The Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University presents Broad Signals. Running until 2029, it’s a series of public art displays created by internationally acclaimed artists, including Studio Ossidiana, Chloë Bass & Bill Dietz, Diana Al-Hadid, and Alyson Shotz.
Since its inception in 2018, the ICA has aimed to make art more publicly available and provide a diverse, open forum for international and local artists. The institute is at the intersection of Broad and Belvidere streets in Richmond.
“Part of the curatorial process behind choosing these specific artists is stepping into dialogue with artists doing inspirational and provocative work,” says Jessica Bell Brown, ICA’s executive director. “For example, Diana Al-Hadid, who started her art journey right here at VCU in the MFA program, is an incredible sculptor working in very site-specific and architectural ways. Her piece, Self-Evident, will create an illusion of the materiality of the Belvidere side of the ICA in tension with the ICA’s existing architecture.”
“Broad Signals will help the ICA in its aspiration to engage our visitors, residents, and community members through dynamic and inspiring public art activations,” says Brown. “That’s why we’ve called this project Broad Signals, because it’s about an acknowledgment that we are a part of this much larger and thriving ecosystem on campus and downtown, especially.”
Brown hopes that the ICA stands for iconic architecture and for community, while also elevating the arts center beyond standard displays and programs. “I’m excited about taking our architectural visibility and turning it into a kind of community visibility where you know what happens here on our site, on our campus, and in our urban landscape. Art does not have to happen within four white walls; it can actually be an everyday encounter,” says Brown.
Studio Ossidiana,’s Pond Theater is currently open for viewing until Nov. 29—transforming the ICA’s Thinking Field Martha Daniel Newell Reflection pool by reimagining the boundaries between the enclosed walls of the museum and the open walls of bustling downtown Richmond.
Italian-born but Netherlands-based, Studio Ossidiana, creates at the crossroads of architecture, design, and landscape. A recipient of the prestigious Dutch Prix de Rome, its team works with traditional Italian values of design rooted in fostering community and connection. “Pond Theater, as a giant floating pavilion, offers a space to cool down, receive the sunrays, have lunch, and have a good time with your friends,” explains Brown. “The pool used to be more of a space for gazing and reflection, but not necessarily an active experience. By collaborating with boat makers from Matthews, Virginia, to build the piece, Studio Ossidiana basically created this new way for us to engage our urban landscape directly on the pool.” Studio Ossidiana has launched exhibitions all over the world.
In our modern, digital world, where it’s effortless to disengage from place and reality, Broad Signals seeks to re-engage people with place and reconnect the individual to the collective and to the world.
“We love working with our international artists to imagine new ways of being, new ways of knowing, and pushing artists to create in ways that they may have always wanted to, but maybe not have had the opportunity to,” says Brown. “We’re doing this dance right at the ICA, in which we aspire to connect with audiences about what’s happening in the world through the vast ecosystem of contemporary art, and we want to bring that dialogue right here to Richmond.”
Photos courtesy of the Institute for Contemporary Art. This article is a Virginia Living digital exclusive.
