MOCCA Launches Summer Program
with Three Exciting Solo Exhibitions!

TORONTO, Ontario, June 17, 2013 – The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) is pleased to launch our Summer 2013 program with the Toronto premieres of three solo exhibitions: Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010;   David Armstrong Six | Three Known Points;  and Barbara Astman | Dancing With Che: Enter Through The Gift Shop, in our galleries from June 22 – August 11, 2013. The public opening reception will take place on Friday, June 21, from 8 – 10pm. MOCCA has teamed up with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery to provide a free shuttle bus that will operate on Friday evening between the two locations as we both celebrate the opening of our summer exhibitions. The bus will make its first MOCCA departure at 8:15pm and runs between the two locations until 11pm.

Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010 is a special Main Space presentation of the widely-acclaimed National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art program. Drawn from the collection of the NGC and loans from the Louise Bourgeois Trust, this installation pays homage to the remarkable career of one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Included are works from her very first solo sculpture exhibition in New York in 1949, as well as the NGC’s recent acquisition Cell (The Last Climb), 2008, the last of the more than twenty large-scale cell sculptures that she produced. Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010 is organized by the National Gallery of Canada and presented by MOCCA.

Three Known Points is an exhibition of recent sculptural work and photographs presented in the MOCCA Project Space by Berlin and Montreal-based artist David Armstrong Six. Working in a diverse range of materials, including wood, bronze, plaster, metal and glass, this new body of work, referred to as “associative abstraction” was produced in Berlin within the last year and first exhibited in Canada at PARISIAN LAUNDRY in Montreal this past May. David Armstrong Six | Three Known Points is organized by MOCCA and curated by David Liss and Jonathan Shaughnessy. David Armstrong Six is represented by PARISIAN LAUNDRY, Montreal.

Dancing With Che: Enter Through The Gift Shop is an intervention-installation of Che Guevara souvenirs in the MOCCA Media/Retail Space. Internationally-acclaimed artist Barbara Astman considers what it means for a cultural icon to appear on a multitude of mass-produced consumer items. The artist entices visitors with her retail display, but does not allow them to satiate their consumer desire – none of the objects are for sale. Barbara Astman is represented by Corkin Gallery, Toronto.

MOCCA will also be presenting Artist Talks on Saturday, June 22, 3pm. Join artists Barbara Astman, David Armstrong Six, and Jonathan Shaughnessy, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada, for a tour of the exhibitions.

 Links / URLs

• Learn more about Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010
• Learn more about Three Known Points
• Learn more about Dancing With Che
• Learn more about the NGC@MOCCA program

Quotes

• David Liss, Artistic Director & Curator, MOCCA

We’re really excited to have the opportunity to position two important Canadian artists alongside one of the most important and influential artists of the 20^th Century.

• Jonathan Shaughnessy, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada

In organizing this exhibition I worked very closely with the artist’s long-time assistant Jerry Gorovoy to ensure a presentation of Bourgeois’ early “Personnages” sculptures as she envisioned these wooden pieces exhibited, without a base – something that was never realized while she was alive. I am very proud of this homage that combines some of Bourgeois’ earliest works with one of her latest, Cell (The Last Climb) (2008), that was a major purchase by the National Gallery of Canada in the months just prior to this iconic artist’s passing in 2010.

Tags / Keywords

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, MOCCA, National Gallery of Canada, NGC, NGC@MOCCA, Louise Bourgeois, David Armstrong Six, Barbara Astman, Dancing With Che, Che Guevara, Artist Talks.

About the National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art

The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is a three-year collaborative program that features a series of exclusive exhibitions in MOCCA’s Project Space, drawn from the NGC’s exceptional Contemporary Art collection. These include the presentation of single works, new acquisitions or full-scale exhibitions designed to complement MOCCA’s existing programming. Learn more about the NGC@MOCCA program.

About the NGC http://www.gallery.ca/

About MOCCA

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art was founded from the former Art Gallery of North York in 1999, with the mandate to exhibit, research, collect, and promote innovative art by Canadian and non-Canadian artists whose works engage and reflect the relevant stories of our times. In 2005, MOCCA relocated to the West Queen West Art + Design District in downtown Toronto, in the heart of one of North America’s most dynamic arts communities and functions effectively as a nucleus of energies for cultural production and exchange. Since 2006, MOCCA draws 40,000 visitors annually.

