The Museum of Found Objects: Toronto (Maharaja and --)
SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) and the Art Gallery of Ontario present
Toronto Now
The Museum of Found Objects: Toronto (Maharaja and --)
Sameer Farooq (Canada) and Mirjam Linschooten (Netherlands/France)
Opening reception: Saturday, February 5, 6-9 pm, in the Young Gallery beside Frank Restaurant, Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street W. Toronto ON. With the artists in attendance.
In response to the Art Gallery of Ontario's current exhibition Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, The Museum of Found Objects: Toronto (Maharaja and --) is an archive of everyday objects sourced from Toronto's South Asian neighbourhoods. A direct line will be drawn between historic objects and present-day objects, cleverly updating the AGO's Maharaja exhibition.
Toronto based artist, Sameer Farooq and his Paris-based collaborator, Mirjam Linschooten apply the methodologies of a museum – collecting, preparing, interpreting and displaying – to a selection of objects collected from neighbourhoods such as Brampton, Mississauga, Scarborough and Milton. The work challenges a museological portrayal of "culture" by introducing non-precious, surprising, and mundane objects into a place of importance.
Visit http://www.themuseumoffoundobjects.com/ for daily updates as the museum's collection grows.
The Museum of Found Objects: Toronto (Maharaja and --) is an examination of culture through its objects. Commissioned by SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), and presented as part of the AGO's Toronto Now series. Admission to the exhibition is free.
The Museum of Found Objects was first developed in Istanbul, as a commission from the Turkish Ministry of Culture during the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture.
Artists' Biography: Sameer Farooq (Canada) and Mirjam Linschooten (France) collaborate on projects. Their work often (but not always) touches upon subjects of archiving, embedded power, the gap between language and object, advanced faking, site-specific reactions, sampling, continual reconsideration, paranoid hoarding, ordering, important choices, insider vs. outsider perspectives, the present and the future, class, the surface, type treatments, organization according to unidentifiable systems (and, surrealist montage procedures), reproduction and representation, the construction of meaning, the wunderkammer, newspapers, facts, ways of disseminating data into the world, fiction and non-fiction, discourse and power, digital and actual ready-mades, traces, the public, signs and the symbolic order, rewriting the present, and their work always aims to challenge hegemony and masculinist domination!
SAVAC: Since 1993, SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) has been dedicated to the presentation and promotion of contemporary visual art by South Asian artists. SAVAC presents innovative programming, which critically explores issues and ideas shaping South Asian identities and experiences. SAVAC operates without a gallery space, but collaborates with various organizations locally, nationally and internationally, to produce exhibitions, screenings, online projects and artistic interventions.
Art Gallery of Ontario: With a permanent collection of more than 79,450 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. In 2008, with a stunning new design by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, the AGO opened its doors to the public amid international acclaim. Highlights include Galleria Italia, a gleaming showcase made of wood and glass running the length of an entire city block along the Gallery's façade; and the feature staircase, spiraling up through the roof of Walker Court and into the new contemporary galleries above. From the extensive Group of Seven collection to the dramatic new African art gallery; from the cutting-edge works in the contemporary tower to Peter Paul Rubens' masterpiece The Massacre of The Innocents, a highlight of the celebrated Thomson Collection, there is truly something for everyone at the AGO.
Toronto Now spotlights local artists and offers the public an opportunity to see exciting contemporary art projects free of charge. The series inhabits the Young Gallery, a free, street-level space adjacent to Frank restaurant, facing Dundas Street.
Toronto Now is generously supported by The Contemporary Circle. Contemporary programming at the AGO is supported the Canada Council for the Arts.
Image: Sameer Farooq and Mirjam Linschooten. The Museum Of Found Objects: Toronto (Maharaja and –––)
To learn more about Toronto Now please visit www.ago.net or call 416 979-6648
To learn more about SAVAC please visit www.savac.net or call 416.542.1661.
Categories: Community Engagement, Events, Ideas, Projects
