Join us for the Akin Niagara Pop-Up Exhibition, a one-night-only event! This casual drop-in gathering will showcase the creative work of the Akin Niagara artists.
Featuring artwork by Chris Gardiner, Chloe Griffin, Bianca Guimarães de Manuel, Gabriela Laconsay, Tim Mikula, & Amita Sen Gupta.
Image description: portrait of artist Haruko Okano standing outdoors in a red winter coat. In the backgroun is trees with no leaves and a orange sunset.
Hello Akin Community!
We wanted to share an exciting opportunity happening at 401 Richmond W. On November 2nd, the South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC) is hosting an engaging Fermentation Workshop and Conversation with Vancouver-based artist Haruko Okano.
This event is free and open to the public, including kids. It will feature a hands-on fermentation activity, an artist talk, and will conclude with a communal meal. To participate, feel free to bring your favorite pickled or fermented foods to share. If you’d like to join the hands-on portion, please bring a mason jar with a lid and a small stone that fits inside.
In 1974, Haruko moved to the west coast traveling by foot and canoe through the northern parts of the provinces where she fell in love with the land Canada…not the government. Relationality with all living beings lies at the heart of her practice and life ethic as a third-generation diasporic person. The emphasis across all of her activities is on process, collaboration and integration. We will hear from Haruko about her unique approach to creating art, the food and medicine gardens she has tended since the 90s, and her journey to learn about and address the effects of intergenerational trauma within Japanese-Canadian communities and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Date: Saturday November 2nd (2pm - 6pm)
Location: SAVAC, 401 Richmond St West
RSVP by email: communications@savac.net
Accessibility: Wheelchair ramp at the east entrance of the building. There is an elevator and accessible bathrooms. Dinner will be served. Masks are encouraged and will be provided.
Learn more at savac.net/fermentation
Date: Saturday, October 07, 2023
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Remote Gallery, 568 Richmond Street West, Toronto
Join artist Yannis Lobaina for this free collaborative visual poetry workshop.
Participants will work together to create a multilingual collaborative visual poetry masterpiece! This in-person gathering promises to be a unique opportunity to explore the power of words and art. Free and family-friendly!
Whether you are an experienced poet or just curious about exploring your artistic side, this event welcomes everyone.
About the artist:
Yannis Lobaina is a Cuban artist, author, filmmaker, photographer and community arts facilitator. Currently, she lives in Toronto. In her work, Yannis explores themes of immigration, diaspora, language, and motherhood. As a photographer, she focuses on minimalist storytelling photography, landscapes, patterns, sacred geometry, and pareidolias in Mother Nature. She has been recognized with several awards and grants by the TAC and OAC, which has funded her ongoing series Alive, Upside Down. Yannis has twice received the Newcomer Space Award (2020, 2022) and has been showcased at Remote Gallery (2021) and at public Library Oakwood Village Library and Arts Centre (February 2023).
Yannis is a receipient of the Newcomer Space Award, a collaboration between Akin, the Toronto Arts Foundation, and the Neighbourhood Arts Foundation.
Please see below for Enas’s answers to the Q&A and to learn more about the exhibition. To see more of her work visit www.enassatir.com or on Instagram @enas.satir
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Image Description: A greyscale photograph of artist Faisal Karadsheh. He is smiling at the camera. There are paintings in the background.
This Saturday, March 4th, artist (and Akin Member) Faisal Karadsheh will be presenting his work ‘to be heard (soundwalk’in_2021)’ as part of New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA)’s annual Deep Wireless festival.
This work includes all three audio pieces from Faisal’s soundwalk project which were produced in 2021 using personal recordings of street protests in Toronto, each responding to national and/or international events. By visiting each of the three locations in the sound walk, the listener may consider how bodies connect, congregate and organize themselves together.
In the soundwalk project the process of concentrating or suppressing “voices of protest”, as suggested by Hito Steyerl, is being explored formally. The site is composed of three distinct locations within a very specific region in Toronto. The three protests transpired at varying times during 2021, yet seem to align across a section of the city. The abstracted sound works examine the process of documenting and formally articulating protests, in connection to its position within the urban fabric and sonic landscape of the city.
Image Description: The Deep Wireless logo which includes a cartoon drawing of a radio and the words ‘DEEP Wireless”
The 22nd annual edition of the Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art is presented on the theme Remote Connections with and exhibitions, performances, artist talks, an online compilation and radio programs being transmitted from and hosted at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre in South River.
