettiest room in the museum, although it reminded me of a lighting design store.
Technologies of Relation was a large exhibit containing the works of multiple artists. Stained glass. One clever exhibit was LAUREN: Anyone Home? by Lauren Lee McCarthy. The installation was set up like a smart home and encouraged visitors to give requests to the AI system, such as dimming the lights or changing the music. However, the system is actually run by a diligent museum employee in a room down the hallway. It reminded me of Builder.ai, a tech startup claiming to be an advanced app engineering system but actually a group of about seven hundred underpaid employees in India pretending to be bots. A neighboring exhibit created by a collective of Armenian artists was decorated with Armenian-inspired wallpaper, ceramics, and texts, while a docent offered coffee grounds readings to tell the future of the visitor. I passed on the grounds that I’m not superstitious, and I don’t drink coffee.
