Yto Barrada: Carpets
Yto Barrada: Faux Guide and Maria Loboda: Some Weep, Some Blow Flutes, at the Power Plant, to January 2.
This brainy show pairs two women who investigate invented archaeology and how museum display affects our perceptions of artifacts and the nations they come from. The main event is Barrada’s focus on Morocco, with a range of objects from toys to plumbing fixtures to carpets and a fascinating video about the faux fossil industry. The Power Plant is closed Christmas, Boxing and New Year’s Days, and there’s a special Monday opening on January 2. Admission’s free, and while you’re there, check out Harbourfront Centre’s shows about comics.
Francis Alÿs: REEL-UNREEL
Francis Alÿs: Don’t Cross The Bridge Before You Get To The River
Francis Alÿs: A Story Of Negotiation, at the Art Gallery of Ontario, to April 2.
The AGO stays open daily until January 8 except for Christmas Day. The big draw is Mystical Landscapes, but I also recommend the Mexico-based Belgian artist’s show, which takes over the whole fifth floor. It centres on three videos (screened with crisp new projection technology) documenting his quirky, seemingly futile but politically meaningful international interventions: he enlists boat owners and children in attempts to bridge the Caribbean from Key West to Cuba and the Strait of Gibraltar he dives into whirling dust devils in dry Mexican fields he gets kids to playfully roll film reels through the streets of Kabul.
Sheila Hicks: Emerging With Grace
Sheila Hicks: Mandan Shrine
Sheila Hicks: Material Voices, at the Textile Museum of Canada, to February 5.
The Paris-based American trained as a painter, and though she works almost exclusively with fibre, she’s refused to be pigeonholed in a career spanning more than 50 years. Using both subtle and intense colour in these recent works, she weaves, wraps, bundles and twists exquisite linen thread into sculptural and painting-like forms. From small weavings to massive wrapped balls, they’re all strikingly beautiful. Also on exhibit is Brendan Fernandes’s Lost Bodies, an exploration of cultural context that pairs African art and ballet. Open daily expect for Christmas, Boxing and New Year’s Days.
