Compact exhibitions that generate expansive ideas
ICI's EXHIBITIONS IN A BOX series celebrated the fact that interesting projects can come in small parcels, taking a cue from initiatives such as Marcel Duchamp's Boîte-En-Valise and George Maciunas's Fluxkits. Charged with a do-it-yourself imperative characteristic of ICI exhibitions, each EXHIBITION IN A BOX provided source material from which venues could generate high-content, low-cost exhibitions. Hosts could adapt and add to the materials provided according to the space and facilities available; Exhibitions included small-scale artworks, videos, sound works, instruction works, ephemera, publications, and archival materials. The series was organized around three principles: key historical precedents that influenced artistic practice and resonate with exhibition-making today; artist-initiated boxes; and projects that focused on one period or a range of works from contemporary artists.
While it is no longer a focus of ICI's expanded exhibitions capacity, the collaborative, do-it-yourself model in which EXHIBITIONS IN A BOX was forged is still a driving value of all of our traveling exhibitions.
