We attended opening night and were glad to see a whole bunch of people immersing themselves in the exhibits, sticking their heads through brick walls, zoning out with headphones and LCD panels and sitting, mesmerized, in dark rooms. We don't want to give it away too much; MOCCA is host to a truly participatory exhibition where all senses are assaulted; you arrive slightly shocked, become bemused and leave with a pit in your stomach knowing something genius has occurred.
David Cronenberg: Transformation features six new, TIFF-commissioned artworks from leading Canadian and international contemporary artists who share Cronenberg’s inspirations from literature and philosophy—writers such as McLuhan, Burroughs and Ballard—and his fascination with biological horror, the human psyche and the merging of humans and media.
Our favourite was the collaborative work with Candice Breitz, which involves audience members to watch two screens set against each other, one featuring voice talent shot on a stark background and the other, an alternate reality where the script thoroughly comes to life. Watch closely.Others include James Coupe, Marcel Dzama, Jeremy Shaw, Jamie Shovlin, and Laurel Woodcock. David Cronenberg: Transformationis co-curated by David Liss, Artistic Director & Curator, MOCCA, and Noah Cowan, Artistic Director, TIFF Bell Lightbox; presented and organized in partnership with TIFF; and supported by the Government of Ontario, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Hal Jackman Foundation.
Multidisciplinary artist Camille Henrot won the Silver Lion for best young promising artist at this year’s Venice Biennale for her heady “encyclopedic” video Grosse Fatigue, which mixes slam poetry-style narration with a percussive soundtrack as it describes an increasingly breathless excursion through the history of the universe. Camille Henrot’s Grosse Fatigue is curated by Andréa Picard, TIFF, and presented in collaboration with TIFF Future Projections, with support from the Hal Jackman Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.