Abbas Akhavan

The work of Abbas Akhavan takes shape across a range of media and forms. From sculpture and installation to drawing, performance and video, Akhavan’s practice is anchored deeply in the specificities of the sites and spaces he engages. Often open-ended, ephemeral or mimetic in nature, Akhavan’s works frequently traffic in slippages and transferences — between public and private, presence and absence, structural and symbolic.

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Akhavan presents *cast for a folly* (2019/2022), an installation that takes as its point of departure a photograph of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad: an image of the museum’s lobby taken following its unprecedented looting during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Through sculpture, custom-fabricated furniture and found objects, amongst other forms, Akhavan recreates this scene in the gallery from the single vantage point of his source image. Adjacent to this installation is a new work composed of flower fridges — *untitled* (2022) — a continuation of Akhavan’s ongoing engagement with plant life as both index to and instrument of broader social economies. 


*cast for a folly* (2019/2022) was originally curated by Kim Nguyen and commissioned by CCA Wattis Institute.

### Biography
Abbas Akhavan lives and works in Montréal. Recent solo exhibitions include Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute (2022), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2019); Fogo Island Gallery, Fogo Island, (2019); and VIE D'ANGE, Montréal (2018). Group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Momenta Biennale at Phi Foundation, Montreal (2021); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2018); SALT Galata, Istanbul (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13, United Arab Emirates (2017); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016). He is the recipient of the Fellbach Triennial Award (2017); Sobey Art Award (2015); Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014); and the Berliner Kunstpreis (2012).

Extended text - Abbas Akhavan.pdf

ProgramGuideSummer2022.pdf

CAG_AbbasAkhavan_ExhibitionGuide.pdf

CAG_AbbasAkhavan_ExhibitionGuide_LargePrint.pdf

thumbnail_abbas akhavan cast for a folly.jpg

abbas akhavan cast for a folly.jpg

cast for a folly

Michelle Bui

Bringing both a painterly and sculptural approach to her photographic practice, Montreal-based artist Michelle Bui operates within the visual language of the still life. Working with an array of everyday, seemingly unremarkable materials, Bui creates assemblages for the camera, building alluring scenes through processes of accumulating, merging, manipulating, and resituating. 
 
In *Mutable Materialism*, an exhibition presented on the CAG façade and at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, Bui offers two new suites of images, each a reflection on the relationships between sense, sensation and desire. Whether referencing the seductive language of advertising, the tactility of the touch-screen, or the conventions of commercial packaging and display, Bui’s works engage and confuse, coaxing incongruous forms into conversation with one another to invite reflection on the ways we connect with and consume objects and images alike.
 
### Biography

Michelle Bui is a Montreal-based artist working in photography and sculpture. Her research revolves around the inseparable conjuncture between material culture and identity, opening it to a shifted place where sensory identity can unfold. Recent solo exhibitions include *Objects for an Audience*, Galerie Rad Hourani, Montreal (2020); *Spilled Plenitude*, Franz Kaka, Toronto (2020); *Centerfold*, Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2019); *Plein Soleil*, Circa, Montreal (2019); *Pool of Plenty*, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montreal (2018). Her work was also included in group shows at Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée, Montreal; Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, Newark; Projet Pangée, Montreal; and Vu Photo, Quebec City. Bui completed her MA at Université du Québec à Montréal and at Beaux-arts de Paris, and her BFA at Concordia University.

### Acknowledgements

*Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism* is produced in partnership with Capture Photography Festival. The project is co-curated by Julia Lamare, Acting Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Gallery and Chelsea Yuill, Assistant Curator, Capture Photography Festival. Works at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station are presented in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program – InTransit BC.


![capture and intransit.png](https://cag-cms-cdn.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/strapi-uploads/9982fe0167b556993e09b2b4a6b85455.png)

ProgramGuideWinter2022.pdf

CAG_MichelleBui_ExhibitionGuide_Mobile_P1.pdf

CAG_MichelleBui_ExhibitionGuide_LargePrint.pdf

A photographic work by Michelle Bui. Diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. Sparse flowers and petals are sprinkled across the picture plane.

thumbnail_CAG_001_SecondSkin_AdobeRGB_2000px.jpg

CAG_001_SecondSkin_AdobeRGB_2000px.jpg

A view of the Contemporary Art Gallery building from across the street. The windows are  covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colour,  indecipherable plant matter and wrinkled plastics. 

thumbnail_1-01 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

1-01 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An askance view of the outside of CAG. Vinyl photographs, depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appearing beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film cover the windows. 

thumbnail_2-02 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

2-02 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. 

thumbnail_3-04 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

3-04 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

thumbnail_4-05 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

4-05 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

An exterior view of two of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. 

thumbnail_5-07 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

5-07 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

A corner view of Yaletown-Roundhouse train station covered entirely in seven large-scale, colourful still-life photographs. The images depict a variety of singular flowers with various objects. 

thumbnail_6-08 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

6-08 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

Two large-scale still life photographs printed in vinyl cover an entire side of Yaletown-Roundhouse station. The images depict singular flowers with various objects on pink and brown backgrounds. 

thumbnail_7-09 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

7-09 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

thumbnail_10 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

10 Michelle Bui 2022.jpg

Mutable Materialism

Each season, CAG releases a series of Video Visits that offer short takes on our exhibitions. Presented in five languages — Cantonese, English, French, Mandarin and Spanish — these videos present a variety of perspectives on the work of Michelle Bui. Abbas Akhavan's Video Visit will be available soon.

### English Video Visits
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710905302)

### Visites vidéo en français
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710906082)

### Visitas de video en español
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710907396)

### 普通话视频之旅
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710906715)

### 粵語視頻參觀
[Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism](https://vimeo.com/710904722)

Exhibitions

Talks & Events