See below for image credits.
As we reach the end of 2015, M-KOS again invited a selection of art professionals for our fifth annual survey to share their most memorable exhibitions, art works, performances, events and other moments of this past year. All these were memorable from the perspectives of our invited reviewers, yet surely some entries can be debated by our readers joining us in the comments section below. All are welcome to suggest any other must see art moment in this year’s art listings.
This year’s participants include: Jonathan Shaughnessy (Associate curator, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa); Cheryl Sim (Curator, DHC/ART, Montreal); Thomas Kneubühler (Artist, Montreal/Switzerland); Dominique Fontaine (Independent curator/Founding director of aPOSteRIORI, Montreal); Guy Sangster Adams (Editor, Plectrum – The Cultural Pick, London, UK); Maria Ezcurra (Artist/Art educator, Montreal/Mexico); Romeo Gongora (Artist, Montreal); Karen Tam (Artist, Montreal); Stephen Connolly (Film maker, London, UK); Oli Sorenson (Artist/Editor, M-KOS, Montreal); Miwa Kojima (Managing editor, M-KOS, Montreal)
JONATHAN SHAUGHNESSY,
Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)
gallery.ca | @jonshaughn
◼︎ LOUISE BOURGEOIS. STRUCTURES OF EXISTENCE: THE CELLS
HAUS DER KUNST, MUNICH, GERMANY. 27 FEB – 2 AUG 2015
Powerful show dedicated to the series of installation-based “Cells” that Bourgeois created from the 1980s until her death in 2010. The NGC’s Cell: The Last Climb (2008) is one of the final works from the series and features prominently in this exhibition that will travel to Guggenheim Bilbao and the Louisiana Museum, Humblebaek, Denmark between now and 2017.
◼︎ STURTEVANT: DOUBLE TROUBLE
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NYC, USA. 9 NOV 2014 – 22 FEB 2015
The first North American survey on the iconoclastic artist who died in May 2014 and who proves here to be prescient not only for her early anticipation of the culture of appropriation that would besiege the later twentieth-century, but also the way the latter would meld with social media and new technology to usher in the field of “post-Net” art. One of my favorites and an artist whose true influence in my opinion has yet to be fully acknowledged.
◼︎ HITO STEYERL: FACTORY OF THE SUN
GERMAN PAVILION, THE 56TH VENICE BIENNALE, VENICE, ITALY. 9 MAY – 22 NOV 2015
Featured in Sturtevant’s show was the video Pac-Man (2012), her take on Toru Iwatani’s Pac-Man (1980), which in each case seem a fitting prelude to the work of Hito Steyerl whose offering for the German Pavilion this past year in Venice folded computer “gaming” culture into her extreme account of the links between information and economic interests all laced with an enticing (somewhere-utopian) account of the “immateriality of light as a medium of information, physical bodies, and values.” I am not alone in feeling this was one of the hits of the Venice Biennale this year.
◼︎ NEW MUSEUM TRIENNIAL 2015: SURROUND AUDIENCE
NEW MUSEUM, NYC, USA. 25 FEB – 24 MAY 2015
Staying within the realm of “post-Net” art, this year’s rendition of the triennial co-curated by Lauren Cornell and artist Ryan Trecartin delivered insightfully on its examination of “numerous lines of inquiry, including: What are the new visual metaphors for the self and subjecthood when our ability to see and be seen is expanding, as is our desire to manage our self-image and privacy? Is it possible to opt out of, bypass, or retool commercial interests that potentially collude with national and international policy? Highlights of the show included a series of paintings by Portland based Canadian artist Sascha Braunig and Korean performance artist Geumhyung Jeong’s Fitness Guide (2011) involving modified exercise equipment worked to the max. .
◼︎ VINCENT MEESSEN: ONE. TWO. THREE
BELGIAN PAVILION, THE 56TH VENICE BIENNALE, VENICE, ITALY. 9 MAY – 22 NOV 2015
This three-channel video installation examines the influence of the Situationist International as it entered into dialogue with African revolutionary struggles against colonialism. In the video Meessen works with the Congolese Situationist Joseph M’Belolo Ya M’Piku and young musicians in Kinshasa to remake a protest song M’Belolo originally wrote in May 1968. One. Two. Three. had me captivated upon first view, then second, and has stayed on my mind ever since
Image:Sascha Braunig, Chur, 2014.Oil on linen over panel. Courtesy the artist and Foxy Production, New York. Photo: Luc Demers
CHERYL SIM
Curator, DHC/ART (Montreal)
dhc-art.org | @DHCART
◼︎ ED ATKINS: HISSER
THE 14TH ISTANBUL BIENNIAL, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
5 SEP – 1 NOV 2015
What if you knew you only had 30 minutes to live? This work, complete with mournful pop ballad truly stays with you.
