Massachusetts Museum

NORTH ADAMS - Cozy. Self-indulgent. Pat. If you want a verbal snapshot of the besetting sins of institutionalized contemporary art, any of the above will suffice. But anyone interested in a painfully long exposure of the malaise could do no better than two sprawling exhibitions at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this summer. “This is Killing Me,’’ the unfortunately apt title of one of them, is a group show about, of all things, the anxiety and unease artists feel about their identities and their creative inclinations.

THE WORKERS At: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, through April 14. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org NORTH ADAMS - On the face of it, everything about "The Workers," a group show at the wonderful Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, looks auspicious. Above all, the timing: The show, which opened back in May and continues through April 14, has coincided with a period of high unemployment and with the Occupy protests, which together have intensified society's focus on the plight of workers in a sputtering economy.

THE WORKERS At: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, through April 14. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org NORTH ADAMS - On the face of it, everything about "The Workers," a group show at the wonderful Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, looks auspicious. Above all, the timing: The show, which opened back in May and continues through April 14, has coincided with a period of high unemployment and with the Occupy protests, which together have intensified society's focus on the plight of workers in a sputtering economy.

Museums, it’s easy to forget, were once for adults. High-ceilinged places with a muffled, whispery ambience, punctured sporadically by the echoing clack of adult shoes, they were ideally suited to illicit rendezvous on rainy days or courtly, courtesy-filled outings for retirees. Now, every museum this side of Tbilisi sees it as central to its “mission’’ to function as a kind of day care for kids and a crutch for desperate dads and moms hoping to kill a few hours and provide — against all odds — something culturally edifying into the bargain.

NORTH ADAMS -- We traveled to The Porches Inn with every intention of dropping our bags and running off to look at art. After all, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is directly across the street and the museums in Williamstown but a skip and short drive away. Instead, our lofty cultural intentions were sidetracked by the amenities at the inn. "Which water activity should we try first?" we wondered. Outside, there was the heated pool with adjacent bubbling hot tub, and in our bathroom, a beckoning claw-foot tub and a monster-sized, glass-enclosed, walk-in shower with an...

A Scoop of Nostalgia Salvador's Ice Cream in South Dartmouth isn't just a spot for a cool treat. It's a roadside attraction like no other. The stand, housed in a lovable giant milk can and topped with Smith Neck Nellie, a fiberglass cow, has been a local institution since 1935 and was renovated in 2005. If you're hitting one of the South Coast's many beaches, stop for a cone or banana split or, if you're hungrier, a burger or lobster roll. And don't forget your camera. Opens Memorial Day. Salvador's Ice Cream, 490 Smith Neck Road, South Dartmouth, 508-996-6106,...

NORTH ADAMS - If you've grown accustomed, resentfully or otherwise, to the frivolity and antics of the contemporary art world, the recent shift in mood toward elegy and soulfulness can be discombobulating, and even rather hard to take. Are we really to take seriously the Weltschmerz and despair of brutally ambitious young turks just out of art school, prospering denizens of Chelsea, or millionaire friends of Elton John? Sam Taylor-Wood, one of the six artists in "These Days: Elegies for Modern Times" at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, fits that last description.

Museums, it’s easy to forget, were once for adults. High-ceilinged places with a muffled, whispery ambience, punctured sporadically by the echoing clack of adult shoes, they were ideally suited to illicit rendezvous on rainy days or courtly, courtesy-filled outings for retirees. Now, every museum this side of Tbilisi sees it as central to its “mission’’ to function as a kind of day care for kids and a crutch for desperate dads and moms hoping to kill a few hours and provide — against all odds — something culturally edifying into the bargain.

NORTH ADAMS — Denise Markonish grew up in Brockton and still lives in Massachusetts. She is a curator at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. She is, in other words, a local. But Markonish has a treacherous heart. For she has fallen in love with — oh, surely it can't be! — Canada. And after four years traipsing across that vast country, visiting more than 400 artist studios in search of the best in contemporary art, she finds herself in the unusual position of being an American-born ambassador for Canadian art. ...

THE Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams is a cavernous temple of modern art, with exceptionally big and provocative works in a variety of media. The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., by contrast, serves up a whole different aesthetic, one filled with soda fountains, family dinners and sweetly nostalgic takes on small-town life. The two museums stake out opposite positions in the art world. But together they add up to a eye-opening, art-infused weekend trip.

NORTH ADAMS - Cozy. Self-indulgent. Pat. If you want a verbal snapshot of the besetting sins of institutionalized contemporary art, any of the above will suffice. But anyone interested in a painfully long exposure of the malaise could do no better than two sprawling exhibitions at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this summer. “This is Killing Me,’’ the unfortunately apt title of one of them, is a group show about, of all things, the anxiety and unease artists feel about their identities and their creative inclinations.

A Scoop of Nostalgia Salvador's Ice Cream in South Dartmouth isn't just a spot for a cool treat. It's a roadside attraction like no other. The stand, housed in a lovable giant milk can and topped with Smith Neck Nellie, a fiberglass cow, has been a local institution since 1935 and was renovated in 2005. If you're hitting one of the South Coast's many beaches, stop for a cone or banana split or, if you're hungrier, a burger or lobster roll. And don't forget your camera. Opens Memorial Day. Salvador's Ice Cream, 490 Smith Neck Road, South Dartmouth, 508-996-6106, salvadorsicecream.com ...

NORTH ADAMS - If you've grown accustomed, resentfully or otherwise, to the frivolity and antics of the contemporary art world, the recent shift in mood toward elegy and soulfulness can be discombobulating, and even rather hard to take. Are we really to take seriously the Weltschmerz and despair of brutally ambitious young turks just out of art school, prospering denizens of Chelsea, or millionaire friends of Elton John? Sam Taylor-Wood, one of the six artists in "These Days: Elegies for Modern Times" at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, fits that last description.

THE Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams is a cavernous temple of modern art, with exceptionally big and provocative works in a variety of media. The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., by contrast, serves up a whole different aesthetic, one filled with soda fountains, family dinners and sweetly nostalgic takes on small-town life. The two museums stake out opposite positions in the art world. But together they add up to a eye-opening, art-infused weekend trip.

NORTH ADAMS -- We traveled to The Porches Inn with every intention of dropping our bags and running off to look at art. After all, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is directly across the street and the museums in Williamstown but a skip and short drive away. Instead, our lofty cultural intentions were sidetracked by the amenities at the inn. "Which water activity should we try first?" we wondered. Outside, there was the heated pool with adjacent bubbling hot tub, and in our bathroom, a beckoning claw-foot tub and a monster-sized, glass-enclosed, walk-in...

People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive 2011, Bradley Cooper, will be at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer to star in a production of "The Elephant Man" with actress Patricia Clarkson. The show runs from July 25 to Aug. 5. (Cooper appeared in the "The Understudy" in Williamstown in 2008.) The WTF also disclosed Monday that it will workshop "Here Lies Love" - the stage production of a concept album by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos - from June 21 to 24. The show, which is a collaboration with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, will...

A New York artist is looking for old fishing line — a million feet of it — from Maine lobstermen for a huge sculpture that will be put on display in a New York City park. The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation has been contacting lobstermen in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to collect 7/16-inch rope that would otherwise be dumped. Project coordinator Laura Ludwig says artist Orly Genger will weave the fishing line into a sculpture at a park in Manhattan. Genger makes giant, knotted rope sculptures and used old Maine lobster line for...