Three works from the Deep Wireless 17 Radio Art Compilation Album will be included in this in-person and online hybrid event on the theme Remote Connections. Join in person for multichannel listening or connect online with your headphones.
What: Remote Connections Concert
When: Saturday March 4, 2023, 7:00 pm
Where: Online, and/or in-person at NAISA North Media Arts Centre in South River, Ontario
To register: click here the cost is $12 per person
“Radio over its history has built societal connections across multiple and remote locations. Radio Art evolved by way of artists and writers across many disciplines adding their diverse approaches to the way time, space and content could be re-imagined over the airwaves and later over digital streaming formats. The content in this year’s festival adds to that tradition with stories told through digital interactivity, round table discussions, documentaries, interactive art, poetry and sound art on the theme Remote Connections.”
Faisal Karadsheh is an Akin staff member and an Akin Studio member. He is an emerging Jordanian-Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, who has exhibited work in Jordan, Lebanon and Canada. Although his work does not necessarily depict a personal narrative, lived experiences emerge as thematic starting points throughout the art-making process. Once completed, these individualized fragments in time may instigate a wider dialogue within disparate communities about tradition, the body, ecologies, and how we define ourselves as moving beings. His oeuvre continually explores in-between spaces, where interior and exterior modalities can exist as one. By attempting to search for this mode of hybridized representation, different mediums unravel interrelated narratives, or imagined histories, revolving around the self and its ties to the body. As a result, these formal investigations into spatial possibilities always seem to be contingent on a somatic subject's perceptions, as the producer or constructor of reality. Choosing a medium to express these sentiments requires openness, which leads to a myriad of forms. Learn more about Faisal and his work at faisalkaradsheh.myportfolio.com
Image above: a slideshow of images showing work by participants of the Akin Winter Arts Market
Drop in for live music and shop for a variety of beautiful gifts at the Arts Market for our opening day! You can also enjoy browsing the exhibition ‘Through 100 Windows’ featuring members of Akin’s studios as well as local creatives from Scarborough and surrounding neighborhoods.
In conjunction with this event, a selection of art work by studio members belonging to the Akin Studio Program at Auto BLDG will be featured on the 3rd floor of the Clark galleries, as well as work by Special Highlights Scarborough artists Wandy Cheng and Theresa Hopkins.
From paintings and prints, to ceramics and textiles, we hope to present a gorgeous and colorfully integrated expression of artistic talent to warm hearts as we head into the winter months.
The Akin Winter Arts Market and Exhibition is happening from December 3-18. Click here for full details including a list of partcipating artists.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
@CanadaCouncil #BringingTheArtsToLife
Image description: Blue and Black text on a pale yellow background reads: Akin Winter Arts Market and Exhibition, Exhibition December 3-18th, Gallery Opening December 3, Market days Dec 3&4, 10&11th. A variety of holiday objects in orange graphics are located on the right side.
When; December 3-18, 2022
Opening Reception: December 3, 2022 from 1-3pm
Where: Clark Centre for the Arts, 191 Guildwood Pkwy, Scarborough
What: Arts Market (December 3, 4, 10 and 11) and Group Exhibition (December 3-18)
Hours, Exhibition: ‘Through 100 Windows’ December 3-18th from 9am-4pm
Hours, Market Days: December 3 and 4 & 10 and 11 from 11am-6pm
Admission: FREE!
Akin will be hosting a public arts event at the Clark Centre for the Arts in Scarborough, featuring art by local artists around the GTA. Artists of all levels of experience and expression will be exhibiting and selling work through the Winter Arts Market and Group Exhibition. We hope that you will join us in celebrating their achievement!
Featuring members of Akin’s studios as well as local creatives from Scarborough and surrounding neighborhoods, artists and creatives of all mediums will be participating in an interdisciplinary wall installation of art panel hangings on the walls of a professional gallery, and at the market offering handmade crafts, art and objects to the public over 2 weekends. From paintings and prints, to ceramics and textiles, we hope to present a gorgeous and colorfully integrated expression of artistic talent to warm hearts as we head into the winter months.
‘Through 100 Windows’ is a collaborative art project, aimed to highlight the harmony, beauty and hope of a community of artists who continue to share and exchange their ideas; collectively resilient and active. Taken on their own, each work is a window into an individual experience. Seen together, we are a vision of combined colour, strength and power.
