TORONTO.- Visitors to The Power Plant’s Summer 2016 Exhibitions are being invited to disrupt the space and landscapes of the works – either as contributors to the works’ final form, or as active explorers in the exhibition’s display.

In Call to Action, Franz Erhard Walther’s first major solo exhibition in Canada, artworks from the 1950s to the present offers insight into the seminal artist’s radical ideas about the relationship between space, object and the human body. Visitors will have the opportunity to activate select artworks on display and become a part of the living sculpture. For her exhibition It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, Ulla von Brandenburg has developed a new film and a site-specific installation which mirrors the space in which the film was shot, the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, France, and viewers will find themselves entered into the scene of the projection. In an exhibition display designed by the artist, the gallery also presents a survey of von Brandenburg’s film works. Emily Mast’s performance The Cage is a Stage incorporates bodies, movement, sound, and light to examine some of the deep-seated compulsions of the human species. Presented in partnership with Blackwood Gallery, the performance is a part of a multi-compositional project also comprised of two gallery exhibitions, a billboard and a short performance at Blackwood Gallery.

Exhibitions will be on view through Sunday, 5 September 2016. The Power Plant has also planned a series of public programs to engage its diverse audience in furthering the dialogue around contemporary art.

Franz Erhard Walther
Curator: Gaëtane Verna
Call to Action, Franz Erhard Walther’s first major solo exhibition in Canada, offers insight into the seminal German artist’s radical ideas about the relationship between space, object and the human body.

The exhibition brings together a selection of Walther’s work produced between the 1950s to the present that highlight his interest in the body, and the emphasis on the artist’s and viewers’ shared role in shaping material form. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, visitors will be invited to activate select fabric works and use their bodies and movements to disrupt the space of the work’s display. These activations will occur both inside and outside of the gallery, thus challenging the audience’s perceptions of the role of art in the built environment and the landscape, and reminding audiences that the work is meant to be physically experienced through their active participation. The placement of artworks throughout the gallery space – including The Power Plant’s Fleck Clerestory – will reference human proportions and their spatial configuration. Along with a presentation of Walther’s video and drawing documents, the potential for action and the importance of audiences in contributing to the artworks’ final forms will be evoked in all aspects of the exhibition.

Ulla von Brandenburg
It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon
It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, Ulla von Brandenburg’s first solo exhibition in Canada, brings together five recurring themes in her work: colour, ritual, movement, stairs and textiles. The inspiration for these themes range from the architecture of modern theatre and stage designs, to movement theory and John Cage’s musical constructions. The exhibition unfolds in a large, site-specific installation that operates simultaneously as both a stage set and a film. Titled It Has a Golden Sun and an Elderly Grey Moon (2016), the film was shot on the stage of the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, France, which is mirrored by the installation at The Power Plant. Spectators are integral, being caught in the film's images and the physical, scenographic setting. Alongside this new work, The Power Plant presents a survey of von Brandenburg’s earlier films.