Shirin Neshat Land of Dreams Jeffrey Gibson I AM YOUR RELATIVE Felix Gonzalez-Torres Summer March 10 – July 31, 2022 moca.ca
Presenting Sponsor
Welcome to MOCA Toronto The primary exhibitions this season are independent presentations—each one unique in terms of medium and aesthetic language—however, they speak to one another on many levels by delving deeply into our connections (and disconnections) to place. There is a profound sense of generosity and openness to these projects, a desire to share or involve other’s stories and narratives.
Jeffrey Gibson I AM YOUR RELATIVE A newly commissioned exhibition of work by Mississippi Choctaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson, I AM YOUR RELATIVE includes a suite of moveable multi-purpose stages that can be reconfigured by performers and visitors. Co-commissioned by MOCA Toronto and the Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA) and situated on MOCA’s free admission first floor, the surface of the stages are covered with posters and stickers created by Gibson that incorporate text and images sourced from historical archives and from the public. Gibson’s work references various aesthetic and material histories rooted in Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and in modern and contemporary subcultures. The stages will become a visual archive that prioritizes Indigenous, Black, Brown, and queer voices, and speaks to what histories are remembered and how— as they host performances, talks, workshops, and gatherings.
Shirin Neshat Land of Dreams
March 10 – July 31, 2022 MOCA Toronto Floor 2
Shirin Neshat’s first major Canadian exhibition in 20 years focuses on her most recent project, Land of Dreams, which marks a pivot in Neshat’s gaze toward the “western world.” The central work that gives the exhibition its title comprises over 100 photographic portraits and a video installation, converging photography and film into an immersive experience that presents a perspective on contemporary America. The portraits capture a diverse range of American experiences, including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx peoples of many ages and genders. Many are inscribed with hand-written Farsi calligraphy, which annotates the subjects’ dreams or notes their name and place and date of birth. To complement Land of Dreams, the exhibition includes two of Neshat’s seminal films Roja (2016) and Rapture (1999), as well as photographs from the series Women of Allah (1993-1997).
Felix Gonzalez-Torres Summer
March 10 – July 31, 2022 MOCA Toronto Floor 3
Summer, the first solo exhibition in Canada of acclaimed artist, Felix Gonzalez-Torres (Cuban-born, American, 1957-1996), generates reflections on our relationship to place: the social and natural landscape. Gonzalez-Torres produced an expansive oeuvre before his death from AIDS-related illness, becoming influential for his evocative use of mass-produced objects and his conceptual approach to photography. Invested in destabilizing authority and fixed meanings, he extended certain decision-making responsibilities to owners, exhibitors, and audiences, ensuring the significance of the work would evolve with time. Summer presents a number of significant works including the text portrait, “Untitled,” 1989, a listing of personal and historical events, names and places with corresponding dates, and “Untitled” (Public Opinion),” 1991, a mass of black licorice candies from which viewers may choose to take. The works will shift throughout the exhibition as they are reconfigured, consumed, and endlessly interpreted.
Maria Qamar: Dhamakedar, Superstar! March 10 – May 8, 2022 MOCA Toronto Floor 1, North End Gallery Artist and author Maria Qamar’s sitespecific intervention speaks to the Canadian South Asian diaspora. Her work includes vinyl wallpapers, paintings, and designed objects such as Samosa Bean Bags with references to pop art, Bollywood and the artist’s Desi heritage, and pieces where female characters play a major role. Xuan Ye: It Takes Spirals to Feed the Spiral May 25 – July 31, 2022 MOCA Toronto Floor 1, North End Gallery Blurring the physical and the virtual, Toronto-based Chinese artist Xuan Ye will exhibit a new work, It Takes Spirals to Feed the Spiral (2021–2022). Rooted in how biometric surveillance makes an impact on human bodies, Ye's ongoing research into spirals as an archetype reimagines conceptions of space and time. The installation includes algorithmic text, sound and visuals that respond to MOCA’s architectural spaces, in particular the spiraling structure of the stairwells that connect the three floors of the Museum.
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Debashis Sinha: in the house’s endeepened wide gracious flow Opening March 10, 2022 MOCA Toronto South End Stairwell Debashis Sinha’s site-specific sound work explores and expands on the connective nature of the MOCA stairwell. He draws on processes of speculative mythology, derived from a blending of machine learning, sonic art, and audio composition; introducing us to field recordings collected in Kolkata, India and transposed into the Canadian diaspora through sound.
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Maria Qamar, In Pyaar With a Superstar!, 2022
Shirin Neshat, Land of Dreams, 2019 (Video Still). Courtesy the artist, Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels, and Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town and London Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (Toronto), 1992. Light bulbs, porcelain light sockets, and electrical cord. Overall dimensions vary with installation. © Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Courtesy of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation
Debashis Sinha, The Elephant Headed God Ganesh Sleeps in the Bamboo Grove (output image), 2021 Image, outside flap: Jeffrey Gibson, POWER FULL BECAUSE WE'RE DIFFERENT, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, glass beads and artificial sinew inset into wood frame. Courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Roberts Projects, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. and Stephen Friedman Gallery
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Image, above: Shirin Neshat, Manuel Martinez, from Land of Dreams series, 2019. Digital c-print with ink and acrylic paint. Image, cover: Shirin Neshat, Land of Dreams, 2019 (video still). Images copyright Shirin Neshat. Courtesy the artist, Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels, and Courtesy Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town and London
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