MOCA will be closed on Sunday February 16 due to severe weather.

Sondra Perry, FOIL MANE: HANDSHAKES AND HEARTBREAKS, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 1913 (detail). Courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, New York.

Sondra Perry

April 17, 2025
— August 3, 2025

Sondra Perry is the recipient of MOCA’s 2025 Digital Futures Residency, which supports the research, development, and production of a new digital artwork focused on technology as a connective tool.

Perry is an interdisciplinary artist who creates videos and performances that highlight digital production instruments to critically examine new technologies of representation and to reimagine their possibilities. Her digital work integrates sculpture, moving images, AI-generated elements, and found furniture, crafting an experience that feels both familiar and remote. 

In her new commission for MOCA, and first solo presentation in Canada, Perry draws inspiration from both the African American barbershop and the Auto BLDG (currently MOCA’s home). Notably, Perry’s studio in Newark was formerly a barbershop—a communal space where both information and misinformation circulate. This adds another layer of meaning as a site of invention and connection. Further distinguishing this project is Perry’s exploration of the Auto BLDG’s history and significance. The building’s first tenant in 1912 was the Northern Aluminum Company. First introduced in the early twentieth century, aluminum foil was used to preserve perishable foods. By the mid-century, aluminum production expanded, finding new applications in currency, military uses, fashion, and decor. Over the years, the building has housed the production of many items, before later becoming a site for underground art gatherings. Through Perry’s imagination, aluminum foil is interpreted into sculptural forms and digital imagery, drawing our attention to the comfort that food and warmth bring in anxious times. 

About the Artist

Sondra Perry was born in 1986 in New Jersey, where she lives and works. Perry earned a BFA in Expanded Media and 3 Dimensional Studies from Alfred University (New York, 2012), attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Maine, 2013), and attained her MFA in New Genres from Columbia University (New York, 2015). 

A selection of Perry’s solo exhibitions have been held at major institutions including Fondation Beyeler, Switzerland; Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark; Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Florida and the Seattle Art Museum, Washington. Perry has participated in recent group exhibitions at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; La Biennale di Venezia 2022; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York; the International Center for Photography, New York; Thoma Foundation, Mexico and Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, among many others as well as participating in film screenings, performances, and residencies. 

Perry’s work is held in major institution collections including the Espoo Museum of Modern Art , Finland; the Hammer Museum, California; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey.

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