◼︎ SONIA DELAUNAY
TATE MODERN, LONDON, UK. 15 APR – 9 AUG 2015
Oh the colour, the audacity, the joy.
◼︎ LEE MINGWEI: SONIC BLOSSOM
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON, USA. 11 MAR. – 9 APR. 2015
A singer approaches you in the middle of the museum and asks if he can give you the gift of music. I say yes!
◼︎ GABRIELA LÖFFEL: EMBEDDED LANGUAGE
DAZIBAO, MONTREAL, CANADA. 19 NOV 2015 – 24 JAN 2016
The power of cinema plus the politics of power and performance… with conceptual and aesthetic rigour.
◼︎ THE new BROAD, LOS ANGELES, USA
Impressive ‘veil and the vault’ architectural concept — plus Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room.
Image: Performer Teresa Winner Blume put on a costume specially designed for the exhibition “Lee Mingwei: Sonic Blossom” at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. Photo: David L. Ryan/Globe Staff, via The Boston Globe
THOMAS KNEUBÜHLER
Artist (Montreal/Switzerland)
thomaskneubuhler.com | @tkneubuhler
◼︎ WORLD OF MATTER
LEONARD & BINA ELLEN ART GALLERY, MONTREAL, CANADA.
20 FEB – 18 APR 2015
Long-term investigative fieldwork on resource ecologies that resists forms of accelerated artwork consumption.
◼︎ VELIBOR BOŽOVIĆ: MY PRISONER
LES TERRITOIRES, MONTREAL, CANADA. 24 APR – 23 MAY 2015
Autobiography, documentary and fiction, all at the same time.
◼︎ KADER ATTIA: ARAB SPRING
ART BASEL – UNLIMITED, BASEL, SWITZERLAND. 18 – 21 JUN 2015
Smashing stones on 16 glass vitrines in the world biggest art fair.
◼︎ TOBIAS ZIELONY: THE CITIZEN
GERMAN PAVILION, THE 56TH VENICE BIENNALE, VENICE, ITALY, 9 MAY – 22 NOV 2015
The project about the new self-confidence of African refugees was an eye opener.
◼︎ SHUVINAI ASHOONA & SHARY BOYLE: UNIVERSAL COBRA
PIERRE-FRANÇOIS OUELLETTE ART CONTEMPORAIN, MONTREAL, CANADA.
7 NOV – 19 DEC 2015
When the South meets the North.
Image: World of Matter: Exposing Resource Ecologies. Installation view. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University. Artworks by Uwe H. Martin et Judy Price. Photo: Paul Litherland
DOMINIQUE FONTAINE
Independent curator and founding director of aPOSteRIORI (Montreal)
dominiquefontaine.com | @dofontaine
◼︎ THE UNFINISHED CONVERSATION: ENCODING/DECODING
THE POWER PLANT CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY, TORONTO, CANADA
24 JAN – 18 MAY 2015
This tightly curated exhibition was grounded in the work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall (1932-2014). It presented a series of work that raises fundamental issues of the past century: national liberation struggles, their violent resistances, and the challenges of racism and shifting identities for postcolonial subjects – issues that still haunted us today.
◼︎ THE 56TH VENICE BIENNALE: “ALL THE WORLD’S FUTURES”
VENICE, ITALY. 9 MAY – 22 NOV 2015
Here is an example of how art and politics can brilliantly conjugate. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor’s inspiring and skillful exhibition was a superb statement about the present or the state of things. It was clearly a non-Eurocentric show or a truthful, uncompromising representation of the world. (The artists originated from fifty-three countries.)
◼︎ NO COLOUR BAR: BLACK BRITISH ART IN ACTION 1960-1990
GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, LONDON, UK. 10 JUL 2015 – 24 JAN 2016
Centered on the life works of civil rights activists Eric and Jessica Huntley and the Bogle L’Ouverture Press, the exhibition provided an innovative look at Black British cultural identities, heritage and creative voices. It revealed the struggle Black British artists faced to have their voices heard – from the 1960s to the 1990s. A revelation!
