The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

Curious to explore how a caring culinary practice can foster a deeper sense of togetherness? Join NOURISH: Dumpling Gathering at the intersection of art, food, and community! 🥟✨

On Thursday, October 10, we’ll gather for an informative lecture by Industrial Design Professor and founder of DESIGNwith to learn more about the concepts of mindful design practice and third places, followed by a soulful dumpling meal prepared using NOURISH, an innovative social wellness mobile kitchen designed at the lab.

Participants will then be invited to experience Lap-See Lam’s , an exhibition inspired by a three-storey dragon-shaped Chinese ship restaurant called Sea Palace. We’ll dive into Lam’s immersive film that draws on traditional storytelling forms of Cantonese opera and reflects on how memory and tradition shift through time and migration.

⚡ Thursday, October 10, 6 – 7:30 PM⁠ ⁠
📍 231 Queens Quay West⁠ ⁠
🎟️ $15 (includes dumpling meal)

Get your tickets at the link in bio 🔗

Lap-See Lam’s at The Power Plant was spotlighted in ’10 art exhibitions you must see in Fall 2024’ by STIRworld Magazine!💥🌊⁠

Organized in partnership with The Vega Foundation, ‘Floating Sea Palace’ is Lam’s first-ever exhibition in Canada. The show presents an immersive mythical video installation that tells the story of longing to return to an ever-shifting home but needing instead to begin again.

“Lam marries Lo Ting’s journey with that of the original ‘Sea Palace’ to offer perspectives on the migrant experience – as being caught between worlds, histories and traditions.”

https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-10-art-exhibitions-you-must-see-in-fall-2024?utm_source=autosuggestion_search&utm_medium=stirworld_search

⚡️Join us at the Opening Party of new exhibitions this Saturday, September 21 from 3 to 6 PM! Admission is FREE, sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/982123155797?aff=oddtdtcreator

Image: Lap-See Lam, Floating Sea Palace, 2024. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Vega Foundation; Studio Voltaire, London; The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto.

New exhibitions open at The Power Plant next week💥 Get ready for a dynamic lineup of free public programs to connect with thought-provoking works on view 👀

This season, join us for a series of live performances, workshops, and talks by artists, scholars, and experts who will engage with themes of belonging, diasporic identity, and movement in exhibitions by Lap-See Lam and by Charles Campbell.

⚡️ Explore the event calendar and sign up:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/whats-on/calendar

Don’t miss tonight’s fun opening party of a new art season at the Harbourfront Centre!

Starting at 6 PM, dive into the world of ceramic ornamentation through a group of intricate works in shows 'Elaborate' with Marissa Y Alexander, Marc Egan, Kaley Flowers, Julie Moon and Lindsay Montgomery, 'Pullulate' by Jess Riva Cooper, 'Bickers & Tsang' by Emma Bickers and Sami Tsang, and 'The Colours’ Colour' by Joon Hee Kim. ✨️

Admission is free! Learn more:
https://harbourfrontcentre.com/event/fall-2024-exhibitions-opening-party/

Image: Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air (detail) by Jess Riva Cooper. Photo by Black Vine Photography

Get excited for the upcoming lineup of imaginative free Power Kids workshops inspired by Lap-See Lam’s and Charles Campbell’s 🧑‍🎨🌊✨

This season, kids and families will have the opportunity to engage with themes of memory, movement, and sea through hands-on activities like watercolour painting, storytelling, felt work, collage, and sculpture making!

Explore all creative sessions and pick your favourites:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/whats-on/programs/power-kids

Charles Campbell is a Jamaican-born Canadian multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator whose practice animates the future imaginaries possible in the wake of slavery and colonization.

Shown in partnership with the Toronto Biennial of Art, his solo exhibition presents a large-scale sculpture that recreates a submerged terrain where African and North American tectonic plates converge, and nine monolithic panels, or “Breath Portraits” that visualize the breath of members of the Black community. Accompanied by an audio installation capturing the tranquil and tumultuous atmospheres of the sea using underwater microphones, the gallery will be filled with the sounds of an ocean journey, both stormy and calm 🌊

⚡️ Be the first to explore Charles Campbell’s deeply resonant works in 'How many colours has the sea' at The Power Plant starting September 21!

