CONTEMPORARY ARTIST SÓNIA ALMEIDA’S WORK FEATURED IN A YEAR-LONG INSTALLATION AT THE CLARK ART INSTITUTE
(Williamstown, Massachusetts)— The Clark Art Institute continues its art in public spaces program in 2026 with a year-long installation presenting the work of artist Sónia Almeida (b. 1978, Lisbon; lives and works in Boston). Sónia Almeida: Stages is a free exhibition on view in the Clark Center’s lower level and in the reading room of the Manton Research Center from February 14, 2026 through January 24, 2027.
“We are thrilled to share Sónia Almeida’s work with our visitors. Almeida’s ability to weave together analog and digital systems—art, technology, and the body—creates an experience that invites close looking, movement, and reflection,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark.
“Sónia Almeida’s new commissions for the Clark combine painting, printmaking, fabric arts, and artist’s books to rethink how we understand interfaces” said Robert Wiesenberger, curator of contemporary projects. “Both human-computer interfaces, and the interface between viewer and artwork, are fascinations for the artist.”
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Inspired by patterns, image reproduction technologies, and instructional materials, Almeida presents three site-responsive installations at the Clark. The subtitle, “Stages,” reflects the artist’s interest in the theatricality of art objects and the choreography they imply for viewers. It also suggests process, and the steps and layers in her mixed media work, which often adopts the visual language of diagrams or instructional materials.
On view in the Clark Center’s lower level, Stages (Tracks, Cables, Vectors, Anchors) (2025) depicts different analog and digital infrastructures that connect people or things, from train tracks to rock climbing anchors. By linking them horizontally, the artist intends each to function like a note in a musical score. Almeida’s work studies the circulation of images and the status of painting in a post-digital age.
Two of the panels in Systems (2025), also on view in the Clark Center’s lower level, show a software interface used to produce jacquard weavings while the other two include diagrams of the sympathetic nervous system. Almeida is interested in both as systems of automation and the glitches that might arise. The wood blocks displayed as part of this work were used to print an artist’s book on view in the Manton Research Center reading room.
Almeida’s interest in analog and digital media and manual and industrial production is evident in the four, double-sided banners of On the Other Side (2023). They were first produced for Fabric Arts Festival, an annual event in Fall River, Massachusetts that celebrates the city’s history of textile production and its Portuguese-American community.
This year-long installation, free and open to the public, is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Robert Wiesenberger, curator of contemporary projects.
Generous support for Sónia Almeida: Stages is provided by Margaret and Richard Kronenberg.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sónia Almeida is professor of fine arts at Brandeis University. She is a recipient of the 2015 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the 2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize, and the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, and Culturegest, Lisbon.
RELATED EVENTS
Opening Lecture
Saturday, March 14, 11 am
Manton Research Center auditorium
Join artist Sónia Almeida for a conversation about her current exhibition in public spaces at the Clark, Sónia Almeida: Stages. Almeida will be in conversation with exhibition curator Robert Wiesenberger.
Free. For accessibility questions, call 413 458 0524.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of nearly 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free to all from January through March. From April through December, admission is $22 for adults, $20 for seniors (65+), $10 for young adults (18–25) and college students, and free for all visitors under 18. Admission is free year-round for Clark members. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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Image: Sónia Almeida, On the Other Side (detail), 2023, jacquard weaving, upholstery fabric, ink printed bamboo viscose, and metal tubes. Courtesy of the artist