Always Delightfully cool: Summer Vacations in new England, 1825–1900
Boston Athenaeum
Through August 22

In the 19th century, the idea of taking a vacation was just becoming acceptable to the general public. As the concept of “getting away from it all” took hold, New Englanders generally headed to the coast or the north woods—by rail, coach or steamship—to a variety of resorts, hotels and scenic attractions. The venerable Boston Atheneaum documents the era’s burgeoning regional travel industry in a show featuring travel posters, guidebooks and maps that enticed our ancestors to faraway locales like the White Mountains and Moosehead Lake, as well as closer destinations like Nantasket Beach and (believe it or not) Chelsea. Refer to sightseeing listing.

Bombay-born, London-based sculptor Anish Kapoor has built quite a name for himself since his first U.S. museum show (which, incidentally, took place at the Institute of Contemporary Art’s old location on Boylston Street in 1985), having garnered awards and accolades for such works as the giant, mirrored, bean-shaped Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Now the new ICA on the South Boston waterfront hosts 14 of Kapoor’s abstract pieces together in one large gallery, from his early, pigment powder-covered objects to his more recent creations, many of which use organic forms, reflective surfaces and space-age materials to simultaneously disorient and directly engage the viewer. Refer to museums listing.

Renzo Piano’s Art Museum for Harvard, Fogg Art Museum, through June 30 (pictured above). Conceptual drawings and designs by the award-winning architect for the yet-to-be-built Harvard Art Museum are showcased. Refer to museums listing.

Chantal Akerman: MOving Through Time and Space, MIT List Visual Arts Center, through July 6. Five works by the acclaimed Belgian-born filmmaker and video artist are showcased, including a new video created just for this show. Refer to museums listing.

paper Trail II: Passing through Clouds, Rose Art Museum, through July 27. Nigerian-born, London-based artist Odili Donald Odita curates this show featuring works on paper from the Rose’s collection by the likes of Rembrandt, Degas, Dali, de Kooning and Warhol—along with Odita’s own work—at the Brandeis museum. Refer to galleries listing.

Fragile Memories: Images of Archaeology and community at Copan, 1891–1900, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, 617-496-1027, through December 31. The Harvard University institution features photographs taken during the museum’s pioneering expeditions to one of the most important Mayan sites in Central America.