Greek and Roman coinage occupy a unique place within ancient Mediterranean material culture. The economic function of coinage necessitated millions of specimens, all of which had to be easily recognizable and conform to a standard weight. These specifications were met through a production technique that created seemingly identical items in great quantities and in a short period of time. Blank pieces of gold, silver, or bronze were struck with a hammer to create impressions from a set of dies that resulted in images, called types, on both sides of the coin.

Crossing Borders examines numismatic connections across time and place and presents similarities in materiality, design, and style that derive from the specific needs of coinage. This display invites you to focus on the practical and aesthetic considerations made by the coin’s issuing authority.

Curated by: Dr. Spencer Pope, McMaster University, Department of Greek and Roman Studies, with Cassius Di Maria, Maia Fiorelli, Chris He, Tommy Tripp, and Marshall Zuckerman

Chasm continues a series of recent exhibitions exploring the permanent collection at the McMaster Museum of Art through critical curatorial frameworks. This exhibition offers diverse and transcultural perspectives and interpretations of the museum’s holdings, including recent acquisitions.

Chasm takes the unique vantage point of critiquing the power dynamics of colonialism from within the museum, informed by the transcultural positions of resistance that seek Indigenous sovereignty and Black liberation.

Guest curator and former M(M)A Senior Curator Pamela Edmonds, and M(M)A Adjunct Senior Curator Betty Julian present this critical and exploratory exhibition as a project making connections to art discourses and ideologies related to modernism, critiques of the white cube gallery, alterity, and ontological space. Our interests are to consider and to actively shift hegemonic paradigms through a radical rethinking of the exhibition space.

Our curatorial conversations on how to activate critical dialogue within museums through exhibitions are meant to encourage and expand informed engagement. Our critical and curatorial tasks have been to find ways through our work to redress and resist the cultural amnesia surrounding intersecting systems of colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism and the anti-Black racism inherent in the foundation of our art institutions.

Curated by: Pamela Edmonds and Betty Julian

Artists: Marissa Y Alexander, Sonny Assu, Nicolas Baier, Catherine Blackburn, Deanna Bowen, Joseph Calleja, Douglas Clark, Chris Cran, Paul Cvetich, Cathy Daley, Max Dean, Stan Douglas, FASTWÜRMS, Gerald Ferguson, Yves Gaucher, Betty Goodwin, Francisco Jos. de Goya y Lucientes, Angela Grauerholz, Spring Hurlbut, Clarissa Inglis, Alfredo Jaar, Svava Thordis Juliusson, Anselm Kiefer, Kapwani Kiwanga, James Lahey, Rita Letendre, Gino Lorcini, Liz Magor, John Massey, Guido Molinari, Shelley Niro, Ed Pien, Margaret Priest, Arthur Renwick, Susan Schielle, Takao Tanabe, Michael Thompson, Graham Todd, Serge Tousignant, Jan Wade, Shellie Zhang

A heartfelt tribute to Gordon Lightfoot featuring his rhythm section (Barry Keane and Rick Haynes) and lead guitarist Carter Lancaster, and Hamilton Originals Jacob Moon, Mike McCurlie and Caroline Wiles. Together we will celebrate the legacy of Lightfoot’s vast catalogue of hits and explore the intersection with the songs of Bob Dylan.

Jacob Moon has been bringing ingenuity and technical skill to his stage-craft as a singer-songwriter for the past 25 years, and the 12 albums he has released in that time tell a story of a man and his passions. You can hear the passion in that stirring voice of his, and even in the emotionally charged way he phrases his guitar solos. Raised on the troubadours of the 70s, but cutting his teeth on 80s rock and pop, Jacob has always been a passionate and voracious music fan drawn as much to soul gospel, Dylan and Joni as he was to the progressive suites of Yes, Rush and Genesis.

Chasm continues a series of recent exhibitions exploring the permanent collection at the McMaster Museum of Art through critical curatorial frameworks. This exhibition offers diverse and transcultural perspectives and interpretations of the museum’s holdings, including recent acquisitions.

Chasm takes the unique vantage point of critiquing the power dynamics of colonialism from within the museum, informed by the transcultural positions of resistance that seek Indigenous sovereignty and Black liberation.

Guest curator and former M(M)A Senior Curator Pamela Edmonds, and M(M)A Adjunct Senior Curator Betty Julian present this critical and exploratory exhibition as a project making connections to art discourses and ideologies related to modernism, critiques of the white cube gallery, alterity, and ontological space. Our interests are to consider and to actively shift hegemonic paradigms through a radical rethinking of the exhibition space.

Our curatorial conversations on how to activate critical dialogue within museums through exhibitions are meant to encourage and expand informed engagement. Our critical and curatorial tasks have been to find ways through our work to redress and resist the cultural amnesia surrounding intersecting systems of colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism and the anti-Black racism inherent in the foundation of our art institutions.

Curated by: Pamela Edmonds and Betty Julian

Artists: Marissa Y Alexander, Sonny Assu, Nicolas Baier, Catherine Blackburn, Deanna Bowen, Joseph Calleja, Douglas Clark, Chris Cran, Paul Cvetich, Cathy Daley, Max Dean, Stan Douglas, FASTWÜRMS, Gerald Ferguson, Yves Gaucher, Betty Goodwin, Francisco Jos. de Goya y Lucientes, Angela Grauerholz, Spring Hurlbut, Clarissa Inglis, Alfredo Jaar, Svava Thordis Juliusson, Anselm Kiefer, Kapwani Kiwanga, James Lahey, Rita Letendre, Gino Lorcini, Liz Magor, John Massey, Guido Molinari, Shelley Niro, Ed Pien, Margaret Priest, Arthur Renwick, Susan Schielle, Takao Tanabe, Michael Thompson, Graham Todd, Serge Tousignant, Jan Wade, Shellie Zhang

Greek and Roman coinage occupy a unique place within ancient Mediterranean material culture. The economic function of coinage necessitated millions of specimens, all of which had to be easily recognizable and conform to a standard weight. These specifications were met through a production technique that created seemingly identical items in great quantities and in a short period of time. Blank pieces of gold, silver, or bronze were struck with a hammer to create impressions from a set of dies that resulted in images, called types, on both sides of the coin.

Crossing Borders examines numismatic connections across time and place and presents similarities in materiality, design, and style that derive from the specific needs of coinage. This display invites you to focus on the practical and aesthetic considerations made by the coin’s issuing authority.

Curated by: Dr. Spencer Pope, McMaster University, Department of Greek and Roman Studies, with Cassius Di Maria, Maia Fiorelli, Chris He, Tommy Tripp, and Marshall Zuckerman