Review: Mass MOCA art exhibit a 'Wonder' to behold, Nick Cave also on view

NORTH ADAMS - The drawing on the wall stretches the length of a large living room. In the drawing, there's a detailed timeline of the history of the universe, from "Before Time" to the "Dark Era," when "the universe is left to its ultimate fate as cold, dead, empty space."

In between, you have to walk a long way along one wall before you get to where "History Starts" 5,500 years ago. But you don't have to walk very far - just a few feet, actually - beyond that point to the point on the timeline where humans and our planet will likely cease to exist.

I remember first looking at this drawing a few months ago in North Adams at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, better known as Mass MOCA. The drawing by Rachel Sussman named "History of the Space Time Continuum" greets you soon after you wander into this exhibit at Mass MOCA named "Explode Every Day: An Inquiry Into the Phenomena of Wonder."

Looking at Sussman's drawing and timeline twice in the past few months, I was struck both times by the vastness of our universe. We often like to think we're the center of the universe. But revolutionary exhibits like this one remind us that we're simply one, very small part of a significantly larger world.

Or as Woody Allen's character famously said as a kid in "Annie Hall," "The universe is expanding."

But what makes this exhibit, which is on view through March 19, so groundbreaking has less to do with our small place in the universe. Rather, it was Mass MOCA's decision to organize an art exhibit around an idea. In this case, the phenomenon of wonder.

Before going to the exhibit the first time, I will admit that the idea of an art exhibit devoted to the concept of wonder sounded a bit strange when I first read about it. But when I actually saw this carefully-curated exhibit which fills several rooms on two floors, the whole exhibit made perfect sense.

And like the Nobel Prize committee's daring decision to award Bob Dylan the top prize in literature, this exhilarating art exhibit expands the boundaries of what constitutes an art exhibit.

Who says an exhibit has to revolve around a specific artist or artistic movement? Why can't an exhibit focus on an idea or a feeling? Suddenly, art exhibits about happiness or inspiration, light or deja vu or millions of other possibilities now seem possible.

The best works in "Explode Every Day" combine the technical, scientific side of nature with the mystical, awe-inspiring side of the world around us.

One video which I kept thinking about for months after I first saw it was Hope Ginsburg's 7-minute-long movie, "Land Dive Team: Bay of Fundy." The video features several people in wet suits and breathing tanks sitting in knee-deep water near the shoreline as the tide rolls in. The movie is not in real time, but it might as well be. The tide rises twice a day by more than 50 feet in this part of Atlantic Canada. I've seen the tide in person several times over the years and this short film comes the closest to anything I've ever seen that captures the power and the drama of this awe-inspiring natural phenomenon.

In a matter of a few minutes, all the divers seated in the water near the shoreline in Ginsburg's movie completely disappear beneath the rising water. I've seen the movie twice now in several months. And both times, I was struck by the simple, eerie beauty of Ginsburg's work.

Another, effective film is Laurent Grasso's "Soleil Double." The glacially-slow movie features sunlight just before sunset streaming straight towards us through openings in buildings that look like something straight out of a Giorgio de Chirico painting or a modern, concrete landscape in a Michelangelo Antonioni film. Nothing happens in the movie. And that's the point of it - to simply appreciate the beauty of the natural world around us.

Another artwork in the exhibit features five different recordings of the human heart compiled by artist Dario Robleto. Recorded between 1854 and 2014, what struck me was how different each heartbeat sounded, illustrating the uniqueness of humanity in a unique way.

As for more traditional artworks, two artist in particular stood out. One artist created three-dimensional paintings (or are they sculptures?) featuring interconnected, Lego-like objects on the wall. But look closer and you suddenly realize these objects are really identical-colored business cards arranged in patterns by artists known collectively as The Institute for Figuring. I don't know what it is about these works but I was struck by how they transformed something as ordinary as a business card into something extraordinary.

Another group of artists who stood out were Ryan and Trevor Oakes. The New York City-based twin brothers created several black-and white drawings on curved pieces of paper depicting empty theaters, parks and other public spaces. Like The Institute of Figuring's business card sculptures, by just adding a slight curve, the Oakes brothers' drawings grabbed my attention in a unique way.

Not every work of art in "Explode Every Day" succeeds in doing the same. Some fall flat. But I respect Mass MOCA for curating such an ambitious, exciting show. In a day and age when many museums play it safe, Mass MOCA remains committed to taking risks.

NICK CAVE's "Until" - Another reason why I love Mass MOCA has to do the building itself. Housed in a massive, former mill building, Mass MOCA has several gigantic galleries which enable the museum to exhibit large, ambitious works of art.

Nick Cave's "Until" clearly falls into that category. According to the museum's website, Cave said his monumental work made up of millions of objects was inspired by his "thinking about gun violence and racism. And then I wondered: Is there racism in heaven? That's how this piece came about."

I appreciate Cave's ambition to examine such an important issue. But if I had not read his comments before seeing "Until," I doubt I would have known that his room-sized work was inspired by such thoughts. Instead, all the objects assembled in the football-field-sized exhibition space felt like Cave was simply trying to overwhelm the audience with detail after detail.

Looking at Cave's piece, I was reminded of Kara Walker's monumental, 2014 work, "A Subtlety," which tackled somewhat similar topics in her exhibition in a former sugar factory in Brooklyn, N.Y. Walker's sculptures made of sugar effectively tackled topics such as racism, violence and slavery. And you didn't need to read an interview with Walker to understand what ideas she was trying to communicate through her art.

And that's why I feel like Cave's piece is slightly flawed. Great art should be able to stand on its own. The artist should not have to explain what their art means.

But I will admit that I admire Cave for attempting something so ambitious on such a grand scale. Creating such a massive work of art takes a tremendous amount of courage. And I applaud Mass MOCA for supporting such daring artistic adventures.

Then again, I should point out that I was the only one in a group of friends not blown away from Cave's exhibit. Everyone else I went with walked away feeling like they had seen something truly special.

"Explode Every Day: An Inquiry Into the Phenomena of Wonder" is on view at Mass MOCA until March 19.

Nick Cave's "Until" is on view at Mass MOCA until September 2017.

Mass MOCA is located at 1040 Mass MOCA Way, North Adams, Mass. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Tuesdays.