◼︎ ARTIST AND EMPIRE
TATE BRITAIN, LONDON, UK. 25 NOV 2015 – 20 APR 2016
An exhibition of art associated with the British Empire from the 16th century to the present day. For its scholarly merits and for its bold approach in raising questions on the British Empire’s past that are still in our midst: war, conquest, slavery, ownership, authorship, colonization, etc.
◼︎ DHC/ART FOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
MONTREAL, CANADA
The DHC/ART continues to be one of the most relevant exhibition spaces in Montréal. Two of its 2015’s exhibitions – Yinka Shinobare MBE’s Pièces de résistance and Imagine Brazil, the group show of contemporary art from Brazil – eloquently highlighted the lack of truly international exhibition programming in the city or shall we say better late than never.
Image: John Akomfrah, The Unfinished Conversation, 2012. Collection of the Tate: Jointly purchased by Tate and the British Council, 2013.Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2015. Courtesy the artist; Smoking Dogs Films; and Carroll Fletcher, London. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
GUY SANGSTER ADAMS
Editor, Plectrum–The Cultural Pick (London, UK)
theculturalpick.com | @PlectrumTCP | @GSangsterAdams
◼︎ ELENA KHUDIAKOVA: IN MEMORIAM
DADIANI FINE ART, LONDON, UK
9 SEP – 2 OCT 2015
There was a poignancy to Elena Khudiakova: In Memoriam, not least that these last ten canvases must now remain the culmination of her Soviet Pop Consumerism, but as sadly such they must be, they are an exquisite apogée.
◼︎ JEAN DUBUFFET: THE ASYLUM
HELLY NAHAMD AT FRIEZE MASTERS 2015, LONDON, UK. 14 – 18 OCT 2015
The stand out display at Frieze Masters for me – an fantastically crafted and realised, highly evocative and immersive series of room sets evoking the psychiatric hospital that housed many of the Art Brut artists Dubuffet championed.
◼︎ THE WRITING ON THE WALL
THE HORSE HOSPITAL, LONDON, UK. 11 JUL – 1 AUG 2015
The late Roger Perry’s 1970s fantastic and highly illuminating photographic survey of London’s fledgling graffiti scene, curated by George Stewart-Lockhart, to accompany his republication of Perry’s book, The Writing on the Wall, which had been out of print for nearly 40 years.
◼︎ DANIEL CHADWICK: COME TOGETHER
DADIANI FINE ART, LONDON, UK. 9 OCT – 12 NOV 2015
Come Together – sculptures creating a fantastic and inspiring tactile map to the landscape Chadwick loves and to the topography of love.
◼︎ KAREN KNORR: BELGRAVIA
PUBLISHED BY STANLEY/BARKER
LTD, LONDON UK.
Beautifully produced monograph, an artwork in its own right, bringing together for the first time, Karen Knorr’s fascinating and striking exploration of London’s most exclusive neighbourhood in the late 1970s.
Image: Roger Perry, The Writing on the Wall, 1976. © Roger Perry. Courtesy the artist; The Horse Hospital, London.
MARIA EZCURRA
Artist/Art educator (Montreal/Mexico)
mariaezcurra.com
◼︎ RICHARD MOSSE: THE ENCLAVE
DHC/ART, MONTREAL, CANADA
16 OCT 2014 – 6 FEB 2015
For its devastating beauty. Fuchsia has never been so sad.
◼︎ YINKA SHONIBARE MBE: PIÈCES DE RÉSISTANCE
DHC/ART, MONTREAL, CANADA, 29 APR – 20 SEP 2015
I know his work quite well. I like it a lot. This show had many pieces I have never seen on display before.
◼︎ VANGUARDIA RUSA: EL VÉRTIGO DEL FUTURO
MUSEO DEL PALACIO DE BELLAS ARTES, MEXICO DF. 26 OCT 2015 – 31 JAN 2016
This outstanding exhibition displays significant artwork of diverse Russian artists that many of us have never seen before, despite the fact it had a strong influence in many artistic movements around the world.
◼︎ RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER: PSEUDOMATISMOS
MUAC, MEXICO DF. 28 OCT 2015 – 17 APR 2016
The interactive quality of this exhibition relates new technologies to our own presence at the space in spontaneous and critical ways, not as viewers, but as participants of our own reality.
