Transcending Material: ICA Collection

Exhibition Website

Jul 23 2015 - Jul 17 2016

Sculpture today is an expansive medium that includes a range of phenomena, forms, techniques, and materials; the category includes discrete objects, installations, staged video displays, and even performance. This display of collection works brings together pieces by a variety of artists who have used commonplace materials in new ways. Many employ everyday materials such as pins, glass, and wood, transcending their original function to suggest new material associations. Others use found objects and images to investigate socio-political contexts, creating new narratives for those objects. 

Yet other artists probe the complex relationship of rendering three-dimensional forms in two-dimensional moving and still image. These thematic threads, among others, reflect the expansive vitality and diversity of object-making today. Included will be works from Mark Bradford, Taylor Davis, Tara Donovan, Kader Attia, Rachel Harrison, Charles LeDray, Roy McMakin, and Josiah McElheny, among others.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website


  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Kader Attia
  • Josiah McElheny
  • Rachel Harrison
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates