Join cultural historian Dr. Michael Prokopow at MOCA for a talk on the meaning and mechanics of collecting, presented alongside Alex Da Corte’s exhibition, Ear Worm. Focusing on Mouse Museum (Van Gogh’s Ear)—Da Corte’s theatrical reimagining of Claes Oldenburg’s iconic installation—the talk examines how everyday objects, studio fragments and pop cultural references are assembled into an intimate, idiosyncratic system of display.
Prokopow will explore how Da Corte’s collecting practices speak to ideas of taste, memory, authorship and the museum as a space of personal and cultural storytelling. Drawing on his background in material culture and design history, Prokopow offers a compelling lens into how collections both shape and reflect the stories we tell about ourselves.
Want to make a day of it? Just behind the museum, a pop-up market presented by MOCA and Hippie Market Life invites you to browse vintage, handmade, and locally sourced objects that echo the themes of collecting and storytelling.
About Dr. Michael J. Prokopow
Dr. Michael J. Prokopow is a cultural historian and curator whose areas of expertise include architecture and design, critical theory, and design history.
His many publications include, most recently, Reside: Contemporary West Coast Houses (2024) Hurvin Anderson (2021) and Smith House II for UBC SALA’s West Coast Modern series (2012). Between 2004 and 2008, he was curator of the Design Exchange, Canada’s only museum of 20th century industrial design.
In 2011 he curated an exhibition on the work of architect and theorist George Baird at the Daniels Faculty of Landscape, Architecture and Design, and in 2016 he co-curated the touring exhibition True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada. He is a faculty member at OCAD University.
Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) presents rotating exhibitions that prioritize twenty-first-century artistic production, primarily through commissioning of new work. Artists, partnerships, experimentation, and reciprocal initiatives are at the centre of MOCA’s mission as a locally rooted and internationally connected organization. Focused on core values promoting equity, inclusion, access, courage, and responsibility, MOCA fosters active participation and engagement to serve as a welcoming cultural hub in the hyper-diverse city of Toronto.
