Exhibit: The Changing Landscape of Contemporary Art at MOCCA!

Two Art &Culture Exhibitions Review

Over Thanksgiving weekend I decide to visit the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and enjoy two of the Museum's latest exhibits TBD and BMO 1st Art!

How Much Art Can You Take?, 2014 by Jesse Harris

MOCCA will be closing its doors next year when its lease expires on its current location on Queen Street West. What's next for MOCCA is TBD, or "To Be Determined", and the institution is faced with moving and starting over again and redefining itself.

Fences Will Turn Into Tables by Maggie Groat

TBD explores the notion that the definition of a contemporary art gallery is not fixed and should be more fluid and be more mobile to better affect communities. It's an interesting and though provoking exhibit which examines the need for contemporary art galleries and how contemporary art is not just something to hang on your wall or place on a table, but can encompass so much more. This idea was present in Arabella Campbell's work Ways of seeing by walking, 2014 which was little more than a set of directions that took me on a tour along Queen Street West. Another interesting piece was Jonah Brucker-Cohen's installation that drilled a hole in the museum's wall whenever someone visited MOCCA's website.

Alerting Infrastructure!, 2012 by Jonah Brucker-Cohen

Following the instructions on Queen Street West from Ways of seeing by walking, 2014 by Arabella Campbell

There is also 69 Jury Selected Ideas on 8x10 sheets that were submitted by architects, designers, and artists to design a possible future of the contemporary art gallery. Although some of the ideas were fantastical, some were rather interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibit and am waiting with breath abated to find out what happens next to MOCCA, one of my favourite Toronto museums.

To Be Destroyed: 69 Jury Selected Submissions for Ideas

 
It's kind of fitting that after visiting TBD and contemplating the future of the contemporary art gallery, that the next exhibit I visited celebrated the future of recent Canadian art graduates. BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition is an annual competition where instructors are invited to select three students from their institutes' graduating class and submit their work to the selection jury. A winner is selected from each province and territory as well as a national winner. I was very excited to see the impressive artwork from the future of Canadian Contemporary artists and am looking forward to seeing some of these artists in the future. Please visit BMO 1st Art Invitational Student Competition for more information.

National Winner: Pvtrefactio VI (Black Sun) by Samuel deLange

Alberta Winner: Conundrum by Emmanuel Osahor

Nunavut Winner: Precious Time by Elijah Aitaok

Both TBD and BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition are running until October 26, 2014. Please visit MOCCA for more information.
  P.s!: As always, MOCCA is 'Pay-what-you-can'. Also, 8 of the 69 Jury Selected Ideas from TBD have been made into postcards that are free for visitors to take home. And stay tuned for more information on the fate of MOCCA, as soon as I find out more information, I will pass it on! 

P.s,

Melanie!