RSS Feed for MOCCA feed://www.mocca.ca/feed/rss/

For ongoing news, please go to http://www.mocca.ca/media-centre

Supporters

The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is generously supported by AXA Art Canada, Cineplex Media, World MasterCard^® and The Ouellette Family Foundation. The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is grateful for the patronage of THE ART DEPT., a leadership circle of MOCCA patrons.

All programs and activities of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, BMO Financial Group, Cisco Canada, individual memberships and private donations.

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Media Contact
Fayiaz Chunara
Head, Communications and Marketing

416.395.7490

fchunara@mocca.ca

Get the parties started!

VIDEODROME  | Audio/Visual Overdose + Video Battle

AND

the moccamigos present: K-TOWN

TORONTO, Ontario, June 3, 2013 – The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is pleased to present two off-the-charts events: on Friday, June 7, VIDEODROME, organized by Jubal Brown in co-operation with Sean Marven, Emad Dabiri, and Martin Czechowski, and on Saturday, June 8,
K-Town, a karaoke extravaganza hosted by the moccamigos.

Toronto’s foremost A/V event since 2004, VIDEODROME, is a one-night event that blurs the boundaries between dance party and media art, an epic night of sampling, remix and A/V culture that defies classification. This year’s edition features installations by Roxanne Luchak, Hopkins Duffield, Mandelbrut, and MC NTSC, and performances by SINS, Sarin, Augart, Ouananiche, Nwodtlem, Skeeter, and Jubal Brown. The event will take place at MOCCA on Friday, June 7. Doors open at 8pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10.

VIDEODROME is a 5-hour dose of sound and vision spanning the genres of breakcore and electro, relational aesthetics and installation, experimental video and cut-up. Clips are cut together to create a synesthetic experience, where picture matches sound cut for cut, beat for beat, a semi-Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”) for the youtube generation.

The Video Battle is a contest of short works that compete for cash and prizes. Videos are judged by a panel of experts based on criteria of intensity, excitement and audio/visual link. Video battle performers include: Daeve Fellows, Crazy Gnome, Pete Ohearn, bossFYTE, Istvan Kantor, Contort, Bad Credit, Talixzen, Video Samurai, David Matton, Dr. Neptune, Smearballs, and Kurkop.

VIDEODROME evolves out of the Cronenberg concept of high intensity sex and death video signal used to bio-electrically mutate viewers, this VIDEODROME will transform the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art into an eye-popping, raving chaos of audio-visual media excess.

—–

K-Town is a unique event that blurs the lines between performance art and partying. MOCCA’s main exhibition space will be transformed into a private karaoke lounge, but fret not, you will be surrounded by art. K-TOWN curators Meera Margaret Singh and Luke Painter have commissioned artists to create unique videos inspired by their favourite karaoke jams. Guests are invited to serenade the crowd with their favorite karaoke numbers, while simultaneously interacting with the video works being projected on the walls behind them. The event will take place at MOCCA on Saturday, June 8 from 8pm-12am. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at mocca.ca/k-town or at the door. Proceeds raised will go towards supporting the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.

Links/URLS

• Learn more about the moccamigos 

Tags / Keywords

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, MOCCA, VIDEODROME, Jubal Brown, Sean Marven, Emad Dabiri, Martin Czechowski, moccamigos, K-Town, Meera Margaret Singh, Luke Painter

About moccamigos

The moccamigos are a motley crew of young art lovers who have banded together to support and enjoy MOCCA. Our duty is to serve brainfood (and sometimes real, delicious food) at distinct events that complement MOCCA’s dynamic roster of programs.

Join us and reap the benefits of MOCCA’s moccamigos membership program. We offer behind the scenes access to the museum, artists and other stimulating members-only events. Membership in the moccamigos supports programming and activities at MOCCA. For more information on the moccamigos, you can add us on Facebook and visit moccamigos.com

About MOCCA

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art was founded from the former Art Gallery of North York in 1999, with the mandate to exhibit, research, collect, and promote innovative art by Canadian and non-Canadian artists whose works engage and reflect the relevant stories of our times. In 2005, MOCCA relocated to the West Queen West Art + Design District in downtown Toronto, in the heart of one of North America’s most dynamic arts communities and functions effectively as a nucleus of energies for cultural production and exchange. Since 2006, MOCCA draws 40,000 visitors annually.

