Cliff Diving (It’s True) at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art

Not for the first time, cliff diving—said by its proponents to be the world’s oldest sport—is coming to a downtown Boston art museum. Wait, what?

The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2023 will open as divers plunge from the top of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston’s Seaport District. If you’ve ever been to the museum for, well . . . the art, you are familiar with the amazing view of the harbor. (See below.) Now, imagine divers—12 men and 12 women—hurtling through the air, spinning in split-second acrobatics as they descend into the water from a platform 90 feet in the air.

Last year’s spectators numbered 25,000 and required tickets. The event this year on June 3 is free and open to the public.

On its website, Red Bull announces its return to the ICA and shares some of the sport’s intrigue. “The new season launches against the skyline of one of America’s oldest cities, Boston, serving up an iconic opener in June, as cliff diving returns for a second time to the waterfront location. Last season, the Boston opener witnessed a shake-up when the UK’s Aidan Heslop and Canada’s Molly Carlson set the tone for one of the most exciting seasons in cliff diving history.” And apparently there is some old guard/new guard dynamic as younger divers are unseating their elders.

Following Boston, subsequent stops in the series include Paris, France, where divers will plunge into the Seine; Polignano a Mare, Italy; Takachiho, Japan; Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Auckland, New Zealand.

Want to see more? Red Bull’s website will give you additional information, photos, and even an hour-long video of the highlights of the 2022 competition in Boston. There are also instructions for how to view the events online if you don’t happen to find yourself harbor-side.

(Photos courtesy of press pages of Red Bull Cliff Diving and the ICA.)

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.