In conjunction with this event, a selection of art work by studio members belonging to the Akin Studio Program at Auto BLDG will be featured on the 3rd floor of the Clark galleries, as well as work by Special Highlights Scarborough artists Wandy Cheng and Theresa Hopkins
Join us for the opening reception on December 3rd 2022 1-3pm, and drop in for live music and a variety of beautiful gifts at the Arts Market on the weekends of December 3/4th and 10/11th, from 11-6pm! The exhibition will be open during regular Clark Centre hours (9am-4pm) during the week as well as weekends (11am-6pm).
Accessibility & Site Address:
The Clarke Centre has elevators to all three floors, barrier free washrooms on each floor and automatic doors on the bathrooms and the front entrance. Located at 191 Guildwood Pkwy, The Clark Centre for the arts has free but limited parking. By TTC: from Kennedy Station, take the 116 bus to Guildwood Pkwy at the Guild Inn stop.
Thank You:
Thank you to all of our community partners and the many artists and supporters who’ve come together to share this beautiful event, including local musicians Rudy Ray’s Duo and Aaron Ridge, and participating vendors. Particularly, we are grateful to the talented and friendly staff at the Clark Centre for the Arts, who have contributed a great deal and offer a wealth of experience and grace.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. @CanadaCouncil #BringingTheArtsToLife
We are so excited to invite you to join us for two special events this February- both are virtual, free and completely open to anyone (all ages) that would like join and participate or simply tag along to listen in! Learn more below, add them to your calendar, and we look forward to connecting for some fun online this wintery February.
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Driftwork: A Selection of Art by Akin Lakeshore Artists at the Cloverdale Common
We are pleased to announce that Driftwork, the Akin Lakeshore group exhibition at Cloverdale Common has been extended to March 29! We encourage you to stop by to check out the incredible work by our studio artists on display.
About the exhibition:
Stepping into an artist’s studio can be like walking along the shoreline. Always interesting, there is the sense of passing through a potential treasure trove of discarded or unfinished pieces, past efforts, current ideas and experiments. Occasionally one comes upon a brilliant, exceptional thing of beauty. Similarly, the development of an artistic practice takes place over a mysterious ebb and flow of vision and technical discoveries, something that can often only be understood over time. The work presented here reflects a selection of works by artists at Akin’s Lakeshore studio; works-in-progress, old pieces, and new explorations.
With the goal of building community relationships and highlighting the voices of artists living outside the downtown core, this group exhibition shares recent work from the artists working in our shared artist studios at 2970 Lakeshore Blvd West.
Exhibiting Artists:
Oksana Berda, Erin Candela, Suzette Castro, Katrina Elena, Jessica Hiemstra, Monika Mincewicz, Lauren Huffman Morris, Erin Panjer, Kerry Viggiani
Cloverdale Common Hours of Operation:
Thursdays: 11am - 6pm
Fridays: 11am - 5pm
Saturdays: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: 12pm - 5pm
Accessibility:
There are no steps to enter the building or throughout.
Entrance is automated. Bathrooms are gendered (male/female). There are grab bars in the bathroom, the toilets are not raised. Complimentary stroller, walker and wheelchair available upon request at the Guest Services desk.
About Cloverdale Common:
Cloverdale Common is the designated space within Cloverdale mall created to seek the community’s feedback regarding the proposed Cloverdale Mall redevelopment. It also serves as an arts and cultural hub, providing a range of programming through Arts Etobicoke and our community partners.
Tonight (February 29) at Akin Lakeshore, 2970 Lakeshore Blvd West / 6:00pm - 8:30pm / $15 per person / some materials provided
Join artist Erin Panjer tonight for an evening of music and drawing. The theme is “Leap Year: Leap into action, take the initiative”. This session is meant to create the environment to capture meaningful human expression, and inspire the models and the artists in turn, creating a positive feedback loop of active emotional attention and effort - While coming off as fun and laid back!
Getting there by TTC:
Akin Lakeshore is a 3 minute walk from the Lakeshore Blvd West at Fifth St TTC stop which services the 145 Bus and 301 / 501 Streetcars. It is a 2 minute walk from the Islington Ave at Lakeshore Blvd West stop which services the 110 Bus and 337 Bus. Plan your trip: http://www.ttc.ca/Trip_planner/index.jsp
Parking:
There is paid parking located at 2903 Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 2 minute walk from the studio. There is also a Green P Parking Lot located at 120 Sixth St, south of Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 3 minute walk from the studio.
