Everyday Is All There Is
Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, U U U U U (detail), 2026. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Events
Visiting Artist Talk
Visiting Artist Talk with David Horvitz
12:00 – 1:00 PMOsher Hall, MECA&D Campus
Workshop
Workshop with David Horvitz: Change the Name of the Days
3:00 – 5:00 PMICA at MECA&D
Opening
Opening Reception: Everyday Is All There Is
5:00 – 8:00 PMICA at MECA&D
Participation
Participate in David Horvitz' Change the Name of the Days
ICA at MECA&D
Visiting Artist Talk
Visiting Artist Talk with Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis
5:30 – 6:30 PMOsher Hall, MECA&D Campus
Screening
Mierle Laderman Ukeles Documentary Screening: Maintenance Artist
5:30 – 7:00 PMOsher Hall, MECA&D Campus
First Friday Art Walk
April First Friday Art Walk Reception
5:00 – 8:00 PMICA at MECA&D
About the exhibition
Everyday Is All There Is draws on Joan Didion’s advice to use the good silver now, rather than saving it for a future that is never guaranteed. The artists in Everyday Is All There Is affirm the value of presence, echoing Didion’s recognition that trouble and celebration arrive with equal unpredictability. While the demand to savor every moment can be exhausting, life unfolds largely through routine—walking the dog, making lists, changing a diaper, guarding one’s solitude. These artists remind us that meaning lies in how we frame such moments. Through subtle acts of resistance and quiet reconfigurations of the ordinary, the exhibition reveals how the banal can become transcendent.
Everyday Is All There Is is the second installment of Getaway!, a multi-year exhibition series that explores the power and pitfalls of escapism as a reaction to the question, “What do we do in response to our current crises?” These group and solo exhibitions explore various topics within the broader theme of escapism, examining both the complex impulses that drive us away from challenging circumstances and the destinations and activities we pursue when we do. Through diverse research and artistic practices, this series aims to provide a space for imagination, enabling us to equip our communities, both within and beyond MECA&D, with new tools to create the worlds they envision.
Exhibiting Artists: Chloë Bass, Katherine Bradford, Jasmine Clarke, Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, David Horvitz, Nina Katchadourian, Ralph Pugay, Stephanie H. Shih, Rick Silva, Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Everyday Is All There Is is curated by Director of Exhibitions Iris Williamson and independent curator Roz Crews. Production management by Exhibitions Manager Sarah Sawtelle '19 and Exhibitions Assistant Caroline Kouba '22. Exhibition design support from Spencer Byrne-Seres. Design by Omnivore.
Press
Publications
Gallery
David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days (detail), 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days (detail), 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Chloë Bass, (left to right) PRETEXTS (THIS IS A FILM, Interlude, Slide 3B), 2025, PRETEXTS (Cutting Room Floor #3 Voiceover), 2025, PRETEXTS (THIS IS A FILM, Interlude, Slide 3A), 2025, PRETEXTS (THIS IS A FILM, Interlude, Slide 10), 2025, PRETEXTS (THIS IS A FILM, Section One, Slide 2), 2025, PRETEXTS (THIS IS A FILM, Section Four, Slide 14), 2025.Courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Chloë Bass, PRETEXTS (Cutting Room Floor #3 Voiceover), 2025.Courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Chloë Bass, PRETEXTS (Family Dancing, 1962): 01:02 - 02:49, 2025, PRETEXTS (Family Dancing, 1962): 02:50 - 04:17, 2025.Courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Rick Silva, Dirt Nap, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Rick Silva, Dirt Nap, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Rick Silva, Dirt Nap, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Ralph Pugay, Selected Drawings, 2018–2025.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Ralph Pugay, Selected Drawings (detail), 2018–2025.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Everyday Is All There Is, installation view with works by Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, Katherine Bradford, and Stephanie H. Shih.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Katherine Bradford, Walking the Dog, 2025 (left), Smokers, 2024 (middle), Bicycle Built For Two, 2024 (right).Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Everyday Is All There Is, installation view with works by Stephanie H. Shih, and Jasmine Clarke.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Katherine Bradford, Walking the Dog, 2025.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Katherine Bradford, Smokers, 2024.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Katherine Bradford, Bicycle Built For Two, 2024.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Stephanie H. Shih, Sweet Honey, Where Have I Seen You Before? (detail), 2024.Courtesy of Alexander Berggruen, New York. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Stephanie H. Shih, (left to right) Slice, 2023, Filet-O-Fish, 2023, Chock Full o' Nuts, 2024, Aquafresh, 2023.Courtesy of Alexander Berggruen, New York. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, U U U U U, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, U U U U U (detail), 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Everyday Is All There Is, installation view with works by Chloë Bass, Stephanie H. Shih, and Nina Katchadourian.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, MANIFESTO FOR MAINTENANCE ART 1969! Proposal for an Exhibition “CARE,” 1969, 2022, installation view. © Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Made in collaboration with the artist and the Gallatin Galleries at New York University for the exhibition: Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Chasing the Humming of Life, 2022.Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Everyday Is All There Is, installation view with works by Chloë Bass, Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, and Stephanie H. Shih.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Nina Katchadourian, Plant #18, 2021.Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery, New York. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Everyday Is All There Is, installation view with works by Chloë Bass, Stephanie H. Shih, Nina Katchadourian, and Jasmine Clarke.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Jasmine Clarke, (left to right) Shadow Sister, 2023, Untitled (Nanna's Backyard), 2021, Monty and Zoraya (Dad's Tattoo), 2023, Covering, 2025, Two Days in Port Royal, 2023.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
Stephanie H. Shih, (left to right) Frosted Flakes, 2024, Slice, 2023, Filet-O-Fish, 2023, Chock Full o' Nuts, 2024.Courtesy of Alexander Berggruen, New York. Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.
David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days, 2026.Photography by Joel Tsui '16, Salt '17, MFA '19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D.