THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART_TORONTO_CANADA ANNOUNCES THE DATE OF THE GRAND OPENING, THE STRATEGIC PLATFORM, AND THE FIRST YEAR OF EXHIBITIONS
In just over a year, on May 2nd, 2017, Toronto will be opening a new museum devoted to the art of the XXIst C, named the Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada. This is a new step for MOCCA (Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art), the art centre formerly located on Queen Street West for 10 years (2005-2015).
The museum will develop an international program of exhibitions, events and publications. It will generate new exhibitions of international calibre and develop a global collection based on new and innovative ideas, with the year 2000 as a start date for the collection. It will co-produce exhibitions and new works with national and international partners such as: curators, museums, major galleries, collectors and foundations, in Canada and internationally. In the city of Marshall McLuhan, the museum will base much of its work on developing a digital archive of relevance to contemporary art, artists, researchers as well as all visitors. It will also be connected to specialized and unique archives globally. Working with the World-Wide Web in a pro-active and creative manner, the museum will develop a larger audience, both on-site and on the Web.
The basic philosophy of the new museum will be based on the idea of the “agora”, a public space for working out democracy today, and the “nexus”, a space for exchange and networking. It will be “everyone’s living room”. As a space for knowledge production, it will be working out world issues through today’s art practices.
The Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada will be “live” at all times, open to performative ways of working, new ideas, and it will welcome members of the public as activators. It will be enabling and generous in proposing works and programs where everyone can be a curator/actor of a larger scene. It will foster a new type of learning environment through encountering works of art that speak of the world today.
“ Museums need to open up to new demographic and socio-political environments. Diversity, cultural crossbreeding, new technologies, the disappearance of silos in artistic disciplines, all of these factors call for the making of a new type of museum. The museum can no longer be a monument, a place for high-learning, and handed-down educational methods. Learning and fostering new knowledge are the tasks of tomorrow’s museums. This will only nurture democratic ideas and new ways of seeing and doing in this new environment.” _Chantal Pontbriand, CEO and Director, Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada
The Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada is putting forth the “20/20 Plan”, which will come to full cycle in 2020, to come to full cycle. The objective is to meet the needs of today’s art and today’s society. A 20/20 vision is the best vision possible and by the year 2020, the world will have already experienced two decades of what life is like in the XXIst C, a common horizon and challenge for all.
Click here to download full media release in English.
Click here to download full media release in French.
Click here to watch our March 29, 2016 Press Conference.