A Triennial Exhibition Celebrating the Artistic Vibrancy of the Greater Toronto Area, Opening March 22, 2024
TORONTO, ON, February 12, 2024 – On March 22, 2024, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) will launch Greater Toronto Art 2024 (GTA24), the second edition of the museum’s highly-acclaimed triennial exhibition. Presenting a constellation of 25 artists, duos, and collectives, GTA24 is a project that challenges the notion of individualism and focuses instead on the interconnectedness of individuals within a larger social fabric. In consideration of community and equity, the inaugural exhibition, GTA21, focused on what felt most urgent to artists under the drastically changing conditions of the pandemic in 2020–2021. Building on this, GTA24 considers the importance of understanding the history and context of the GTA, featuring a group of intergenerational artists. The exhibition weaves together 15 newly commissioned artworks and live programmes with existing work made between the 1960s and the present. While GTA21 faced physical programming restrictions, GTA24 embraces gatherings and shared spaces, featuring live performances, events, and screenings as central elements of the project. The exhibition will be on view across all three floors of the museum until July 28, 2024.
Organized by guest curators, Ebony L. Haynes and Toleen Touq, and MOCA Curator Kate Wong, the exhibition will include works of contemporary art by:
Alexis Kyle Mitchell
Catherine Telford Keogh
Ésery Mondésir
G.B. Jones
Jean-Paul Kelly
Jes Fan
June Clark
Kamias Triennial
Lisa Myers
Lotus L. Kang
Mani Mazinani
Matthew Wong
Michael Thompson
Nobuo Kubota
Oliver Husain and Kerstin Schroedinger
Oreka James
P.Mansaram
Richard Fung
Sharlene Bamboat
Sin Wai Kin
Sukaina Kubba
Theo Jean Cuthand
Tim Whiten
Timothy Yanick Hunter
Wendell Bruno
“We are delighted to present the second edition of our triennial exhibition, Greater Toronto Art 2024, this spring,” said Bartels. “It is the only recurring institutional exhibition dedicated to highlighting and supporting artists from the region, providing a platform of connection both locally and internationally. GTA24 explores the importance of history to both the present and the future, capturing the essence of Toronto, a city in a constant state of flux. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone that has made GTA24 possible including the valuable support provided by our Presenting Sponsor, BMO Financial Group (Bank of Montreal), Partners in Art, and all of the exhibition’s donors and sponsors.”
Over the course of 2023, the curatorial team undertook over 70 studio visits. Coming together as three curators from different places and each with different relationships to the GTA, the divergence in perspective served as an important foundation for a discussion around both artist selection as well as as curatorial methodologies. “In the same way as many of the artists included in the exhibition, our engagement with and understanding of the Greater Toronto Area is characterized by a simultaneous proximity to and distance from it,” said Wong. “This position confirmed a mutual desire to take a closer look at how the GTA came to be, and to consider the artistic ecology of this area.”
Running alongside the exhibition, the GTA24 Live Programme will feature performances and events by artists such as Richard Fung, Nobuo Kubota, Alexis Kyle Mitchell, and Oliver Husain and Kerstin Schroedinger, and a Screening Programme featuring Sharlene Bamboat and Kamias Triennial, delivered in partnership with Paradise Cinema.
The GTA24 publication will be released on May 21, 2024. Sensitively designed by Studio Claus Due, who have also developed the visual identity and graphic materials for the exhibition, the publication provides an intimate look into the thinking, research, and development of works for the exhibition, live, and screening programmes, and features texts by Camille Georgeson-Usher and Tiana Ried.
The next Greater Toronto Art exhibition will return in 2027 and continue to explore the vibrant, lively, and continuously transforming landscape of the Greater Toronto Area.
Support
MOCA is extremely grateful to our Visionary Supporters, Gilles & Julia Ouellette and the Price Family, and Visionary Corporate Supporter Castlepoint Numa.
Exceptional exhibition support has been provided by the Presenting Sponsor of GTA24, BMO Financial Group.
About MOCA Toronto
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.
Media Contact
For additional information, please contact Sydney Torgov at Chimera Collective : +1 647 206 3057;
sydney@chimera-collective.com
Image Credits
Top Left to Bottom Right
Lotus L. Kang, In Cascades (installation view), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Chisenhale Gallery. Photo by Andy Keate and photo editing by LF Documentation.
Sin Wai Kin, A Dream of Wholeness in Parts (still), 2021. Courtesy the artist, Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei and Soft Opening, London.
Alexis Kyle Mitchell, The Treasury of Human Inheritance (still), 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
Theo Jean Cuthand, Reclamation (still), 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
June Clark, Castries Barbershop, Bathurst, 1976 (printed 2023). Courtesy of artist and Daniel Faria Gallery.
Sukaina Kubba, 1970.302.8, 2022. Photo by and courtesy of the artist.
Jes Fan, Diagram XIX, 2023. Courtesy of artist and Empty Gallery. Photo by Pierre Le Hors.