Volunteers are needed this Saturday to assist with the opening reception of Boop Museum.
Refreshments are snacks are available. Some food preparation is required. More instruction is available from VAC staff on the day of the event.
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Opening Reception: Boop Museum by Sameer Farooq
The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Sameer Farooq.
The interdisciplinary practice of Sameer Farooq questions dominant institutional narratives in collections and museums. For over 15 years, Farooq has created community-based models of participation and knowledge production in order to re-imagine a material record of the present. Using museum display strategies as a medium, Farooq points to persistent absences in historical narratives, making buried histories more visible and offering counter-archives and new additions museum collections. Originally trained as a cultural anthropologist, he enlists the tools of installation, sculpture, photography, documentary filmmaking, writing and various anthropological methods to explore forms of collecting, interpreting, and display.
Farooq continues his exploration of institutional collecting strategies in Boop Museum. The exhibition comprises of de-accessioned objects from the Clarington Museum and Archives, who actively support and follow Ministry Guidelines and ethical museum practices with respect to collecting and de-accessioning objects. Working with a small portion of dolls, Farooq repurposes the de-accessioned objects to become part of a large-scale installation. The objects are displayed on museum furniture designed for people between 3 feet and 4 feet tall, creating a speculative museum made for children. On the last day of the exhibition, the children of the Clarington community are invited to the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington to “loot” the museum space created by Farooq. In keeping with his social practice, Farooq releases the objects back to the children, creating a community-based museum space while exploring the potential lives objects could have once they leave the historical archive.
Biography
