The Power Plant reopens with three solo exhibitions by international and Canadian artists working across photography, video, installation and drawing that reflect on human relationships with and interventions on the land. From examining the politics of the air we breathe, to exploring acts of remembrance, the artists engage visitors in urgent contemporary discussions about lived experiences of migration, power, and memory. These exhibitions will be accompanied by a program of discursive events, talks, and tours, published on the gallery’ social channels and its website.
“In 2022, The Power Plant will be celebrating our 35th anniversary and I’ excited to open our anniversary year with the works of these three thought-provoking women artists,”said Gaëtane Verna, Director & Artistic Director. “hese exhibitions spotlight The Power Plant’ commitment to being a safe space for open dialogues that confront critical issues of our time through art and ideas by artists from Canada and the world.”
Sasha Huber: YOU NAME IT Curated by Noor Alé, Associate Curator Swiss-Haitian-Finnish artist Sasha Huber uses performance, photography, and film, among other media, to investigate colonial residues left in the environment. YOU NAME IT, Huber’ first solo show in North America, features over a decade’ worth of work prompted by the cultural and political activist campaign “emounting Louis Agassiz,”which seeks to redress the racist legacy of the Swiss-born naturalist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz (1807–1873). Huber’ artworks challenge the terms by which we remember, asking not only who and what we memorialize, but also, and more importantly, how we do so. The exhibition is initiated, organized, and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada, in collaboration with Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Autograph ABP, London, United Kingdom; and Turku Museum, Finland.
Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air Guest curated by Amin Alsaden In her first major solo exhibition in Canada, Shona Illingworth presents works that explore how space is occupied today. She probes how current modes of governance, surveillance, and weaponization are invading our interior worlds and transcending the borders of nation-states to create new frameworks of dominance and colonization. Illingworth’ inquiry reveals emerging power relations and knowledge structures that determine the manner in which we inhabit the world, contemplating their potential catastrophic impact on our co-existence and survival on this planet. To coincide with her exhibition, Illingworth is launching a new book Topologies of Air, edited by Anthony Downey, that includes commissioned essays and a forward by The Power Plant’ Director & Artistic Director, Gaëtane Verna.
Sandra Brewster: By Way of Communion Curated by Joséphine Denis, TD Curator of Education and Outreach Fellow, 2021–2023 Toronto-based Canadian artist Sandra Brewster has been invited to create a new site-specific installation at The Power Plant. Brewster transform the light-flooded Clerestory into an arboreal landscape soaring across both sides of the space. Brewster’ photo-based gel transfers, installed directly onto the gallery’ walls, will envelop visitors in a lush atmosphere. The scratches and ridges in her weathered images reference profound identity shifts that Caribbean immigrants experience when arriving in Canada, the complex and layered experiences of whom Brewster has been consistently exploring throughout her practice. Outside the gallery, Brewster presents a new interactive sculpture commissioned by ArtworxTO A Place To Put Your Things, a swing set with a seat in the form of a couple’ kiss.
About The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is Canada’ leading public gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary visual art. It is a vital forum for the advanced artistic culture of our time that offers an exceptional facility and professional support to diverse living artists, while engaging equally diverse audiences in their work. The Power Plant pursues its activities through exhibitions, publications, and public programming that incorporate other areas of culture when they intersect with visual art.
Sasha Huber, Rentyhorn (still), 2008. Video, 4:30 minutes. Courtesy of the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
Exhibitions 05 February -01 May 2022. The Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay West - Toronto Ontario M5J 2G8 (Canada). T +1 416 973 4949.