Image: Charles Campbell, Breath Portrait (Jim), 2024. C-print on aluminum composite panels, 20 in x 144 in. Courtesy the artist.

Make sure to get your hands on the August 2024 issue of Border Crossings Magazine, dedicated to photography!📸✨️ Among many noteworthy features, check out four spotlights on prominent Canadian artists who recently exhibited at The Power Plant, including in-depth interviews with June Clark and Sandra Brewster, as well as crossover articles on Micah Lexier and Brenda Draney.

https://bordercrossingsmag.com/magazine/issue/issue-165

Image: June Clark, The Perseverance Suite, 2021–24. Installation view: Witness, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2024. Photo: LF Documentation.

At the beginning of our last season, we were delighted to welcome artists June Clark and Terence Gower for an insightful In Conversation talk, joined by our Head of Curatorial Affairs, Adelina Vlas. The two shared their artistic journeys and discussed common themes in their solo exhibitions and 🙌

Enjoy the full conversation on our YouTube channel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cilxPqZbJM

Lap-See Lam is a visual artist whose work takes a magic realist approach to creating alternative representations of Chinoiserie as defined by imperialist history. Born in Stockholm, Lam reflects on her family history of migration from Hong Kong to Sweden, both to claim and complicate cultural heritage.

In her newest film, Floating Sea Palace (2024), Lam draws on the folklore tale of Lo Ting, a mythical human-fish hybrid believed to be the ancestor of the Hong Kong people. In Lam’s story, Lo Ting exists both in past and future form, longing to return to his former home, Fragrant Harbour, the phonetic translation of Hong Kong.

As Lam is interested in mutable forms of translation, Fragrant Harbour emerges as a placeholder for an idea of home, which remains out of reach. Floating Sea Palace is a story of longing to return to an ever-shifting home, but needing instead to begin again.

⚡️ Experience Lap-See Lam’s phenomenal at The Power Plant starting September 21! The project is co-commissioned by The Vega Foundation and Studio Voltaire. Produced in partnership with Moderna Museet.
https://www.thepowerplant.org/whats-on/exhibitions/floating-sea-palace

Images: 1. Lap-See Lam, still from Floating Sea Palace, 2024. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Vega Foundation; Studio Voltaire, London; The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. Still by Lisabi Fridell/Egerstrand&Blund. Textile work copyright of Kholod Hawash. 2. Lap-See Lam inside the The Floating Restaurant Sea Palace. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Mattias Lindbäck/Moderna Museet.

As we prepare for an exciting new art season, explore our currently on display across North America!

👉 Manuel Mathieu: World Discovered Under Other Skies
📍 Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Florida
⚡️April 12–October 6, 2024
First exhibited at The Power Plant in Fall 2021, Manuel Mathieu's makes its debut at a major US institution! The show features a constellation of paintings, drawings, and ceramics that shed light on Haiti’s relationship to the world.

👉Brenda Draney: Drink from the River
📍Art Gallery of Grand Prairie, Alberta
⚡️July 25, 2024–January 5, 2025
Originally presented at The Power Plant in Winter 2023, Brenda Draney's examines the complex nature of intimacy. The exhibition invites viewers to reflect deeply on hidden vulnerabilities and the emotions we often keep at a distance.

Learn more about our Touring Exhibitions:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/whats-on/touring-exhibitions

✨️ Save the date for the big Opening Party to kick off a new art season at The Power Plant! ✨️

Be among the first to dive into mesmerizing exhibitions by Lap-See Lam and by Charles Campbell. Join us to explore the two immersive realms where ideas of memory, movement, and the ocean come alive.

