Free
About the series
The Preshow gives the public an in-depth preview of the Museum’s new exhibitions, as shared by those who brought them to life.
About the speakers
Born in Osaka in 1972, Chiharu Shiota lives and works in Berlin. Shiota’s inspiration often emerges from a personal experience or emotion that she expands into universal human concerns such as life, death and relationships. She has redefined the concept of memory and consciousness by collecting ordinary objects – shoes, keys, beds, chairs and dresses – and engulfing them in immense thread structures. She explores the sensation of a “presence in the absence” with her installations, but also presents intangible emotions in her sculptures, drawings, performance videos, photographs and canvases. She was awarded Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize twice, the first time as a new artist in 2008, and again for her major achievements in 2024.
Mami Kataoka joined the Mori Art Museum in 2003 and became its Director in 2020. Beyond Tokyo, Kataoka has held positions at the Hayward Gallery in London, where she served, from 2007 to 2009, as the institution’s International Curator; she was also Co-Artistic Director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012), Artistic Director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018) and the Aichi Triennale 2022, and is currently Co-Curator of the Helsinki Biennial 2027. Kataoka served as a Board Member (2014-2022) and President (2020-2022) of CIMAM (International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art).
Stéphane Aquin has been The Rossy Foundation Director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) since November 2020. He holds a Master’s in Art History from Université de Montréal. During the 1990s, Aquin made his mark as an art critic in Quebec and Canada, following his collaboration on the opening of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion in his first stint at the Museum. He rejoined the MMFA’s ranks in 1998 as Curator of Contemporary Art, a position he held for 16 years. In 2015, he was appointed Chief Curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in Washington, D.C. As Director of the MMFA, he aims to further the great Montreal institution with a focus on an inclusive and innovative approach to art, upholding and respecting the artist’s vision, and fulfilling the Museum’s educational mission.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Location: Maxwell Cummings Auditorium, 1379-A Sherbrooke Street West
Please note that seat reservations are held until the beginning of the event. Once the activity has started, any unoccupied seats will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Exhibition
Presenting Sponsor
Merck Canada
Major Patron
Fondation Famille Gauthier
Major Partner
CIBC
In collaboration with
Tourisme Montréal
With support from
Hôtel Warwick Le Crystal – Montréal, Osler, The Jade Raymond Fund
Public Partners
Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Gouvernement du Québec
Official Sponsors
Air Canada, Air Canada Cargo, Denalt Paints
Media Partners
Bell, La Presse
Learning and community engagement
Major Patrons
Fondation de la Chenelière and Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde
Patron
The Molson Foundation
Public Partners
Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal, Gouvernement du Québec