All programs and activities of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, BMO Financial Group, Cisco Canada, individual memberships and private donations.

For ongoing news, please go to http://www.mocca.ca/media-centre

# # #
Media Contacts
For more information on MOCCA or to interview a MOCCA spokesperson or artist, please contact:

Fayiaz Chunara Head, Communications and Marketing | 416.395.7490 | fchunara@mocca.ca

On May 31, 2010, the world said goodbye to artist Louise Bourgeois who passed away at the age of 98. Her extraordinary career influenced many of the 20^th-century’s major movements in art and culture, from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism to Feminism. The exhibition Louise Bourgeois 1911–2010 brings together works from the beginnings of Bourgeois’ creative endeavors in New York with some of her final artistic statements created in the last years of her life. Drawing from the significant holdings of the National Gallery of Canada, supplemented by loans from the artist’s estate, this exhibition is inspired by the artist’s first solo show at Peridot Gallery in New York City in 1949–50, where she introduced her now iconic wood and metal “personage” sculptures. Bourgeois created these totemic spires as remembrances of lost loved ones, after she immigrated to America in 1938 with her husband, the late art historian Robert Goldwater. These vertically oriented forms were inspired by the awe-striking dominance of the skyscrapers surrounding the couple’s modest apartment in their adopted Manhattan metropolis. One of the best-known personages, Portrait of C.Y. (1947–49), now resides in the Gallery’s permanent collection.

Also included in the exhibition is Cell (The Last Climb) (2008), a significant recent installation by the artist constructed around the spiral staircase from her former Brooklyn studio, enclosed within a frame structure, dotted throughout with celestial blue glass spheres that appear to rise toward the sky. The spools lining the interior space of the sculpture spin threaded metaphors about the artist’s many bonds with family, friends, colleagues and confidantes. The work is a compelling ode to a life lived by one of the 20^th century’s most remarkable creative minds.

Bourgeois’ Oeuvre

Early on, Bourgeois focused on painting and printmaking, turning to sculpture only in the later 1940s. However, by the 1950s and early 1960s, there are gaps in her production as she became immersed in psychoanalysis. Then, in 1964, for an exhibition after a long hiatus, Bourgeois presented strange, organically shaped plaster sculptures that contrasted dramatically with the totemic wood pieces she had exhibited earlier. But alternating between forms, materials, and scale, and veering between figuration and abstraction became a basic part of Bourgeois’s vision, even while she continually probed the same themes: loneliness, jealousy, anger, and fear.

Bourgeois’s idiosyncratic approach found few champions in the years when formal issues dominated art world thinking. But by the 1970s and 1980s, the focus had shifted to the examination of various kinds of imagery and content. In 1982, at 70 years old, Bourgeois finally took center stage with a retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art. After that, she was filled with new confidence and forged ahead, creating monumental spiders, eerie room-sized “Cells,” evocative figures often hanging from wires, and a range of fabric works fashioned from her old clothes. All the while she constantly made drawings on paper, day and night, and also returned to printmaking. Art was her tool for coping; it was an exorcism. As she put it, “Art is a guarantee of sanity.”

Opening reception: Friday June 21, 8-10 pm

“The sculptures arrive in an all-too material manner, off-gassing as the modalities of a transparent radiation.” 

 Notes on Navigating the Studio at Night, David Armstrong Six

Drawing on the tradition of Cubism, Surrealism and other Modernist artistic precedents which include the conceptual turn toward Minimalism and forms of assemblage and abject object-making in the 1960s and 1970s, David Armstrong Six’s contemporary explorations into sculpture’s “expanded field” apply a diverse range of raw and readymade materials compiled into aesthetically intriguing and ambiguously legible compositions.

This exhibition presents a selection of new pieces created by the artist during a 2012 residency in Berlin that saw the realization of an ambitious group of vertically-oriented sculptures known collectively as “Brown Star Plus One.” Individually titled after particular yet generic vocations and characters – from the labouring “Janitor” to the anomalous “Changeling” – the identification of humanly-accessible traits only occurred in retrospect, as the outcome of slow and lengthy “trial-and-error” juxtapositions and the assembly or disassembly of materials without a specific endpoint in mind. Armstrong Six calls this method of deliberation over sculpture’s formal and material possibilities “associative abstraction,” a process that he engaged in late at (and throughout the) night within the space of his Kreuzberg studio after long walks through the streets and sounds of Berlin.