⚡ Saturday, September 21, 3–6 PM⁠
📍 231 Queens Quay West⁠
🎟️ FREE admission - RSVP below:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/opening-party-of-new-exhibitions-tickets-982123155797?aff=oddtdtcreator

Loved June Clark’s striking photo-based collages in ? Complete your art collection with this limited-edition artist multiple!✨️

Created especially for The Power Plant in conjunction with Clark’s first survey exhibition in Canada, these original editions feature a photo-etching portrait of the artist accompanied by text that delves into the significance of bearing witness to one’s history, memory, and identity.

Get your own edition at our online shop:
https://shop.thepowerplant.org/June-Clark-Untitled-2024-p655390880

⚡️NEW ART SEASON AT THE POWER PLANT⚡️

The Power Plant is delighted to announce a new exhibition season, opening on September 21, 2024! Get excited to experience two immersive solo presentations of works by Swedish visual artist Lap-See Lam and Canadian multidisciplinary artist Charles Campbell!⁠

🐉 Lap-See Lam: Floating Sea Palace
Lap-See Lam creates mythical video installations that draw on traditional storytelling forms such as Cantonese opera and shadow play puppetry. Presented in partnership with The Vega Foundation, Lam's first exhibition in Canada, displays her newest film that draws on the folklore tale of Lo Ting, a mythical human-fish hybrid believed to be the ancestor of the Hong Kong people. The film is showcased within an immersive environment built of bamboo scaffolding, which has been used for centuries as an integral material in the celebrated art form of Cantonese operas.

🌊Charles Campbell: How many colours has the sea
Charles Campbell is an artist whose diverse body of work challenges traditional notions of time and delves into possibilities arising in the aftermath of colonization. Co-commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art and the National Gallery of Canada, creates an immersive portal into a realm where the spirits lost in the Middle Passage—the harrowing journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic—find solace. Here, Campbell creates a sanctuary for private contemplation and collective healing that confronts the profound consequences of systems designed to divide and oppress.

🙌 Mark your calendars for the Opening Party on Saturday, September 21 from 3 PM to 6 PM! Sign up here:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/opening-party-of-new-exhibitions-tickets-982123155797?aff=oddtdtcreator

Images: 1. Lap-See Lam, still from Floating Sea Palace, 2024. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Vega Foundation, Toronto; Studio Voltaire, London; The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto.
Still by Lisabi Fridell/Egerstrand&Blund. Textile work copyright of Kholod Hawash. 2. Charles Campbell, Breath Portrait series, 2004. C-print on aluminum composite panels. Courtesy the artist.

In his research-based practice, Terence Gower uses various media to investigate postwar material and intellectual histories, specifically related to art and architecture. Embassy features over a decade of artist’s work, including four multi-part installations that urge audiences to examine how this formative period in US history influenced today’s geopolitical landscape.

Have one more look at Gower’s before the show closes this Sunday, August 11! The Power Plant is open all weekend, from 11 AM to 6 PM, and as always, admission is FREE ⚡️

Image: Terence Gower, Havana Case Study, 2016–2024. Courtesy the artist and LABOR, Mexico City. Installation view: Embassy, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2024. Photo: LF Documentation.

“I’ve never felt that I was ‘conjuring community’ as much as attempting to illustrate the community in which I belong.”
— June Clark

Thank you to curator Jacob Korczynski and BOMB Magazine for an insightful interview with June Clark about her practice and key works featured in !

Korczynski writes, “Witness is both noun and verb. Positioned directly after Clark’s name to comprise the title of her current exhibition, the word seems to adopt the former sense with reference to the artist as its literal embodiment. Viewers, however, make manifest the latter meaning as they enter the Power Plant and move through a survey spanning three decades of her work.”

Read the full interview:
https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2024/08/05/june-clark-by-jacob-korczynski/

Don’t miss the chance to experience Clark’s Witness before it closes this Saturday, August 11. Admission is FREE⚡️

Image: June Clark, Family Secrets, 1992. 18 cigar boxes and mixed media. Courtesy the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery. Installation view: Witness, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2024. Photo: LF Documentation.

