For Immediate Release
September 29, 2022
First exhibition at Museum of Jewish Montreal’s new home features Berlin artists
MONTRÉAL – The Museum of Jewish Montreal (MJM) is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition in its new Mile End location at 5220 St-Laurent Boulevard. Entitled Public Intimacy, the exhibition features the work of Berlin-based artists Sophia Hirsch and Johannes Mundinger. After a three-year hiatus from hosting in-person exhibitions, Public Intimacy signifies a new start for MJM’s contemporary art programming in their new building located in the heart of the Mile End. “This exhibition is the first of many landscape-changing projects at MJM that we’re launching to build an exciting and inclusive ecosystem of Jewish arts and culture in Montreal,” says Executive Director Zev Moses.
As established artists with over two decades of combined experience, Sophia Hirsch (b. 1987, Berlin) and Johannes Mundinger (b. 1982, Offenburg) have produced collaborative installations, murals, and exhibitions for a variety of Jewish arts organizations and sites of memory. Following a string of successful projects across Europe, North America, and Asia, their new body of work, Public Intimacy, will also be the first presentation of the artists’ work in Canada.
Public Intimacy takes its title from its opposing themes of public and private spaces. Playing on the idea of “pulling back the curtain,” Public Intimacy is an interactive photography- and textile-based body of work that teases the tensions between individual freedom and social responsibility. Composed of second-hand fabrics sourced throughout Germany, the textiles in Public Intimacy also carry stories of their own. “The curtain, practically and symbolically, points to the changeable line between the public and private. As much as it provides refuge from the outside world, the curtain also shuts us off from what may be happening on our doorstep,” says Artistic Director Alyssa Stokvis-Hauer. Connecting to broader issues felt internationally, such as bystanderism, the rise of xenophobia, racism and antisemitism, Public Intimacy provokes reflections on past and present, and how we choose to engage with the world around us.
The artists will be doing a free talk for CICA: Conversations in Contemporary Art at Concordia University’s Sir George Williams Campus at the J.A. DeSève Cinema on Friday, October 7 from 1:00–2:30pm.
On Thursday, October 13, a vernissage will take place to open Public Intimacy with the artists present. A bar will be open to guests. Tickets are free with a suggested donation of $5.
Public Intimacy
Museum of Jewish Montreal
5220 St-Laurent Boulevard
October 13, 2022–January 22, 2023
Thursdays through Sundays, 10AM–5PM
***2023 UPDATE: Exhibition has been extended to March 5, 2023. Visitation hours as of January 2023 are Friday to Sunday, 10AM-5PM
Press:
Austin Henderson
Arts Programming & Communications Manager
Museum of Jewish Montreal
austin@imjm.ca
(514) 840-9300
Alyssa Stokvis-Hauer
Artistic Director
Museum of Jewish Montreal
alyssa@imjm.ca
(514) 840-9300
