PAST EXHIBITION
About the Mind
About the Mind explores the concept of “mind” through the work of four internationally acclaimed visual artists: Wyn Geleynse and Paulette Phillips (both from Canada), Shaun Gladwell (Australia) and Mischa Kuball (Germany) .
As a group exhibition, About the Mind mirrors the complexity and continuing debate on theories of how we may think, including philosophical, psychoanalytical and forensic approaches.
For Mischa Kuball, Plato’s allegory of the cave presented an artistic challenge—how to create a “philosophical environment”—and an opportunity to engage the problem of reality at a time when it is viewed almost exclusively in sociological and political terms.Wyn Geleynse has revisited an earlier-made gallery space model that will host a new video and, in miniature, a “modeled experience” that presents the potential of narrative through images in the “cave of the mind.”
Paulette Phillips trained and was licenced in lie detector operation for her video work The Directed Lie. Using her interrogation and testing skills, she has conducted more than 230 interviews, creating an archive of the art world. Phillips wrote “The body betrays the mind; through actions that subsequently require lying to cover up and through tremors that belie denial.”
Shaun Gladwell’s kinetic-video sculpture Endoscopic Vanitas incorporates a live endoscopic camera that probes a rotating human skull (first shown at the 2009 Venice Biennale). Curator Blair French wrote: “Here literally sits the now empty site of consciousness and subjectivity—the space of Plato’s cave upon which surfaces we may project traces of our own ideal forms.”
Also presenting my kulturBOT 1.0 a robotic reviewer by Dr. David Harris Smith, McMaster University and Dr. Frauke Zeller, University College London
David Harris Smith, an artist and assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia at McMaster University, has been invited into the exhibition mix. Dr. Smith will introduce a roving, non-intrusive small robot titled mykulturbot 1.0, developed in collaboration with Dr. Frauke Zeller, Marie Curie Research Fellow, Dept. of Information Studies, University College London, UK. The robot will “review” the exhibition works, relaying text-captioned photos of its point-of-view on the displayed works.
An About the Mind Exhibition Guide including essays by Dr. David Harris Smith, Sally McKay (Lecturer, School of the Arts, McMaster University), and contributions—both texts and images—from the artists, is available. David Harris Smith’s essay Delegate Systems: A Cognitivist Perspective, relating to the exhibition is available in full here
Mischa Kuball’s Platon’s Mirror is presented by the Goethe-Institute in partnership with the McMaster Museum of Art.
Opening Reception with Talk by Artist Mischa Kuball
January 24, 6 – 8 pm
Artist Mischa Kuball in conversation with MMA Senior Curator Ihor Holubizky at Goethe-Institut Toronto
January 25, 5 – 6 pm
Talks by Canadian Artists Wyn Geleynse and Paulette Phillips
January 31, 6 – 8 pm
Curated by: McMaster Museum of Art
January 24, 2013 – March 30, 2013
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
MORE PAST EXHIBITIONS
We Remain Certain
Arenhátyen tsi ní:tsi teyottenyonhátye’ kwató:ken tsi nī:tsi yonkwa’nikonhrayén:ta’s
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The Clichettes: Lips, Wigs, and Politics
Published on the occasion of the exhibition The Clichettes: Lips, Wigs, and Politics held at the McMaster Museum of Art (M(M)A) in Hamilton, Ontario in 2024. With essays by Ivana Dizdar, Marni Jackson, John Greyson, Alexandra Schwartz, Mark Kingwell, rl Goldberg, Lillian Allen, and Wanda Nanibush. Bridging theatre, lip-sync, dance, drag, costume, and comedy, the […]
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self/same/other
Barbara Astman, Carl Beam, Meryl McMaster, Sorel Cohen, Joseph Beuys, Bidemi Oloyede, Christina Leslie, Jeff Thomas, Micah Lexier, László Moholy-Nagy This exhibition brings together artworks drawn from the M(M)A permanent collection that present diverse ways of exploring self-imaging and subjectivity through different types of photo-based media. Expanding the genres of portraiture and self-portraiture, selected works […]
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Ancient Greek and Roman coinage represents the intersection of politics, economics, and art; no other medium in the ancient world more closely reflects the decisions of administrations, the expectations of civic bodies, and detailed craftspersonship. Coins are among the most ubiquitous artifacts from Classical antiquity and despite their small size, are among the most instructive […]
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This catalogue documents a multi-year art-science project called Immune Nations, produced on the occasion of its exhibition at the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Initiated in 2014 and co-led by Steven Hoffman (York University), Sean Caulfield (University of Alberta), and Natalie Loveless (University of Alberta), Immune Nations brought together scientists, policy experts, […]
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SUBMISSIONS & ASSISTANCE
SUBMISSIONS:
The McMaster Museum of Art is presently not accepting artists’ submissions for exhibitions at this time of leadership change at the museum. Our Interim Director will be undertaking a review of the museum’s forward exhibition schedule, as well as our policies and procedures, in the coming months. Our present focus is the ongoing maintenance of our permanent collection and storage needs for future collection activities.
The museum remains committed to our collecting priority in the continued support of early career, mid-career and established Indigenous artists, artists of the Black diaspora and racialized artists through purchases and commissions. Donations will be welcomed and reviewed at a future date which will be posted on our website.
ASSISTANCE:
The McMaster Museum of Art is a third party recommender for Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Exhibition Assistance Grants.
Please note that there has been a delay in the OAC opening the 2024-2025 program. This webpage will be updated with our deadlines as soon as possible.
Priorities:
Artists who demonstrate an interest and consideration of art as a medium for social change and action.
Please follow the guidelines established by the Ontario Arts Council, apply directly through their website, and submit the following with your applications:
Brief artist statement
Confirmation letter from the gallery/museum/venue
Budget
CV
Digital images of work
