MASS MoCA

What an unusual museum, almost entirely in a good way. The size of Mass MoCA — it’s the fourteenth biggest museum in the world — and its time scale — some pieces are up for over a decade — allow a freedom that you can’t get in an urban museum. Some of the exhibits inevitably miss the mark, but the overall collection of exhibits is thoughtful, fun, and bold.

This year’s winners:

• A retrospective of Jenny Holzer. Seeing her texts in so many different physical forms really showed her genius.

• Perfectly Clear, James Turrell. One of his large rooms that changes over the course of fifteen minutes. We saw it last year and it made an even bigger impression the second time around.

• When, Ledelle Moe. Massive hollow concrete heads strewn across the biggest space in the museum, with a foghorn echoing through the space every so often.