The Institute for Contemporary Art reopened a past exhibition to highlight a small community of Christians called the Shakers who are recognized for their simple living, furniture design, architecture and more.
The original exhibition, “The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art, and the Shakers,” opened in 1998 at the ICA. Its current exhibit, Believers Artists and the Shakers uses some of the original pieces from 1998 as well as new works that were created for the revival of the exhibit.
Pacifism, communal living and racial and gender equality are only some of the values that this community holds. These ideas are prominently displayed in the art created based on their community and living styles.
In the summer of 1996, 10 artists were invited to participate in the only remaining Shaker community in Maine. The artists were made to engage in the community, culture and lifestyles of the Shakers by worshiping with them and helping with the community workload.
The artist then created multiple different pieces based on their time in the community, their observations and what the community taught them to be their values. The outcome of the project is a contemporary view of the simple yet intricate lives of the Shakers.
Many of the pieces show the Shakers connection to spirituality. But for the Shakers it is less of partaking in physical prayer, but instead connecting to their spirituality through creating furniture and participating in community.
One work, “Communion,” created by Kazumi Tanaka who stayed with the Shakers in 1996, perfectly conveys the importance of community and craftsmanship.
The work is made up of four different pieces. Two tables, their surfaces flooded with water and a dinner plate floating on top, a clock with no face but with gears that still make it tick and a small wood door that sits half open.
As the name suggests, all four parts of the work represent how important community is to the Shakers and how they are always finding ways to connect with their spirituality and with each other, like, for example, a meal at the dinner table.
Not only are the tables representative of sharing a meal, and in the process thoughts and feelings, but they also take reference from the importance of furniture and design that the Shakers use to connect artistically with their beliefs and values.
Originally made in 1996, “Communion” was not displayed until 2025. It is an excellent addition to the exhibition, showcasing key elements of the Shakers values.
Put on display in 1996 and then again in the ICAs 2025 installation is a series of photographs that span the entire back wall of the exhibit. Wolfgang Tillmans, one of the artists who stayed with the community, took photos with different focuses including people, nature, architecture, art and other parts of the everyday life of the Shakers.
The photos are unframed, stuck to the wall with tape and in various sizes. They are placed on the wall in no apparent order or pattern. However, the placement, or lack thereof, is an intentional choice of the artist.
“The installation is an expression of my piecing together at the time an understanding of how life, art, architecture, nature and animals, as well as religion and spirituality, are all part of a simultaneity of human experience, through the lens of my very specific movements and experience of the world,” Tillmans said, as quoted on the information sign next to his photos.
On the opposite wall to Tillmans’ photos are a series of 27 drawings in various mediums, with a combination of writings, portraits and photographs.
Chen Zhen, another artist who stayed with the Shakers, made a diary entry for each day he was with them. He drew portraits of various members of the community, included photographs of what he saw and sketched some of the furniture and items prevalent in their society.
“My Diary in Shaker Village” not only encapsulates Zhen’s perspective of the people, their values and their way of living, but it also shows how he connected his own culture to theirs through language, art and his sketches.
The entire exhibit provides an overall comforting atmosphere and a feeling of community as you walk through. The larger pieces, such as the wooden tables and clock, and a long wall filled with candid photographs from the artist’s stay in 1996 add to the perception that you are, for a moment, part of the Shaker community.