Jonathan Shaughnessy

Dancing With Che: Enter Through the Gift Shop, in MOCCA’s Media/Retail Space, is an intervention-installation of Che Guevara souvenirs.  Intrigued by the idea of a souvenir as an object, artist Barbara Astman considers what it means for a cultural icon to appear on a multitude of mass-produced consumer items. Starting with a self-portrait in which she wears a souvenir Che Geuvera t-shirt purchased during a trip to Cuba, the artist created multiples of mugs, postcards, and playing cards; these objects are typically created for mass consumption, acting as cultural substitutes for a memory or experience. But while the artist entices visitors with her retail display, she does not allow them to satiate their consumer desire – none of the objects are for sale.

Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival launches at MOCCA!
Canadian Premiere of the Archive of Modern Conflict! Recent Work by Michael Snow!

TORONTO, Ontario, May 1, 2013 – The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) is pleased to launch the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival 2013 with two of the festival’s ten primary exhibitions: Archive of Modern Conflict: Collected Shadows and Michael Snow: The Viewing of Six New Works in our galleries from May 2 – June 2, 2013. The festival launch and the public opening reception will take place on Wednesday May 1, from 7 – 10pm.

Collected Shadows provides a rare glimpse into the Archive of Modern Conflict (AMC), challenging us to reassess the very foundations of how we visualize the past and present. Through unexpected juxtapositions and associations across time periods, geographies, techniques, and subject matter, the exhibition presents wonderfully eccentric salon-style arrangements that cohere into rich stories when they come together on the gallery walls. Collected Shadows is curated by Timothy Prus, organized by the AMC, London, and co-presented by MOCCA and the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

MOCCA also presents Michael Snow: The Viewing of Six New Works, for our widely acclaimed National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art program. With The Viewing of Six New Works, Snow presents a series of high-definition videos created with touchscreen-capture software that recorded his gestures. The six-channel installation traces the movements a viewer’s eyes might make as they gaze upon images on the wall. Michael Snow: The Viewing of Six New Works is organized by MOCCA and National Gallery of Canada, and presented in conjunction with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

The CONTACT public installation in MOCCA’s courtyard this year is a large-scale mural by Tel Aviv- based artist IIit Azoulay. In Tree, For, Too, One (special edition), what appears to be a logical grouping of real items displayed on a wall soon reveals itself as a complex, photographic image depicting seemingly unrelated objects. Gathered from her excavation of a demolished building in Israel, Azoulay’s photomontage presents an image born from destruction within a site that is ultimately destined for redevelopment. 
Presented in partnership with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival with support from Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.

Quotes:

• Bonnie Rubenstein, Artistic Director, Scotiabank CONTACT Festival
  “There is a provocative relationship between the three CONTACT presentations at MOCCA, which highlight the act of looking at images and their relationship to the viewer. Contrasting elements of history and technology, darkness and light, density and subtlety, each of them challenges us to consider how we interpret images, as their meaning shifts with time, place, and circumstance.”

• David Liss, Artistic Director and Curator, MOCCA
  “We’re very pleased and excited to be collaborating with two of our regular program partners, the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and the National Gallery of Canada to be bringing this recent work by Michael Snow, one of Canada’s most internationally-renowned artists, to audiences in Toronto.

Links / URLs

• Learn more about Collected Shadows
• Learn more about The Viewing of Six New Works
• Learn more about the NGC@MOCCA program
• Learn more about Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

Tags / Keywords

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, MOCCA, National Gallery of Canada, NGC, NGC@MOCCA, Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Archive of Modern Conflict, AMC, Collected Shawdows, Michael Snow, The Viewing of Six New works, llit Azoulay, Tree, For, Too, One.

About the National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art 

The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is a three-year program that sees the two institutions co-organize and co-present a series of exclusive exhibitions in MOCCA’s newly-renovated project space, drawn from the NGC’s exceptional contemporary art collection. These include the presentation of single works, new acquisitions or full-scale exhibitions designed to complement MOCCA’s existing programming. Learn more about theNGC@MOCCA program.  