Accessibility:Akin Lakeshore is located on the third floor of the building and there is no elevator. Akin regrets this barrier to access. There is a ramp entrance to the building and then 38 steps to access the studios on the third floor. There are 3 gender neutral washrooms in the studio space. One of the bathrooms has grab bars, the other two do not, and the toilets are not raised. The doorway to the kitchen is narrow, measuring approximately 24 inches across.
Akin Ossington artist Meej Kaufman presents a natural dyeing class on the afternoon of November 9 at Romni Wools, at 208 Weston Road. You can learn to dye yarn with local plant material that Meej has been foraging and experimenting with all summer.
This class will cover the basics of dyeing, principles of respectful foraging and much more. You will dye 100 g of yarn (provided) with one or two colours, using marigold, walnut and rose of sharon flowers. There will be an opportunity to also use more advanced techniques as well.
If you are a knitter, crocheter or weaver, this is a perfect opportunity to learn to make unique yarn for your projects, with materials easily found in Toronto. If you aren't, this class would be a great gift for a friend or family member who does work with yarn, or you could take the class and give them a one of a kind ball of yarn.
To register, or for more information, call Meej Kaufman 647-341-8388
About the artist:
Miriam Kaufman, previously a part-time goldsmith and fibre artist, has recently jumped into creating full-time. While continuing to make silver and gold jewellery, Meej (as she is known to friends and family) is focusing more on making glass beads, metalwork related to fibre (shawl pins, shawl sticks and stitch markers) and on dyeing, spinning and knitting natural fibres. She has a tiny studio in a light industrial space at Ossington and Dupont. www.meejumarts.com
Akin artist David Nuff will be speaking at Design Thinkers Toronto 2019, presented by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD). The event is happening on October 24 & 25, 2019 at Meridian Hall and features a full program intended to connect design professionals from around the world to explore the ideas, trends, strategies and processes driving design communications. Nuff’s talk will be among many stimulating discussions about design’s impact on business, culture and social innovation.
Design Thinkers Toronto offers in-depth analyses of trends and best practices in branding, design thinking, design management, communications technologies and user experience with a range of opportunities to exchange ideas with colleagues, new and old. Attendees leave with a reconsidered and refined design or creative process, feeling inspired, refreshed and connected to the creative communications community. Early bird registration ends October 7, 2019.
About David Nuff
David Nuff RGD has a hard time colouring inside the lines. His work blurs the lines between commerce and culture, art and design. For clients, he works on brand identities, digital products, murals and publications. Independently and as part of a collective, he designs interactive installations like 2017’s Shard, a giant, icy light crystal that responds to sound and motion. He is exploring spatial design and interaction paradigms at Ryerson University’s Design Fabrication Zone and developing his artistic practice as part of the 2018–19 Akin Studio Program at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Toronto.
The Akin Collective D.I.Y. Comics School is a group that meets the first Monday of every month with the goal of working together to provide our own continuing comics education. Meetings take place in the Akin St. Clair Studio at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Open to everyone and anyone interested in creating comics!
This is a member-led initiative that will develop and change over time with participation from everyone. Anyone interested in comic making is welcome to join for one or all of our monthly meetings. Some materials are provided but feel free to bring a sketchbook or papers, pencils, pens or markers, and any comics or comic projects you wish to show and share with the group. The Akin St Clair Studio Comic and Zine Library is also available during meetings to inspire you!
If you are interested in continuing your education and development as a cartoonist and in helping others do the same, please come out and join us Monday, November 4th, from 7:30pm to 9:30i sh at the Akin St. Clair Studio in the “Don’s Meats” building at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Entrance to the studio is off of the parking lot, and located near the back of the building on the west side. It’s a giant door, and it will be open at the start of the meeting, but then closed, so if you come late, knock loud!
Questions or suggestions? email diycmx@gmail.com
You can join the Akin DIY Comics School Community on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diycmx/
Accessibility:
This building is partially accessible. The space is ground- level throughout. There are two entrances to the space, we encourage guests to use the side-door entrance. There is one step at the front door entrance and no steps at the side door entrance. There is one all gender bathroom. There is one step to get to the bathroom. There is no alternative bathroom or alternative route to the bathroom. The bathroom door is 30 inches wide. There are no grab bars in the washroom and the toilets are not raised. Akin St. Clair Studios regrets any barrier to access.
Getting here by TTC:
Akin St Clair Studios is accessible on the 512 St. Clair Streetcar Line and by bus, take either Bus 168 from Dundas West Station, or Bus 127 Spadina Station to Keele and St. Clair.
Parking:
There is residential parking on Hounslow Heath Road and other residential streets in the area.
