The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC announces three new, insightful exhibitions as part of its diverse and captivating 2016/17 season. These enriching exhibitions, featuring an impressive and varied collection of intriguing objects and artworks, will explore themes of self-reflection and expression in the form of a wide range of physical manifestations. They will include globally relevant textiles, socially conscious Amazonian artifacts, and culturally significant Asian manuscripts.
Major, New Exhibitions featured in MOA’s 2016/17 season include:
Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth across Cultures
November 17, 2016 – April 9, 2017
Curated by Dr. Jennifer Kramer (MOA Curator, Pacific Northwest), Layers of Influence will entrance MOA visitors with large swaths of intricate textiles often worn to enhance the wearer’s prestige, power and spiritual connection, including Japanese kimonos, Indian saris, Indonesian sarongs, West African adinkra, adire and kente cloth, South Pacific barkcloth, Chinese Qing dynasty robes, Indigenous Northwest coast blankets, Maori feather cloaks and more.
Amazonia: The Rights of Nature
March 9, 2017 – January 28, 2018
Curated by Dr. Nuno Porto (MOA Curator, Africa and Latin America), Amazonia: The Rights of Nature will feature Amazonian works of basketry, textiles, carvings, feather works and ceramics both of everyday and of ceremonial use, representing Indigenous, Maroon and white settler communities that today articulate against the threats caused by political violence, mining, oil and gas exploration, industrial agriculture, forest fires, road building and hydroelectric plants.
Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia
May 11 – October 9, 2017
Curated by Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura (MOA Curator, Asia), the multimedia exhibition will meditate on the physical traces of words – both spoken and recorded – unique to humans. Embodying both the ephemeral and eternal elements innate to the human experience, the cultural significance of words and their artistic representation through calligraphy, painting, digital works and mixed media are examined. Traces of Words will feature works from five international artists – Shamsia Hassani, Tsubasa Kimura, Nortse, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, and teamLab — who are exhibiting their work in Canada for the first time.
In addition to these three major exhibitions, MOA will also present two artistic festivals in its revered Great Hall. The Taiwanese Puppetry Festival, a rich exploration of Taiwan’s complex identity through live performance, runs November 3–8. Meanwhile, the tenth anniversary of the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival, produced by the Dancers of Damelahamid in partnership with MOA, will take place February 28 – March 5, 2017, and will showcase the diverse cultural traditions practiced by a selection of some of the best artists from coastal British Columbia, in addition to national and international guest artists.