MOCCA relaunches as "the Museum" of the future
Amrita Chandra |
Wednesday, April 06, 2016
The institution formerly known as the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art kicked off its bold vision to transform into an internationally recognized 21st century contemporary art museum at a much buzzed about launch party last week.
A packed room of over 200 people turned up to hear from newly appointed CEO Chantal Pontbriand, who shared her team’s reimagining of what it means to be a contemporary art museum. The new museum will open in May 2017 in its new premises, taking up 50,000 sq. ft over 5 floors of the refurbished historic Automotive Tower building on Sterling Road.
The first and most noticeable announcement was that the institution has changed its name, dropping the word Canadian, and becoming the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto_Canada, and “the Museum” in short form. “We are very proud of this new identity, which focuses on the words museum, contemporary, Toronto and Canada,” said Julia Ouellette, Chair of the Museum’s Board of Directors. “Our ambition is for a global dialogue from here, Toronto, our city. We are convinced it will attract attention worldwide.”
Newly appointed CEO Chantal Pontbriand speaks at the launch event.
While the name change may have been the one controversial element of an otherwise highly lauded strategic plan, signalling the shift away from Canadian art to a more international focus, it also felt like a brave and ambitious move.
It’s remarkable that these plans came together in a mere five months since Pontbriand joined the Museum, and that the building itself will open to the public in just over a year from now. Next year’s opening date was chosen to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Canada, with the full expected completion by 2020.
The Museum’s vision includes introducing a new kind of art space, that considers what it means to live together as a society in this new millennium. It aims to address what it means to be an art museum in an era where we spend much of our lives online.
Pontbriand sees the Museum as both an agora and a nexus. The agora, or “town square” is reflected in the ground floor, designed as an interior street extending into an outdoor plaza where people can gather to view live performances and installations. the Museum will also have a Philosopher-in-Residence who will be accessible to the public in both formal and informal activities.
The “nexus” or connections aspect of the Museum comes to life on the 4th floor, where a library-like space called “The Squat” will host visitors at all times, with tables, chairs and couches as well as workshop rooms and a cafe. Connections will be enhanced through programming efforts such as a new art journal, titled Idea of North, and online initiatives available to virtual visitors from around the world. And in another surprising move, the Museum announced that it will eventually be open from noon to midnight, further breaking the norms of traditional museum-going and forging a new path for community engagement.
The Museum is the centerpiece of a revitalization effort in the Lower Junction neighbourhood, which will also bring new housing, a community park and a daycare facility. The Lower Junction project is expected to create up to 2,500 jobs and home to 1,000 new residents, in addition to the approximately 400,000 visitors that the Museum aims to attract annually to the neighbourhood.
For more information, please visit http://museumofcontemporaryart.ca/
Amrita Chandra is a Toronto-based writer and startup marketer, and former Board Chair of Open Studio, Canada's leading printmaking centre.