Curated by Marsva Maharani and Marjan Verstappen
25 July - 8 September 2019
With works by
Adria
Mirabelli, Carrie Chisholm, David Constantino Salazar, Emily Woudenberg, Emma
White, Eva Kolcze, Helen Liene Dreifelds, Humboldt Magnussen, Jennifer Dany
Aubé, Jessica Thalmann, Jieun June Kim, Leone McComas, Liang Wang, Maren
Boedeker, Nuff, Polymetis, Raoul Olou, Raquel Da Silva, Samar Hejazi, Sara
Mozafari, Stephanie Avery, Su Bin Ee, Tanya Louise Workman, and Walter Segers.
MOCA
158 Sterling Rd
Toronto, ON M6R 2B2
Canada
158 Sterling Rd
Toronto, ON M6R 2B2
Canada
Toronto (June 24, 2019) – MOCA Toronto, an
accessible and welcoming cultural hub that empowers Toronto’s artistic
community, presents the first collective showing of work from artists in Akin’s
MOCA Studio Program.
The
exhibition, An Index, exposes work by
this first cohort of residency artists who entered Akin’s Studio Program in
September 2018. While the participating artists’ practices range widely in
terms of conceptual approach, style and media; they have also been influenced
to some degree by the experience of sharing and conversing within Akin’s
open-plan studio structure for the last nine months.
To
find common points of departure for an exhibition, MOCA has invited curators
Marsya Maharani and Marjan Verstappen, associated with the Younger than Beyonce
Gallery, to work with the 24 participating artists. The curators’ proposal, An Index, speaks to process and
production, to the varied artistic approaches found within one context and the
relationships built through this programme.
Taking
their inspiration from Akin’s residency at MOCA, in the former Tower Automotive
building, Maharani and Verstappen drew on the site’s history as a car parts
factory and also a venue for raves and artist studios. “Throughout the past
year, the fourth floor of MOCA served to extend this legacy by opening space
for studios, residencies, as well as programmes exploring art’s utilitarian
role in contemporary society,” they explained.
“In the context of the site’s histories, this
exhibition features works by artists who have produced within this space as
part of the inaugural Akin Studio Program. An
Index makes visible the labours of artistic creation through an open and
honest charting
of the processes, challenges, delights, and failures of making art in the
city.”