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Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

  • Exhibitions
    • Current
    • Upcoming
    • Past
  • Calendar
  • Learning
    • Artist Residency
    • Bookshelf Residency
    • Digital Projects
    • Public Programs
    • Schools & Community
    • Special Projects
  • Visit
  • About
    • Staff
    • Governance
    • Press
    • Partnerships
    • Opportunities
    • Annual Report
  • Shop
  • Get Involved
    • Spring Benefit
    • Join
    • Institutional Support
    • Artist Edition Series
    • Sustainability
    • Corporate
  • Donate
Yellow Pages
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Back To Exhibitions
February 11
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May 14
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February 11
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May 14
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Upcoming Events

Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency

Exhibitions
Performance
Icala 2023 02 14 039
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Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency is dedicated to the life and work of the late interdisciplinary artist Milford Graves (1941–2021, born in Jamaica, Queens), whose revolutionary experiments—spanning music, medicine, movement, and art—explore the cosmic relationship between rhythms and the universe. Instrumental in the Free Jazz movement, Graves is best known as a percussionist, yet he applied his interest in rhythm far beyond the boundaries of music. A true polymath and innovator, Graves also trained as a cardiac technician to better understand the connection between the drum beat and the heartbeat; invented a martial art form called “Yara,” an improvisational practice loosely based on the movements of the praying mantis, the Lindy Hop, and African ritual dance; operated a community garden as a skilled botanist and herbalist; and taught generations of students as an influential professor in the Black Music Division at Bennington College.

Originating at Artists Space in New York, in collaboration with Mark Christman and Ars Nova Workshop in Philadelphia, Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency has been reimagined for the presentation at ICA LA. Reflecting Graves’ expansive approach, this comprehensive retrospective includes extensive film, photographic, and archival documentation of the artist’s live performances and dynamic collaborations across the globe including those with Japanese dancer Min Tanaka and jazz musicians Albert Ayler, Giuseppi Logan, and the New York Art Quartet. Also featured is a selection of Graves’ extraordinary assemblage sculptures and related documentation based on his studies of human anatomy and acupuncture, several expressive and rarely seen works on paper, a collection of hand-painted album covers (released under the artist’s own recording imprint, Self-Reliance Program, famously realized in collaboration with pianist Don Pullen), decorated percussion instruments, and a number of Graves’ iconic costumes. Accompanied by a series of live events hosted at ICA LA and at various locations across the city of Los Angeles, this presentation will further underscore the legacy of Graves’ work and the enduring impact of the artist’s singular and holistic approach to sound, spiritualism, and the study of the human body.

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Installation view, Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 11–May 14, 2023. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA.
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April 26, 2023, 7 PM - 9 PM
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April 27, 2023, 7 PM - 9 PM
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May 12, 2023, 8 PM - 11 PM
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Exhibition Guide (Bilingual English/Spanish)
February 13, 2023
Eight must-see exhibitions to see during Frieze Los Angeles
March 03, 2023
On the Same Frequency as Milford Graves

Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency is organized by Artists Space, New York, in collaboration with Mark Christman and Ars Nova Workshop, Philadelphia. The exhibition is curated by Danielle A. Jackson with Stella Cilman. The presentation at ICA LA is organized by Amanda Sroka, Senior Curator, with Caroline Ellen Liou, Curatorial Assistant.

Major support for Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency is provided by Karen Hillenburg and Sebastian Clough.

The exhibition is also generously funded by Betsy Greenberg and Steve NyBlom, Akio Tagawa, and Yuval Bar-Zemer.

Additional support provided by Kate Lally and Paul Solomon.

ICA LA is supported by the Curator’s Council and Fieldwork Council.

Milford Graves (1941–2021, born in Jamaica, Queens) was a percussionist, acupuncturist, herbalist, martial artist, programmer, and professor. A pioneer of Free Jazz, Graves was a member of the New York Art Quartet, whose iconic first recording in 1964 featured poet and social activist Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones). In 1967, Graves joined powerhouse saxophonist Albert Ayler’s quartet and they went on to achieve great praise for their seminal performance at John Coltrane’s funeral. In 1972, Graves invented a martial art form called “Yara,” which he developed and taught in his dojo in Jamaica, Queens. Graves later joined the Black Music Division, at Bennington College, where he taught for 39 years. In 2000, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2015 he received the Doris Duke Foundation Impact Award. He is the subject of a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary, Milford Graves: Full Mantis (2018), directed by his former student, Jake Meginsky, with Neil Young. Among his many notable recordings are In Concert At Yale University (with Andrew Cyrille, 1966); Dialogue of the Drums (with Andrew Cyrille, 1974); Meditation Among Us (1977); Grand Unification (1998); Beyond Quantum (with Anthony Braxton and William Parker, 2008); and Space/Time Redemption (with Bill Laswell, 2014).

