Art in the city
Toronto is full of fantastic arts and culture events this month. Check out our top picks!
Omar Ba, Same Dream, 2019. Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2019. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
It’s a busy time at the AGO. With Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet, Pissarro and more (which runs until May 5) to Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (on until March 24), we’ve got a lot going on. But it’s not just us! The Toronto arts and culture scene is jam-packed with amazing events to get you through the winter. We’ve rounded up some of our top picks to check out this month.
Gardiner Museum
Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei studios.
A highly anticipated show this year is Ai Weiwei: Unbroken at the Gardiner Museum which opens on February 28. One of the world’s most influential artists and activists, Ai Weiwei’s last show in Toronto was Ai Weiwei: According to What? at the AGO in 2013. Ai Weiwei: Unbroken will feature some of his best- known ceramic works, including Sunflower Seeds made up of millions of porcelain seed husks, as well as the debut of a new large-scale LEGO series representing the Chinese zodiac.
Museum of Contemporary Art
NOW, 2015 (installation view). Courtesy Chantal Akerman Foundation and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris, London. Photo Rebecca Fanuele.
Have you paid a visit to the new Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) location on Sterling Road? If not, now is a perfect time. Its newly opened exhibition features two video installations – In the Mirror (2007) and NOW (2015) – from renowned Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, who passed away shortly after completing the work in 2015. While you’re there, you can also catch Light Therapy by Apolonija Šušteršič which simulates a bright, sunny day by filling a room with artificial light.
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery
Alicia Henry, Witnessing, 2019. Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2019. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
To kick off 2019, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery has three major exhibitions from three exciting contemporary artists: Omar Ba, Shuvinai Ashoona and Alicia Henry, hailing from Senegal, Nunavut and Illinois respectively. On view now until May 12, the exhibition features works by all three of these artists that draw from deeply personal inspirations to explore ideas of global relevance using a variety of methods and media.
Ryerson Image Centre
Mary Ellen Mark, Three Acrobats, Vazquez Brothers Circus, Mexico City, Mexico, 1997 (printed 2005), gelatin silver print © Mary Ellen Mark. The Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Photography Collection
If you’ve ever wanted to deep dive into a collector’s private collection, now you can! Ryerson Image Centre’s True to the Eyes: The Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Photography Collection runs until April 7, featuring over 200 works from the couple’s iconic photography collection. The exhibition chronicles the evolution of photography over time and includes works from many artists including Diane Arbus and Edward Burtynsky.
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