The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) threw open the doors to a new era this morning during a media preview of its newly renovated and expanded project gallery dedicated to exhibiting works from the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection. NGC Director Marc Mayer, left, and MOCCA Artistic Director David Liss, right, made the announcement prior to an official unveiling tonight and public opening tomorrow.
Dubbed the National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the three-year program will see the two institutions co-organize and co-present a series of exclusive exhibitions in the new space.
Mayer and Liss kicked off their partnership with Adams | Demand | Farmer, a group exhibition featuring works by Toronto’s Kim Adams, above with Minnow Lure, 2004, Berlin-based Thomas Demand and Vancouver-based Geoffrey Farmer. During his remarks Liss called the inaugural show “a landmark exhibition in the history of Canadian culture.”
“This show is a metaphor for the new and transformational partnership with the NGC,” he added.
Mayer, former Director of Toronto’s Power Plant, noted that the MOCCA partnership is the second such arrangement for the NGC; in 2009 the National Gallery at the Art Gallery of Alberta was launched in a similar three-year arrangement that Mayer says is almost certain to be renewed. “We are not the National Gallery of Ottawa,” he said emphatically. “Our permanent collection of contemporary art is one of the best in the world and we want Canadians to experience those works. What’s important is to keep developing the infrastructure for art in Canada and this new partnership with MOCCA is an example of how we’re doing exactly that.”
NGC Contemporary Art Curator Josée Drouin-Brisbois, above right, led a tour of the exhibition, discussing the works and their significance; she and Liss are seen in front of works from Pale Fire Freedom Machine, 2005, by Geoffrey Farmer.
The final major work in the show is Thomas Demand’s Space Simulator, 2003, a massive dye coupler print of a cardboard construction that looks like steel, noted Drouin-Brisbois; it’s not until you get up close and really examine the image that you begin to appreciate it’s true character.
The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art will exhibit contemporary works from the NGC’s permanent collection over the next three years: “I’ve already got my eye on some pieces,” noted Liss. “Our goal is engage the Toronto audience with these amazing works of art, to enhance MOCCA’s ability to present Canadian and international works like never before.”
Admission to MOCCA is free throughout 2010 thanks to a special grant from the Hal Jackman Foundation.
Photos by Christopher Jones
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