In each of her works, June Clark adopts a singular approach that pushes the boundaries of established art practice, whether through her experimental use of photography or the novel way she works with text and materials ✨️

If you still haven’t seen June Clark’s spectacular work, run, don’t walk to The Power Plant, as is still on until this Sunday, August 11! 👀⚡️

To learn more about Clark’s groundbreaking practice, watch our recent interview with the artist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfQGavyX6tc

Image: June Clark, Harlem Quilt, 1997. Photo transfers on fabric, light fixtures. Courtesy the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery. Installation view: Witness, The Power Plant, Toronto, 2024. Photo: LF Documentation.

⚡WE ARE HIRING: Grants & Foundations Officer ⚡⁠

We are seeking a resourceful, dynamic and results-oriented Grants & Foundations Officer to identify, define, develop and secure funding sources from public and private foundations, corporate entities and foreign organizations to support existing and planned program activities at The Power Plant! A person in this role will develop and manage grant proposals for foundations and corporate entities, oversee their implementation, and report on all successful funding applications.

📥 Deadline: August 16

Learn more and apply:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/about/opportunities/grants-and-foundations-officer

The Power Plant is open during the August Long Weekend🙌 Head to the waterfront to enjoy thought-provoking contemporary art with free admission from Saturday, August 3 to Monday, August 5, 11 AM - 6 PM⚡

For kids and families, join us on Monday, August 5, from 12 to 4 PM, at the creative drop-in Power Kids workshop inspired by June Clark’s ! Participants will create unique textile collages, taking home one-of-a-kind artwork to cherish🖼️✨️ No registration is required!

There are only TWO WEEKS left to catch the summer exhibitions at The Power Plant! 👀🙌 Take your time to explore June Clark's familial and artistic lineages in and Terence Gower's thought-provoking studies on US diplomatic architecture in . As always, admission is FREE!

Access to exhibitions is made free for all by the generous support of our members and donors. Join a member group today to help fuel contemporary art:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/join-and-support/membership

Uncover personal histories behind June Clark’s striking photographs, collages, and sculptural assemblages in exhibition with architect, designer, and educator Laura Miller! In her Cross Circuits talk on Saturday, August 10, Miller will offer a thoughtful take on Clark’s use of found objects, drawing connections to the socio-cultural meanings of materials, objects, and spaces of domesticity 🏠️✨️

👉️ Cross Circuits with Laura Miller
📍 Saturday, August 10, 2 PM⁠

Admission is free - sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cross-circuits-with-laura-miller-tickets-881527270797?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thank you to architect Graeme Stewart and ERA Architects for taking us on a captivating Walking Tour: Concrete Architecture last week inspired by Terence Gower’s ! 🏛️✨️

The tour explored modernist buildings around the University of Toronto, constructed around the same time as the embassies featured in Gower’s case studies. Stewart highlighted the positive aspects of post-war architecture, discussing buildings built to serve the public, such as the Science Centre. The tour included notable buildings like the rental apartment buildings on St. George Street, the famous Brutalist Robarts Library, and the Medical Sciences Building.

Explore Gower’s investigation into the diplomatic architecture of the United States at The Power Plant - Embassy is on view until August 11. Admission is FREE!

Donations have powered The Power Plant for 37 years, helping us present groundbreaking contemporary artists, deliver inclusive and engaging programming for audiences of all ages, and increase accessibility to make art available for all, for FREE ⚡️

Donate today to support The Power Plant in bringing Toronto the best in contemporary art:
https://www.thepowerplant.org/join-and-support/donations

Did you know that June Clark’s works presented at The Power Plant extend beyond the gallery space? Located on the south wall that faces Lake Ontario is the piece titled Photo etching (2024), preseted in partnership with CONTACT Photography Festival.

