MOCA Toronto
MOCA is a permanent home for contemporary art right here in Canada’s largest city.
It’s now housed in what used to be an old aluminum factory, five times the size of the previous West Queen West space. MOCA started out as the Art Gallery of North York in 2000.
The first floor is always free and open to the public, though admission to the entire museum is $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and if you’re under 18, it’s free.
Art Metropole, formerly found on Dundas West, moved into this first floor, selling books and art publications. There’s also a location of Forno Cultura housed in a light-filled glass front area.
The first floor will also always be home to what’s being called an Invitation Project. Andreas Angelidakis’ DEMOS - A Reconstruction is composed of 74 foam modules covered in vinyl the public is free to interactively rearrange, and which can be repurposed to create makeshift performance spaces.
Inaugural exhibit of 16 international artists BELIEVE centres around the powerful, positive verb, meant to reflect the positive impact of the art gallery on the community.
The first piece encountered exiting elevators up to the second floor is Indigenous artist Carl Beam’s The Columbus Suite, 12 photo-based etchings depicting those who died for their beliefs from Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln to Sitting Bull and religious martyrs.
Scarborough artist Nep Sidhu created Quazarz Pinball Arcade with Security and Leisure Enhancement Console, an entirely redesigned, reprogrammed pinball machine with sounds and music by Shabazz Palaces connected to a responsive opposing machine that calls to mind concepts of surveillance.
Toronto-based Rajni Perera’s Talisman is a captivating double throne created in collaboration with Yorgo Liapis, and immediately evokes an opportunity for discussion of different viewpoints and a bridging of ideas.
Darkened rooms for exhibiting video art are slotted into corners of the gallery, Jeremy Shaw’s Quickeners appropriating footage from a documentary about a Pentecostal Christian sect, two rows of chairs thoughtfully but eerily set up in imitation of a church basement environment.
Originally installed in Montreal, Dineo Seshee Bopape’s And-In. The Light of This._ creates art out of Haitian voodoo symbology and spells.
Having a Barbara Kruger piece as part of BELIEVE solidifies MOCA as a gallery where world-class art can be seen.
Half the fifth floor is devoted to rotating programming, an Art in Use program of rotating exhibits centring around new commissions, events and workshops. The other half is devoted to a location of Akin collective with over 30 studio spaces available.
Hector Vasquez
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MOCA Toronto
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7 Upcoming Events
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November 2
Move through your practice at MOCA On Saturday, October 5, 2024, from 10–10:50 am.
Due to popular demand, we’ve expanded our MOCA Movement series with our neighbourhood partner Mosaic Yoga. Enjoy a Pilates session on the Ground Floor of MOCA, and immerse yourself in a one-of-a-kind experience surrounded by the works of Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ "Diaries After a Flood.&…
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November 2-3
Join MOCA Toronto for an engaging Community Weekend that melds art with technology! Through a series of activities and guided tours, find your inner creative genius and explore how the human experience relates to our ever-evolving digital environment in Tishan Hsu’s exhibition, "Interface Remix."
On Saturday, the Randomness and Robotics workshop will take the fundamentals of co…
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November 14
Join MOCA for a special evening with influential and visionary artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas.
The event will feature an opening performance honouring Yahgulanaas’ contributions to the all-ages opera and book, "The Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment," co-produced by the Vancouver Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria. This environmental fable about mora…
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November 15
Friday, November 15, 2024 | 11 am–4 pm | Drop-in | Free with Admission
This PA Day, join in on activities and short kid-friendly tours that invite students to engage with contemporary art on their day off. Families will have the opportunity to create artwork that responds to the all-ages opera and book, "The Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment," co-produced…
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November 16
Want to learn more about Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ "Diaries After a Flood" on now at MOCA? Join exhibiting artist, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas for an in-depth tour of his solo exhibition where he’ll delve into the inspiration behind his newly commissioned and site specific installations, "Daalkaatlii Diaries" and "Flesh Tones," shown alongside his famous…
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November 18
Join us for Art Hive at MOCA, a free drop-in art programme that invites the whole community to stop by and create! No registration needed.
Explore a range of materials and techniques, from painting and drawing to collage, guided by three visiting art therapy students who will facilitate creative expression. Bring your works-in-progress and join a vibrant community, where you can find inspirati…
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November 29
For our final PA Day of the season, choose your own "Daalkaatlii Diaries" adventure! Responding to MOCA exhibiting artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ non-linear style of narration and painting, families will create their own stories and illustrations in watercolour. These stories will not have a beginning, middle or end, and will be shuffled like cards to create new stories each t…