◼︎ THE AZTECS: PEOPLE OF THE SUN
POINTE-À-CALLIÈRE, MONTREAL, CANADA. 30 MAY – 25 OCT 2015
It was a beautiful exhibition! The selection and display of such spectacular and moving pre-Hispanic pieces was outstanding. I haven’t enjoyed so much a show in a long time.
Image: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pseudomatismos, 2015. Installation view. MUAC,Mexico DF. Photo: David González. Courtesy the artist and MUAC.
ROMEO GONGORA
Artist (Montreal)
romeogongora.com
◼︎ JORNÉE SANS CULTURE
MONTREAL. 21 OCT 2015
The organization and the energy of the participants of the Journée sans culture, a symbolic strike led by artists and cultural workers
◼︎ The restructuring of the Canada Council for the Arts which abolished the program of International Artist Studios, and replace it with a program with less budget and that the artist must organize
◼︎ The hilarious cartoons of MICHEL GARNEAU “GARNOTTE” in the newspaper Le Devoir
Image: Courtesy of Journée sans culture
KAREN TAM
Artist (Montreal)
karentam.ca | @artkarentam
◼︎ THE CHINESE PHOTOBOOK
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY, LONDON, UK. 17 APR – 5 JUL 2015
This fascinating exhibition reflects the changing cultural history and images of China in the past century through its rich photobook production (whether official, hand-altered, or self-published) and the use of the photobook as both a propaganda tool and an instrument for political and social change.
◼︎ DORIS SALCEDO
MCA CHICAGO, CHICAGO, USA. 21 FEB – 24 MAY 2015
For Doris Salcedo’s haunting and powerful works that continually speak to the experience of loss, grief, trauma, and violence, and which give voice, presence, and witness to those who have disappeared or have been forgotten.
◼︎ CHERYL SIM: THE THOMAS WANG PROJECT
OBORO, MONTREAL, CANADA. 22 MAY 2015
Cheryl Sim’s media installation is a deeply personal and moving search to uncover her grand-uncle story, through the memories of family members, archival documents, music, and moving images of Shanghai in the 1940s, all embodied in Sim’s extraodinary performance.
◼︎ CHRIS LLOYD AND KIM WALDRON’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
PAPINEAU RIDING, MONTREAL, CANADA
One of the highlights of the year was following the political campaigns of artists, Chris Lloyd and Kim Waldron, who both ran separately for public office during the federal election as independents (Lloyd originally slated to be the Conservative candidate prior to his resignation) and held their own in an all-candidates debate hosted by the artist-run centre, Optica, demonstrating how the combination of art, activism, and politics can be an effective form of civic engagement.
◼︎ NICK CAVE: CURRENTS 109
SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM, ST. LUIS, USA. 31 OCT 2014 – 8 MAR 2015
Nick Cave’s elaborate costume-sculptures, Soundsuits, made from fibres, found objects, buttons, toys, and sequins sourced from flea markets and thrift stores, are amazing in their inventiveness, tactility, and labour-intensity that evokes traditional African dance costumes as well as New Orlean’s Mardi Gras traditions.
Image: Doris Salcedo. Plegaria Muda (detail), 2008-10; mixed media. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.
STEPHEN CONNOLLY
Film maker (London, UK)
bubblefilm.net
◼︎ 30 AMERICANS
DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS, DETROIT, USA.
18 OCT 2015 – 18 JAN 2016
Timely, vibrant, comprehensive and on-point.
◼︎ BEN RIVERS: EARTH NEEDS MORE MAGICIANS
CAMDEN ARTS CENTRE, LONDON, UK. 26 SEPT – 28 NOV 2015
Work with a touch of naivity, but with a spirit of adventures.
◼︎ AI WEI WEI
ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON, UK. 9 SEPT – 16 DEC 2015
The steel rebars in Straight (2008-2012) were amazing stunning materialisation of popular anger with official indifference and omission.
◼︎ CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS: THE PRODUCTION LINE OF HAPPINESS
WHITECHAPEL ART GALLERY, LONDON,UK. 29 APR – 21 JUN 2015
Image: Mickalene Thomas, Baby I Am Ready Now, 2007. Detail from Diptych; acrylic, rhinestone and enamel on wooden panel. Collection: Rubell Family Collection.