About the NGC http://www.gallery.ca/

The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is generously supported by AXA Art Canada, Cineplex Media, World MasterCard^® and The Ouellette Family Foundation. The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is grateful for the patronage of THE ART DEPT., a leadership circle of MOCCA patrons.

About MOCCA

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art was founded from the former Art Gallery of North York in 1999, with the mandate to exhibit, research, collect, and promote innovative art by Canadian and non-Canadian artists whose works engage and reflect the relevant stories of our times. In 2005, MOCCA relocated to the West Queen West Art + Design District in downtown Toronto, in the heart of one of North America’s most dynamic arts communities and functions effectively as a nucleus of energies for cultural production and exchange. Since 2006, MOCCA draws 40,000 visitors annually.

All programs and activities of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, BMO Financial Group, Cisco Canada, The Hal Jackman Foundation, individual memberships and private donations.

For ongoing news, please go to http://www.mocca.ca/media-centre

About Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
CONTACT, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1997 and granted charitable status in 2011, is generously supported by Scotiabank, BMW Group Canada, Nikon Canada, Torys LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Vistek, Hewlett-Packard Canada, Kronenbourg, Cutty Sark, Transcontinental PLM, 3M Canada, Four By Eight Signs, Beyond Digital Imaging, Toronto Image Works, Superframe, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel, Santa Carolina, The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s Magazine, Toronto Life, The Grid, and BlogTO.

CONTACT gratefully acknowledges the support of Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Celebrate Ontario, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the Mondriaan Fund, and the Hal Jackman Foundation.

CONTACT fosters and celebrates the art and profession of photography with an annual festival in May and year-round programming in the CONTACT Gallery.

Media Contacts
For more information on MOCCA or to interview a MOCCA spokesperson or artist, please contact:
Fayiaz Chunara Head, Communications and Marketing | 416.395.7490 | fchunara@mocca.ca

For more information on CONTACT or to interview a CONTACT spokesperson or artist, please contact NKPR:
Lisa Kwong | 416.365.3630 x242 | lisa@nkpr.net

Donates Proceeds of Award to Toronto Artist Shary Boyle

Toronto, Ont., April 13, 2013 – Earlier this evening, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and BMO Financial Group presented Partners in Art (PIA), the volunteer-based not-for-profit group of contemporary art supporters with the $25,000 MOCCA Award in Contemporary Art 2013 during a gala event at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto this evening. The biennial award was established by MOCCA in 2007 to honour Canadians active in the field of visual arts for innovation, accomplishment or contribution over time, or for a specific project that has national or international significance.

Since its inception in 2002, PIA has cultivated key alliances among artists, gallerists, curators, educators, arts organizations, the business community and the public to develop vital and exciting contemporary art projects that promote Canadian art and artists on the national and international stage. As a perfect example of their generous work in support of Canadian contemporary artists, PIA announced that it would be giving the $25,000 prize to the National Gallery of Canada’s Venice Biennale fundraising committee in support of the 2013 Canadian artist representative, celebrated Toronto-based artist Shary Boyle.

Each guest at the gala received a limited edition artwork created specifically for the occasion by Ms. Boyle. By hosting the 2013 MOCCA Award gala at the Art Gallery of Ontario – the recipient of PIA’s first institutional gift – MOCCA pays tribute to the collaborative spirit of Partners in Art and their remarkable ten years of pioneering philanthropy.

Quotes:

• David Liss, Artistic Director and Curator, MOCCA:
  “As MOCCA itself has been a leader in developing strategic and wide-ranging partnerships and collaborations across Toronto and Canada, we feel an affinity with the spirit of partnership that defines Partners in Art. By donating their Award to MOCCA’s institutional partner, the National Gallery of Canada, in support of Shary Boyle in Venice, Partners in Art demonstrates here tonight, before our very eyes, the reciprocal and exponential power of partnership.”

• Gilles Ouellette, President and CEO, Private Client Group, BMO Financial Group – Presenting Sponsor of the MOCCA Award:
  “Since 2002, Partners in Art has been an important supporter of contemporary art in Canada – benefiting countless artists and cultural organizations in the process. Their generous support of Shary Boyle shows all of us yet again why the members of PIA are worthy recipients of the 2013 MOCCA Award.

