The Dave Project was born out of To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter. In To Speculate Darkly, an installation at the Milwaukee Art Museum, contemporary-Chicago artist Theaster Gates celebrated the legacy of Dave the Potter, an African-American slave who made pots on a plantation in ante-bellum South Carolina. Dave’s pot, a 40-gallon storage vessel placed in the center of the installation, proved unexpectedly captivating.

In Noh theatre (classical Japanese music drama), Japanese ghosts are usually upset females. Portrayed without feet because they have lost their connection to the earth, they are so filled with love, jealousy or rage that they won't go peacefully into the night. Japanese believe ghosts are people who have died with an unpaid on — “debt” or “obligation.” If not repaid, the debt is passed down for generations, growing with each one like a snowball into an avalanche. Whole families, villages, countries can live under the dark cloud of an "on". By then, nobody knows how to fix it.

On June 19, 2010 the IMA celebrated the opening of 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. Watch a special performance by Shara Worden, Dayna Kurtz and Liz Janes.

Episode #128: Interviewed in his Los Angeles studio, Paul McCarthy discusses the genesis of his Black and White Tapes (1970-75), a suite of 13 videos begun while he was a student at the University of Southern California (USC). Also featuring excerpts from the video Ma Bell (1971) and works in the exhibition Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement—Three Installations, Two Films (2008) at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Exclusive Episode #122: Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, discusses the historical context and artistic sensibility of William Kentridge's 2010 production of Dmitri Shostakovich's The Nose (1928), based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol (1836). Featuring behind-the-scenes technical and dress rehearsals, as well as performances from the production's opening night.

Exclusive Episode #118: Dancer/choreographer Dean Moss discusses his collaboration with visual artist Laylah Ali, entitled figures on a field (2005). This behind-the-scenes look features preliminary rehearsals at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, as well as a preview performance at The Kitchen in New York City.

Dubbed “the boy Billie Holiday,” Coco Zhao performs an intimate set of original works and Shanghai jazz favorites in conjunction with special exhibition Shanghai. Jazz thrived in Shanghai’s colorful cabarets and dance halls during the '20s and '30s. Suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, it has enjoyed a renaissance thanks to a new generation of young jazz musicians. Zhao cross-pollinates Mandarin vocals with the distinct sounds of contemporary American jazz; a unique heritage (both parents were in traditional Chinese opera) is infused his with youthful interpretations.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger! MATCHA kicks off the Lunar New Year and special exhibition Shanghai with dynamic tiger-style kung fu (martial art) demonstrated by Shaolin Temple USA monks. Each mode of Shaolin kung fu is associated with an animal, and in Chinese culture, the tiger is king and symbolizes bravery.