Panelists Sokrates, Cameron Bailey, and Amanda Parris at a Nuit Talks 2018 event at the Scarborough Civic Centre Library in 2018. Anthony Gebrehiwot
Art speaks volumes this autumn with the free Nuit Talks program offering in-depth conversations with Nuit Blanche artists and curators. Building on the theme – Continuum – the series of provocative events is framed under the title – A line is a series of points, connected. The insightful discussions, conversations, panels, Q&A’s and performances tackle some of the most relevant and urgent issues of our time: access, opportunity, land, geopolitics, sustainability.
Nuit Talks 2019 is curated by Rebecca Carbin.
Today from 7-8pm you can catch “Art, the Mirror: a talk by Director X at the Royal Ontario Museum!
Director X talks about his epic sequel to Death of the Sun and how art can help us understand timely and pressing issues of climate and geopolitics. What motivates an artist to focus attention on issues of such enormous scale? Can art forms and practices really play a role in catalyzing action and change?
Date: September 25, 7 – 8 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m., reception with cash bar from 8 – 9:30 p.m.)
Location: The Royal Ontario Museum
Moderator: Janine Marchessault
Participants: Director X
Cost: FREE (RSVP Required)
RSVP HERE: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/whats-on/art-the-mirror
There are addition talks on October 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10.
Nuit Talks and Nuit Blanche are produced by the City of Toronto in partnership with the Toronto arts community.
TAS invites you to to support local artists & makers of all kinds and visit their Makers’ Market is this Saturday, Aug 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Planet at 1655 Dupont St. There will be something for everyone.
TAS is a community-focused, mixed-use developer that is deeply committed to building resilient urban villages founded on sustainable connections to food, family and future. TAS cultivates long-term relationships with communities to ensure their positive impact extends well beyond the footprint of their buildings.
You are also invited to TAS’ Block Party on Sunday, September 8 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. to celebrate the end of an exciting summer at The Planet. There will be a POP-UP Adventure Playground by EarthPLAY, a colouring mural & local food vendors—fun for the whole family!
Please RSVP here, hope to see you there!
July 22, 2019.
Akin is excited to announce its expansion into Etobicoke with the addition of its newest location, Akin Lakeshore. Converting 6,000sqft of an unused and vacant commercial building located at 2970 Lakeshore Blvd West into usable space for local artists, Akin Lakeshore will provide more than 30 dedicated art studios and workspaces available to rent for creative endeavours of all kinds.
Studios at Akin Lakeshore will range in price and size, starting at 25sqft or $165/month to 140sqft for $551/month, as well as large, open communal areas to accommodate Shared Memberships for $70/month. All rentals include 24/7 access to the studio building, taxes, insurance, wifi, and access to the communal working areas, storage, kitchen, and bathroom facilities.
In addition to studio space, Akin plans to expand its programming initiatives at this new location and introduce a series of free and low-cost public events launching in the Fall of 2019.
This exciting expansion will increase Akin’s size to approximately 45,000 sqft of studio space serving nearly 400 artists, enabling Akin to continue addressing the ever-increasing scarcity of affordable workspace across our city.
Special thank you to local arts organizations Arts Etobicoke, Lakeshore Arts and the Humber Arts Commons for welcoming us into the neighbourhood!
If you are interested in renting a studio at Akin Lakeshore, please join us for one of our Open Studio days in August where you can have a look around the new space, and find out more about Akin! Our staff will be available to answer your questions and show you around. Everyone is welcome! Please note that the studios are located on the third floor of the building and there is no elevator. Akin regrets this barrier to access.
Open Studio Days:
August 16 from 6-9pm
August 20 from 4-7pm
We will be scheduling one-on-one tours in September for anyone who cannot make it to the Open House days. Please get in touch for more information, pricing inquiries, to book a tour or to share ideas. We look forward to hearing from you!
CONTACT:
Jen Pilles, Studio Operations Manager
info@akincollective.com
Getting there by TTC:
Akin Lakeshore is a 3 minute walk from the Lakeshore Blvd West at Fifth St TTC stop which services the 145 Bus and 301 / 501 Streetcars. It is a 2 minute walk from the Islington Ave at Lakeshore Blvd West stop which services the 110 Bus and 337 Bus. Plan your trip: http://www.ttc.ca/Trip_planner/index.jsp
Parking:
There is paid parking located at 2903 Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 2 minute walk from the studio. There is also a Green P Parking Lot located at 120 Sixth St, south of Lakeshore Blvd West which is approximately a 3 minute walk from the studio.