This work is a socio-historic document of a place and its people, seen through a distinctly personal lens. The work was made as part of a series of photo-etchings from the same year titled Whispering City, in which Clark brings together snippets of stencilled text with photographs of her early family life in Central Harlem, New York and Tkaronto in the 1970s and 1980s.

Employing a wiping technique during the production process, she eloquently illustrates the elusive nature of memory: the way it constantly emerges and recedes. By combining the image with text drawn from familial sayings and other childhood recollections, Clark attempts to “fix” the memory, anchoring her subjective interpretation of the past to another highly personal representation.

Don’t miss to explore this meaningful image next time you’re at The Power Plant!

As a Canadian living in the US, artist Terence Gower was interested in initiating a research project that would provide an outside perspective on the US and its political actions around the world. Gower’s solo exhibition
Embassy at The Power Plant explores that interest, presenting over a decade of work researching the cultural and architectural histories of the Cold War embassies of the United States in Baghdad, Havana, and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), as well as one unbuilt project for Ottawa.

Learn more about Terence Gower’s research-based practice in our new interview, now available on our YouTube channel ⚡️

https://youtu.be/gaBFuLSMg9c

The Walking Tour: Concrete Architecture with architect Graeme Stewart is happening this week!

On Thursday, July 18, at 6 PM, we will kick off the walking tour at University College (Main Building), 15 King's College Cir, exploring the modernist architecture of downtown Toronto. We will explore the buildings constructed around the same time in Toronto as the embassies featured in Terence Gower's exhibition, Embassy, providing a Canadian context. See you there!⚡️

Thank you to artist Shaheer Zazai for sharing his creativity and wisdom with emerging artists at this week's Artist-to-Artist event! Shaheer Zazai generously shared the ups and downs of his artistic career with the RBC Emerging Artist Members at The Power Plant. He spoke candidly about the personal and artistic challenges he faced on his journey to becoming an artist. His Artist-to-Artist talk evolved into an intimate conversation with the audience, allowing everyone to ask questions, share comments, and express their feelings.

If you’re an emerging artist in Canada and would like to participate in similar activities, join the FREE RBC Emerging Artists Membership Program at The Power Plant!⚡️ Connect with fellow artists and develop essential skills for a successful art career. Simply fill out an online form: shorturl.at/zRl23 🔗

"June Clark’s Family Secrets (1992) is a highly personal work that presents 18 cigar boxes containing objects evoking the memory of a specific individual from the artist’s past. As found objects, these otherwise unremarkable items—clothespins, spools, nails, and more—become charged material reminders of those she has known and held dear ✨

Tune in as our Curator of Exhibitions, Frances Loeffler, shares more about this touching work. Look into all the small details of this piece in person, June Clark’s is on view until August 11. As always, admission is FREE!"

Power Kids is coming to this year’s Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 🎨⚡ We invite children aged 7–12 and their families to create their unique works of art at our free offsite art-making sessions. Find our table in The Plaza area at Nathan Phillips Square during the following hours:

👉Saturday, July 13, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
👉Sunday, July 14, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM

Admission is free—join in the fun!
"

Calling emerging artists! Join us for an inspiring Artist-to-Artist talk with Afghan-Canadian visual artist Shaheer Zazai! 🙌

Zazai’s dynamic work spans painting, digital art, public art, and collaborative projects with diverse communities. It has been exhibited in Canadian and international galleries and museums, including The Power Plant, Aga Khan Museum, Gallery of Mississauga, Owens Art Gallery, Florida State University Gallery, and the Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with the artist, ask your questions, and gain insights from his vast experience!

👉️ Artist to Artist: Shaheer Zazai
📍 Tuesday, July 9, 6 PM⁠

⚡️ To join this and many more exciting activities for emerging artists, sign up for our FREE RBC Emerging Artist Membership by filling out the online form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IuB4bmmb0AqGXPze6jsDdAuGj2_KxF7YPePH3xvUTmw/viewform?edit_requested=true

Image: in parallel with works by Shaheer Zazai. Installation view: The Power Plant, Toronto, 2023. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.