• Yvonne Fleck and Mimi Joh, Co-Chairs, 2012-14, Partners in Art (PIA):
  “PIA has lots to celebrate during its tenth anniversary year and receiving and ‘re-gifting’ the MOCCA Award in Contemporary Art to Shary Boyle was especially important to the organization. As we look ahead to the next ten years, PIA plans to continue to build on its current work as well as undertake a greater role in advocacy, with a goal of influencing public policy around contemporary visual arts and supporting our cultural legacy both in Toronto and nationally.”

Sponsors:

• Presenting Sponsor: BMO Financial Group
• Silver Sponsors: AIMIA, McKinsey & Company, Scotiabank
• Media Sponsor, Newsprint: National Post
• Media Sponsor, Magazine: Toronto Life

Highlights/Key Facts:

Previous recipients of the MOCCA Award include:

• Michael Snow (2007)
• Matthew Teitelbaum, Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO, Art Gallery of Ontario(2009)
• Edward Burtynsky (2011)

Links/URLs:

• For more information on the MOCCA Award: http://www.moccaaward.ca
• Read full text press release: http://www.moccaaward.ca/media-centre
• For more information on Partners in Art: http://www.partnersinart.ca
• View the MOCCA Award / PIA Videos on the MOCCA App or MOCCA’s Youtube Channel

About Partners in Art (PIA)
Founded in 2002, Partners in Art (PIA) is a volunteer-based, not-for-profit corporation of Toronto art supporters with an interest in promoting the visual arts in Canada in two ways: first, by partnering with established arts organizations on collaborative fund-raising projects; and secondly, by furthering members’ own understanding and knowledge of the visual arts through an active education program.The group cultivates alliances among artists, curators, educators, businesses, and the public to develop vital and exciting contemporary art projects that raise the awareness of Canadian art and artists nationally and internationally. In the past ten years, PIA has raised more than $1 million in sponsorship dollars. The group solicits sponsors to fund its activities, organizes fundraising events, and accepts donations from the public.

About MOCCA
The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) was founded from the former Art Gallery of North York in 1999. In 2005, MOCCA relocated to the West Queen West Art + Design District in downtown Toronto, in the heart of one of North America’s most dynamic arts communities. Our facility is modest in scale, impressive in design, and functions effectively as a nucleus of energies for cultural production and exchange.

For ongoing news, please go to http://www.mocca.ca/media-centre

Media Contacts:

MOCCA
Fayiaz Chunara, Head, Communications and Marketing, 416.-395-7490, fchunara@mocca.ca

Partners in Art
Ethan Pigott, beSPEAK Communications, 416-558-2783, ethan@bespeakcommunications.com or

Eileen Tobey, beSPEAK Communications, 416-540-4047, eileen@bespeakcommunications.com

The artists are compelled by questions surrounding being-ness, performance, and the Other in both films as well as notions of captivity. Tanya Lukin Linklater has developed a physical score derived from gesture, body and subtle movement from both films, accompanied by an interpretation of musical sections chosen from the respective film scores. The editing of select landscape shots from each film (Hudson Bay tundra/sea ice and Japanese sand dunes/ocean) by Duane Linklater provides the backdrop for an installation that investigates questions surrounding authenticity, ethnography, and appropriation.

Using accounts from Arab writers at the time of the crusades and
with a “cast” of 120 individually crafted ceramic puppets, Shawky
effects a collision of traditions. The puppets were made according to
classic Provençal techniques, and the film was shot in the South of
France in a Christian church, but the story being told is on an epic scale,
with episodes spanning from the end of the first crusade in 1099 to the
start of the second almost 50 years later. The use of puppets in the
chronicling of a history of violence, betrayal and intrigue makes the
tales told here intimate and mysterious, but also keeps us at a
distance. There is no attempt to create any illusion of realism or to hide
the strings that manipulate the characters. Rather, the web of strings
refer back to the structural powers that manipulate history, beyond the
control of individuals. Princes, kings, clerics and military men strive for,
gain and lose power in a seemingly endless cycle. But watching these
power struggles from a time gone by brings us as much into the
present as the past, and makes us reflect on how little has changed in
the last 1,000 years.