Chantal Pontbriand. Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay.
Montreal curator and writer Chantal Pontbriand has been appointed to the position of CEO at Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.
Pontbriand’s position is a new one for MOCCA. The institution is currently in transition from their former home on Queen Street West to the Tower Automotive Building on Sterling Road. The relocation, slated to be completed in early 2017, kicks off an expanded mandate, spatially and strategically. According to a press release, Pontbriand will be integral to this expansion, creating “a comprehensive vision for the general orientation of the collection, exhibitions, programs and events, media initiatives, and publications.” She will also develop new outreach initiatives and funding structures.
Pontbriand was recently based in Paris where she has been associate professor at the Sorbonne-Paris IV. She is perhaps best known in the artworld for co-founding the contemporary-art magazine Parachute. In 2013 she received a Governor General’s Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Visual and Media Arts. Recent curatorial projects include Dora Garcia’s current show at Toronto’s Power Plant, Mark Lewis at Le Bal, Paris, and The Yvonne Rainer Project at Jeu de Paume, Centre d’art de la Ferme du Buisson and Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
“My aim is to transform MOCCA into a place that can meet the needs of the twenty-first century,” Pontbriand said in the MOCCA press release. “Art plays a major role in advancing knowledge and in enhancing everyday life. Both will be at the heart of the new MOCCA.”
