IPSWICH, MASS.- The Trustees announces the third installation in its contemporary Art & the Landscape public art initiative on view now at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, a National Historic Landmark located in Ipswich. The installation features an original piece specifically designed for the site of Castle Hill’s former hedge maze by Berlin-based, award-winning, Polish artist Alicja Kwade who is internationally recognized for creating works that interpret and question reality, time, science, and space. Titled TunnelTeller, the new work for Castle Hill represents Kwade’s first large-scale public artwork commission in the U.S. A rapidly rising star in the art world, Kwade presented her first U.S. solo exhibition at 303 Gallery in New York in the spring of 2016 and has since opened several other international exhibitions.
The Trustees launched its Art & the Landscape initiative in the spring of 2016, working with independent curator Pedro Alonzo and renowned national and international artists to create site-specific, outdoor art aimed at enhancing and enriching visitor experiences at its properties. The first installation, The Meeting House was created by Los Angeles-based artist, Sam Durant for the Old Manse in Concord from the summer through fall of 2016. The second piece, A New End was created for World’s End in Hingham with Berlin-based artist Jeppe Hein where it was on view from August 2016 through September 2017. Kwade’s piece, TunnelTeller opened to the public on Saturday, May 19, 2018 and on view at Castle Hill through April 2019.
“The Crane family were industrialists known for their work with many designers and artists in their day at this iconic site” says Barbara Erickson, Trustees President & CEO. “How appropriate that a new artist is creating an original work on the site now. We are thrilled to welcome Alicja Kwade and share her new installation with our thousands of annual visitors.”
Alonzo and The Trustees invited Kwade to visit Castle Hill to create a new work of art that embodies the spirit of the place and interprets the natural and cultural surroundings with a nontraditional form of expression. Resting upon the outlines of the former hedge maze once located to the east of the Great House at Castle Hill overlooking Cape Ann and Crane Beach, the structure draws upon the property’s gilded era majesty, the Crane family history, and the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.
“It will be an immersive structure designed to challenge the viewer’s notions of space and perception,” says Alonzo. “At a moment of tremendous diversity in the arts where virtually any material and combination of unique mediums are being used as a means of artistic expression, Alicja Kwade stands out for her ability to use raw materials and everyday objects to create bold works that imbue meaning, creativity, and surprising functionality.”
Alonzo is an independent curator based in Boston and adjunct curator at Dallas Contemporary who specializes in producing exhibitions that transcend the boundaries of museum walls and spill out into the urban landscape. He has been working as the exclusive curator for The Trustees’ progressive Art and the Landscape initiative since its inception. Locally, he is best known for curating the giant black-and-white work by French artist JR, which was on display in the early part of 2015 on the side of 200 Clarendon in Boston (formerly known as the John Hancock Tower). He also organized exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)/Boston, where he served as an adjunct curator from 2011-2013 on high profile works by Os Gêmeos (2012), including the first Rose Kennedy Greenway mural, as well as Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand (2009) and Dr. Lakra (2010).