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Database Exhibitions
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STATUS ID Title Start date End date Featured image Last updated
Active Published
126 Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency 2023-02-11 2023-05-14
Icala 2023 02 14 039
11:54am Mar 24, 2023 Page
Active Published
127 Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork 2023-02-11 2023-05-14
Icala 001
3:53pm Mar 22, 2023 Page
Active Published
128 Christine Sun Kim: Bounce Back 2023-02-11 2023-09-10
Icala 2023 02 14 001
11:48am Mar 24, 2023 Page
Active Published
91 Rebecca Morris: 2001–2022 2022-10-01 2023-01-15
Image of exhibition introduction text, Rebecca Morris painting hands in the background.
12:32pm Nov 16, 2022 Page
Active Published
92 My Barbarian 2022-10-01 2023-01-15
Icala 2022 10 06 004
4:57pm Nov 08, 2022 Page
Active Published
90 The Condition of Being Addressable 2022-06-18 2022-09-04
Icala 06.20.220449 edit
12:07pm Aug 04, 2022 Page
Active Published
125 Aquelarre no binario / Non-binary coven 2022-06-08 2023-01-15
View of ICA LA courtyard mural by Ad Minoliti featuring four vertical panels, each filled with abstracted representations of figures in vivid reds, yellows, oranges, purples, and pinks.
9:13pm Jan 19, 2023 Page
Active Published
87 Jamal Cyrus: The End of My Beginning 2022-02-05 2022-05-29
Installation view, "Jamal Cyrus: The End of My Beginning," Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 5–May 29, 2022. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA
12:18pm Jul 06, 2022 Page
Active Published
88 Sara Cwynar: Apple Red/Grass Green/Sky Blue 2022-02-05 2022-05-29
Sara Cwynar, "Glass Life," 2021. Six channel 2K video with sound, TRT: 19:02 min. Courtesy the artist; The Approach, London; Cooper Cole, Toronto; and Foxy Production, New York. Installation view, "Sara Cwynar: Apple Red/Grass Green/Sky Blue," Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 5–May 29, 2022. Photo: Jeff McLane/ICA LA
5:53pm May 03, 2022 Page
Active Published
83 Witch Hunt 2021-10-10 2022-01-09
Installation view of Witch Hunt, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, October 10–January 9, 2022.
11:51am Apr 01, 2022 Page
Active Published
89 Minerva Cuevas: Female Earth 2021-10-10 2022-06-02
Icala witchhunt 2021 10 12 077 (1)
10:47am May 24, 2022 Page
Active Published
81 Queer Communion:
Ron Athey
2021-06-19 2021-09-05
Icala 2021 07 02 009
10:15pm Sep 01, 2021 Page
Active Published
82 Kenneth Tam:
Silent Spikes
2021-06-19 2021-09-05
Icala 2021 07 02 002
11:12am Aug 03, 2021 Page
Active Published
80 The Inconstant World 2021-03-06 2021-05-30
Tiw horvitz
9:42am Dec 22, 2021 Page
Active Published
79 Online Screening: Stanya Kahn’s No Go Backs and Earlier Works 2020-12-09 2021-01-10
Sk1b
4:13pm Jan 22, 2021 Page
Active Published
77 Harold Mendez:
Let us gather in a flourishing way
2020-09-26 2021-01-10
Icala 2020 10 05 014
3:17pm Feb 07, 2022 Page
Active Published
78 Stanya Kahn:
No Go Backs
2020-09-26 2021-01-10
Sk1a
6:46pm Dec 04, 2020 Page
Active Published
69 Ree Morton:
The Plant That Heals May Also Poison
2020-02-16 2020-07-19
Icala 2020 03 06 025
1:06pm Jan 18, 2022 Page
Active Published
74 Ann Greene Kelly 2020-02-16 2020-07-19
Icala 2020 03 06 001
1:06pm Jan 18, 2022 Page
Active Published
75 Agency of Assets x El Clasificado 2019-12-06 2020-01-26
Meztly cover
4:32pm Dec 02, 2021 Page
Active Published
73 CURRENT:LA FOOD Public Art Triennial 2019 2019-10-05 2019-11-03
CURRENT:LA FOOD
11:04am Oct 07, 2019 Page
Active Published
67 No Wrong Holes:
Thirty Years of Nayland Blake
2019-09-29 2020-01-26
Ica blake 5
3:57pm Oct 21, 2020 Page
Active Published
72 Sadie Barnette:
The New Eagle Creek Saloon
2019-09-29 2020-01-26
Ica barnette 7
5:36pm Aug 26, 2020 Page
Active Published
70 Hervé Tullet: Ideal Exhibition 2019-07-14 2019-09-08
Icala96194
11:32am Dec 07, 2021 Page
Active Published
71 Worldwide Orphans: Element of Play® 2019-07-14 2019-09-08
Worldwide Orphans: Element of Play® program in Vietnam.
12:42pm Dec 07, 2021 Page
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