Graphics by Strike Design Studio
For the first time ever MOCA Goes Dark, and invites you to explore the museum transformed by the artists and curators of the exhibition “An Index” from the Akin Studio Program at MOCA.
Come see MOCA transformed into an interactive art party by some of Toronto’s best emerging artists. 158 Sterling Road was once the site of illicit dance parties, raves, and punk gigs that were legendary. Taking inspiration from its past as an underground nightlife hub, we will relive this wild legacy for one night only with amazing art and music that will light MOCA up in the dark. Starting at nine o’clock, come play with artist-led interactive installations and activities on the ground floor. Dance among art with beats by DJ Lulu Wei on our black light dance floor.
This party is presented with the exhibition An Index, featuring twenty-four artists from 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. Night Visions credits the importance of social play in creative production. For the first time ever MOCA Goes Dark, and invites you to explore the museum transformed by local artists. Cash-only bar will be available.
MOCA Toronto aims to be a barrier-free and accessible museum for all.
Doors at 9:00pm
Advance tickets are encouraged and are available at https://experience.museumofcontemporaryart.ca/452/802
$15 dollars regular, $10 MOCA members and students.
MOCA members log in first to add tickets to your cart.
From June through October, get on board the Art Bus that will travel from downtown Toronto directly to the McMichael in Kleinburg. For only $15 + general admission, spend the day viewing the exhibitions, and walking the grounds on 100 acres of forested land along the Humber River. The McMichael is a major public gallery uniquely devoted to collecting the art of Canada located in the charming Village of Kleinburg, approximately a 30 minute drive from the city of Toronto.
Toronto departure: 11 am
McMichael departure: 4 pm
Departure point: 80 Spadina Ave.
Departure dates: July 21, July 28, August 4, August 11, August 18, August 28, September 1, September 8, September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20 and October 27
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is located on the original lands of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe People. It is uniquely situated along the Carrying Place Trail which historically provided an integral connection for Aboriginal people between Ontario’s Lakeshore and the Lake Simcoe-Georgian Bay Region. As an institution, McMichael recognizes the importance of acknowledging the original territories of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe First Nations people.
The McMichael’s permanent collection consists of over 6,500 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists who have contributed to the development of Canadian art.
Aisle 4 is a Toronto-based curatorial project that initiates and promotes socially engaged artwork. Through collaborations with artists from a range of disciplines, they present critical public art experiences that reach beyond core arts audiences to animate unsuspecting spaces and connect communities.
In Residence is an artist-in-residence series at the Scarborough Museum that examines the role of a colonial house museum in present-day Scarborough. Seeking to expand the museum’s institutional capacity, five participating artists and collectives will introduce new narratives, perspectives, and timeframes that build stronger linkages with the surrounding Bendale neighbourhood. The residency participants are Sameer Farooq, Petrina Ng, Serena Lee, Annie Wong, and the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective.
Focusing on ideas of intergenerational, diasporic traditions; cross-cultural hauntologies; traditional labour and leisure practices; and experimental culinary interventions, the artists will activate the site with attention on the targeted demographics adjacent to the museum.
In Residence is a collaboration with the dedicated staff at the Scarborough Museum to both challenge and enhance its function as an operating “historical” site through contemporary art and social practice. Each artist/collective will inhabit a space at the Museum and create work in conversation with local residents, business owners, and community organizations during their projected residency period. The Museum will become a temporary home, office, or studio in which artists can conduct research, create work, workshop ideas, host meetings, and run public programs.
An Index
July 25 - September 8, 2019
Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada - Floor 4
An Index Opening Reception
Wednesday, July 24, 6-9pm
Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada - Floor 4
The exhibition, An Index, exposes work by the 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 Beyoncé 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.
Left: Photo of artist Samar Hejazi. Photo by Shannon McClatchey. Right: Adria Mirabelli’s studio. Courtesy of the artist.
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.”
The exhibition comprises work in a variety of media from sculpture, to video, to new wall murals 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.
Over the next couple of months, Akin will be sharing profiles on our blog of all of the artists from Year 1 of the Akin Studio Program at MOCA. Click here to see the most recent posts in the Akin MOCA Series.
Photo of artist Leone McComas. Photo by Jessica Thalmann
Accessibility
MOCA Toronto aims to be a barrier-free and accessible museum for all. Each floor has elevator access. Two wheelchairs that are available to borrow. Service animals are welcome.