MOCA Cleveland officially opens its Fall 2015 exhibitions with a free Fall Season Opening Night Party from 7 to 10 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 25. MOCA’s new exhibitions include Nevet Yitzhak’s OFF THE RULING CLASS , Fatima Al Qadiri’s Chinas of the Mind and Do Ho Suh’s self-titled exhibition. Suh is a native of South Korea, Yitzhak is from Tel Aviv, Israel and Al Qadiri is based in New York but was born in Dakar, Senegal and grew up in Kuwait before her family moved to the U.S. following the Gulf War.
“Bringing compelling living artists from the international stage to Cleveland is at the core of MOCA’s mission,” says MOCA Cleveland Executive Director Jill Snyder. “Having just come off of a bold summer season exploring artists connected to our region, the fall will be a time to consider artists and ideas from farther afield that have rich implications for the way we live here.”
Do Ho Suh’s exhibition explores the meaning of home through architecture and history, examining issues of personal identity through his surroundings. The exhibition includes recent fabric installations, architecturally designed to recreate domestic spaces the artists has lived in, including his traditional, hanok-style childhood home in Korea, a house he lived in while studying in Rhode Island and his New York apartment. Using monochrome polyester, Suh’s installations create dreamlike spaces that are both intimately familiar and unlike anything you’ve experienced before
In addition to these large installations, Suh’s MOCA Cleveland exhibition includes his Specimen Series (fabric replicas of household objects – ovens, radiators, bathtubs, refrigerators, etc.) and Rubbing Loving Project (large scale rubbings on interior details and textures from the artist’s New York Apartment).
Nevet Yitzhak’s OFF THE RULING CLASS is inspired by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual, ritualistic cleaning and conservation of Rodin’s The Thinker. The CMA’s sculpture (of which there are multiple, authentic versions around the world), was bombed in 1970 as a protest of the Vietnam War. After the bombing, Sherman Lee (CMA director at the time) ordered the sculpture to be reinstalled with its damaged lower half remaining as a reminder of the period of political unrest. It has remained unrepaired for nearly half a century. Combining archival imagery with digital animation, Yizhak relates the trauma of the bombing to Rodin’s original subject for The Thinker, Dante Alighieri, author of the Diving Comedy (c 1320), contemplating mortality and eternal damnation.
“Nevet’s video works are absolutely engrossing,” describes Rose Bouthillier, Associate Curator at MOCA Cleveland. “Using stunning visuals and rich soundscapes, she draws you into the drama of her subjects. Her works act as powerful allegories, using particular object and images to speak to historical events and the complex human actions and emotions that compel them.”
Fatima Al Qadiri’s soundscapes fill Stair A. Combining haunting melodies and vocals with heavy basslines, 8-bit synthesizers, gunshot beats and even video game sound effects, Al Qadiri explores the disconnect between experience and imagination, the romanticized distortion of memory and contextualizes both the past and future.
The evening begins with a special artist talk with Do Ho Suh at 7 p.m., followed by music and mingling from 8 to 10 p.m. Throughout the evening, guests are invited to the third floor to create artwork inspired by MOCA Cleveland’s Fall 2015 exhibitions.
The Fall 2015 exhibitions remain on view through Jan. 10. The Opening Night Party is free and open to the public. General admission after opening night is $9.50 (note new price); $6, seniors; and $5 for students with valid ID. MOCA Cleveland’s regular hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursdays from 11 a.m to 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays). The first Saturday of each month is free to the public thanks to a gift from Medical Mutual.
(MOCA Cleveland) 11400 Euclid Ave., 216-421-8671, mocacleveland.org