OLI SORENSON
Editor, M-KOS/Artist (Montreal)
olisorenson.com | @olisorenson
◼︎ JON RAFMAN
MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DEMONTRÉAL, MONTREAL, CANADA. 20 JUN – 13 SEP 2015
A brilliant homecoming for Montreal’s Post-internet art poster boy
◼︎ ZIMOUN: [KE] 3
BITFORMS GALLERY, NYC, USA. 8 FEB – 15 MAR 2015
Pleasantly unpretentious cardboard box kinetic sound art
◼︎ IFEOMA ANYAEJI: OWU (THREADING)
SKOTO GALLERY, NYC USA. 24 SEP – 7 NOV 2015
Nigerian artist recycling plastic carrier bags, to weave into baskets and other traditional looking objects.
◼︎ SAMSON YOUNG: PASTORAL SOUND
TEAM GALLERY, NYC, USA. 5 NOV – 20 DEC 2015
An exhibition-long audio performance, recreating the soundtrack of US military footage bombing ISIL targets in the Middle East.
◼︎ DEAN BALDWIN: Q.W.Y.C.
MOCCA, TORONTO, CANADA. 26 JUN – 23 AUG 2015
A series of land-locked boat parties ‘disguised’ as art happenings, coordinated with the Museum’s migration to Sterling St.
Image: Zimoun, 36 prepared dc-motors, cardboard boxes 40x40x40cm, palette, 2013. Motors, wire, cardboard, wood, cotton, power supply.© Zimoun. Courtesy the artist and bitforms gallery, NY
MIWA KOJIMA
Managing editor, M-KOS (Montreal)
m-kos.net | @MKOSnet | @mkosnet
◼︎ ECHIGO-TSUMARI ART TRIENNALE 2015
NIIGATA PREFECTURE, JAPAN.
23 JUL – 16 SEP 2015
A pilgrimage in the scorching summer heat wave to the rural region of Niigata (north east of Japan) is rewarded by 380 artworks (about 180 of them new to this edition) ranging from site-specific installation to performances, across 760km2 of mountains, rivers and rice fields.
◼︎ RAGNAR KJARTANSSON: S.S. HANGOVER
HARLEM MEER IN CENTRAL PARK, NYC, USA. 15 MAY – 20 JUN 2015. A part of “Drifting in Daylight” organised by Creative Time.
Originally cast for Venice biennale 2013, Kjartansson reenacted his performance on the north end of Central Park, smack in the frenzy of Frieze art fair week.
◼︎ SIMON STARLING: METAMORPHOLOGY
MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL, MONTREAL, CANADA.
5 FEB. – 10 MAY 2015
A fascinating odyssey into Starling’s interrelated historical, socio-cultural and political works deliver new insights to storytelling strategies.
◼︎ TONY CONRAD & CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE presented by Issue Project Room
FIRST UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY, BROOKLYN, USA. 5 MAR 2015
Over an hour-long immersive drone composition by the NY minimalist and experimental music pioneers, escorted by multitudes of teddy bears on their instruments, which Palestine called “divines”.
◼︎ YOKO ONO: ONE WOMAN SHOW, 1960–1971
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NYC, USA. 17 MAY – 7 SEP 2015
Only presenting a thin slice of Ono’s six decade long career, these pivotal early works cement her as a central figure of conceptual art and Fluxus.
Image: Ragnar Kjartansson, S.S.Hangover, 2013/2015. Performance view. Photo by Miwa Kojima
Image from top left to right: ▸ Yayoi Kusama, Tsumari in Bloom, 2003. Echigo-Tsumari Triennale 2015. Photo: Miwa Kojima ▸ Dean Baldwin, Q.W.Y.C. 2015. Installation view. © Dean Baldwin, Courtesy the artist and MOCCA, Toronto, Canada ▸ Sonia Delaunay, Yellow Nude, 1908. Collection: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes © Pracusa 2014083 ▸ Yinka Shonibare MBE, Pièces de résistance, 2015. film still. © Yinka Shonibare MBE / Image licensed by SODIRAC / Courtesy James Cohan Gallery, NY/Shanghai ▸ The 56th Venice Biennale: All The World’s Futures, 2015. Courtesy the la Biennale di Venezia ▸ Kader Attia installing Arab Spring (2014) — by using stones to break the glass of 16 empty vitrines—in Art Basel’s Unlimited section. Courtesy the artist and The Art Newspaper ▸ Hito Steyerl, Factory of the Sun, 2015. Installation view, German Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Manuel Reinartz ▸ Ai Weiwei, Straight, 2008–2012. Installation view. Courtesy Royal Academy of Art, London, UK ▸ Nick Cave: Currents 109, 2015. Installation view. St. Louis Art Museum. Courtesy Black Art In America ™