MOCA’s Spring Lineup
MOCA Toronto unveils an exciting lineup of exhibitions, on view now.
Kapwani Kiwanga, The Marias, detail, 2020. Photo Kristien Daem. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Poggi, Paris; Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin; and Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and London. © ADAGP, Paris / SOCAN, Montreal (2022).
The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA Toronto) has recently announced its spring lineup of programming. The museum unveiled four new exhibitions by artists who are Canadian and/or based in Toronto – each showing work never seen in Canada.
Spanning two floors of MOCA Toronto, Remediation is the first major survey exhibition in Canada by French-Canadian contemporary artist Kapwani Kiwanga. Including works of both installation and sculpture – five of which are new commissions – the exhibition explores how botany has long held a relationship to exploitation and acts of resistance and how plant life may intervene in rejuvenating contaminated environments. The new commissions are presented alongside Kiwanga’s existing artworks, including an updated series of inflatable vivariums from 2020, The Marias, and Vumbi, 2012.
Athena Papadopoulos, The Smurfette, Installation view, Emalin, London. Courtesy the artist and Emalin, London. Photography: Plastiques.
The New Alphabet is an exhibition of large-scale sculptural works by Greek/Canadian artist Athena Papadopoulos. Commissioned by MOCA Toronto, this site-specific exhibition is the artist’s first in a major Canadian institution. The artist has created two different bodies of sculptural artworks, each shaped by the isolating experience of the last two years of the pandemic. Bones for Time takes disused hospital and wool blankets to trace aspects of the artist’s body in shapes of letters. In Trees with No Sound, each work is composed of Papadopoulos’ unwanted furniture, clothing and stuffed objects.
Susan For Susan, courtesy the artists.
The collaborative design practice of John and Kevin Watts, known as Susan For Susan, explores the distinction between sculpture and product design. Their new exhibition at MOCA Toronto – Trade Show – arranges design ideas for an apartment interior, suspended from a gantry system for a playful take on raw industrial design. This marks Susan For Susan’s first museum exhibition and continues MOCA’s commitment to exhibiting cultural practitioners whose practices bridge disciplines, particularly between art, architecture and design.
Serkan Özkaya, ni4ni v.2, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Galerist, Istanbul.
Conceptual Turkish artist Serkan Özkaya is making his MOCA Toronto debut with the compelling installation ni4ni. Located on the ground floor in MOCA’s North End Gallery, this work uses digital technology combined with a massive, mirrored sphere, to create an immersive, site-specific visitor experience, encouraging audiences to explore ideas of time, perception and self within the space. Born in Istanbul and now based in Toronto, Serkan Özkaya is known for his conceptual artworks that range from sculpture and installation to video and digital applications.
All four exhibitions and more are on view now at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto.