Beyond Belief
A spiny cylinder made of 2000 books towers 15 feet to the ceiling, where the viewer who peers inside finds a cheerful mystery ...Barbie morphs to middle-age, and suddenly she's 'Ken's Aunt', all struggling flesh against her own underwear...a giant styrofoam baby is both 'Untitled' and featureless as only a supermarket bar code can make it... .These are just three of the 50 high-impact installations on view at the Institute for Contemporary Art, where the full title of the show is Beyond Belief: Contemporary Art from East Central Europe. Brought here from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the show clusters the work of 13 artists and groups around the concept that they who have witnessed an era in which "commonly held" values shifted and reconfigured with each new regime, will respond by questioning the validity of all ideologies.
Beyond Belief will be here through October 27, and the galleries at 118 S. 36th Street are open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Thursdays, which are "late nights" open until 7. Tours are scheduled Sundays at 1 p.m. and Thursdays at 5:15 p.m., but can also be arranged by appointment. Admission is free for PENNcard holders, ICA members, children under 12, and everyone who comes Sundays between 10 a.m. and noon. Otherwise: $3 general admission, $1 for students, artists and senior citizens.
Note for PENNcard holders: the ICA terrace welcomes brown-baggers.
Pictured: Above, Idiom, Matej Kren, Czechoslovakia 1994; Assembling the piece anew for each of its 12 showings to date, the artist works in the language of the country--using, in this case, 2000 hardcovers on loan from the University of Pennsylvania Press and Van Pelt Library.
At right, Ken's Aunt, Zbigniew Libera, Poland 1995; detail from an Untitled Installation of modified Barbie dolls and Untitled, David Cerny, Czech Republic 1995;
an oversized infant, approximately 8' high, in styrofoam and plaster.
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Open House at New Bolton Center
Even without the live llamas and percherons on parade--or the opportunity to have one's favorite stuffed toy diagnosed and treated by the world' best veterinarians--the University's New Bolton Center is a remarkable place to visit--if only for the freshness of the Kennett Square mushroom country. But only once a year is the School of Veterinary Medicine's green and rolling "other campus" open to visitors, and that day is coming: Saturday, September 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. is Open House at New Bolton Center.New Bolton Center is as old as the Colonial-period Allam House and as new as the latest research laboratories where the diseases of farm and food animals are one of the special focuses of the faculty, staff and students. Just for the day, visitors can tour the Large Animal Hospital outfitted for horses which, after surgery, can be taken by monorail to a recovery pool where they wake up rubber--shielded and weightless to avoid injuring themselves. With support from the Iams Company for the day's program, the featured activities include:
- The Emergency Tent for Injured Stuffed Animals
- Hospital Tours
- Llama Obstacle Course Demonstration
- Six-Horse Percheron Draft Hitch
- S.P.A.R.K.'s Dog Agility Demonstration
- Southeast Regional Cattlemen's Association Cattle Breed Exhibition
- Delaware State Police Canine Unit Demonstration
- Canine Partners for Life
- Oxen-Team Demonstration
- Veterinary Career Information
- Animal Blood Mobile
Both admission and parking for the Open House are free.
New Bolton Center is located at 382 West Street Road (route 926) in Kennett Square, PA 19348-1692.
For information call (610) 444-5800, Ext. 2182.
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