TORONTO BIENNIAL OF ART: PRECARIOUS JOYS
The curatorial team of the Toronto Biennial of Art (the Biennial/TBA) and its curatorial team of Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López announced the title, full artist list and venues for its third edition.
The 2024 Toronto Biennial, titled Precarious Joys, explores the emotional climate of our times, acknowledging our vulnerability and grief while emphasizing the importance of passion and beauty in driving social change. The Biennial is organized around open dialogues and poetic connections. It explores artists’ responses to colonialism’s impact and the multiple ways representation contributes to collective survival and the regeneration of our social fabric.
The curators have been deeply immersed in dialogues and active listening, a crucial element in their curatorial journey traversing national and international landscapes, numerous artist studios, and professional art encounters in Toronto, Canada, and beyond. The 37 artists, including one collective, selected for this year’s exhibition hail from Canada and various regions of the world.
When speaking about the curatorial process, Fontaine and López said, “Our interactions have traced connections between artistic creations reflecting societal and ecological imperatives, resulting in us identifying key directives drawn from artists' creative endeavors: “Joy,” “Precarious,” “Home,” “Polyphony,” “Solace,” and “Coded”. Two of these directives, "Joy" and "Precarious," encapsulate how TBA artists' practices amplify political consciousnesses and reassert the power of aesthetics in shaping collective existence. The artists and their practices are at the heart of our process, inspiring and directing the structure of this Biennial edition. In these complex times, we hope that this edition of the Biennial can serve as a moment o introspection, offering a lens through which to navigate the flux of our world and contemplate the myriad challenges and opportunities it presents”.
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Dominique Fontaine and Miguel López
The 2024 TBA has commissioned and invited artists from Canada and diverse corners of the globe. The artists participating in this year’s Biennial exhibition are:
Abraham O. Oghobase (b. 1979, Nigeria; he/him) – co-presented with Gallery TPW
Ahmed Umar (b. 1988, Sudan; he/she/they)
Angélica Serech (b. 1982, Guatemala; she/her)
Cecilia Vicuña (b. 1948, Chile; she/her)
Charles Campbell (b. 1970, Jamaica; he/him) – co-commissioned and co-produced with the National Gallery of Canada Citra Sasmita (b. 1990, Indonesia; she/her)
Cristina Flores Pescorán (b. 1986, Perú; she/her)
Dineo Seshee Bopape (b. 1981, South Africa; she/her) – co-commissioned with the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery
Elina Waage Mikalsen (b. 1992, Sápmi-Norway; she/her)
Elyla (b. 1989, Nicaragua; they/them)
Gaëlle Choisne (b. 1985, France; she/they)
Hangama Amiri (b. 1989, Pakistan; she/her)
IKUMAGIALIIT ᐃᑯᒪᒋᐊᓖᑦ (those that need fire), performance band with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Cris Derksen, Jamie Griffiths and Christine Tootoo (founded in 2019) – co-presented with the Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University
Justine A. Chambers (b. 1975, Canada; she/her/hers)
Karen Tam (b. 1977, Canada; she/her)
Léann Herlihy (b. 1994, Ireland; they/them)
Leila Zelli (b. 1981, Iran; she/her)
Manuel Mathieu (b. 1986, Haiti; he/him) – co-presented with Gallery TPW
María Ezcurra (b. 1973, Argentina/Mexico; she/her)
Maria Hupfield (b. 1975, Canada; she/her)
Morehshin Allahyari (b. 1985, Iran; she/her)
Morris Lum (b. 1983, Trinidad and Tobago; he/him)
Naomi Rincón Gallardo (b. 1975; she/her) – co-commissioned and co-produced with KADIST
Nereyda López (b. 1965, Peru; she/her)
Nicholas Galanin (b. 1979, Tlingit and Unangax̂, USA; he/him)
Pamila Matharu (b. 1973, United Kingdom; they/them)
Rajni Perera (b. 1985, Sri Lanka; she/her) – co-presented with the Toronto Sculpture Garden
Raven Chacon (b. 1977, Navajo Nation, USA; he/him)
Rudy Loewe (b. 1987, United Kingdom; they/them)
Sameer Farooq (b. 1978, Canada; he/him) – co-commissioned and co-presented with
Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Sandra Brewster (b. 1973, Canada; she/her)
Santiago Yahuarcani (b. 1961, Peru; he/him)
Sonia Boyce, DBE RA (b. 1962, United Kingdom; she/her) – initiated and organized by the PHI Foundation, presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario
Stina Baudin (b. Canada; she/her)
Tessa Mars (b. 1985, Haiti; she/her)
Winsom Winsom (b. 1945,"The Universe"; she/her)
The Toronto Biennial of Art will have a central exhibition and programs hub at 32 Lisgar Street, in the heart of West Queen Street West. TBA will operate two additional hubs on the 9th floor of 158 Sterling Road and at Collision Gallery.
TBA is a ten-week free event presented every two years. It will be presented from September 21 to December 1, 2024 at 12 locations throughout Toronto. TBA 2024 will also host a number of public and learning programs as part of its event, to be announced in July.
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