Studio Access w/ Manabu Ikeda Mar 8, 2024 Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage About Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage

A soft place to land Kevin Beasley, Margarita Cabrera, Pia Camil, Cass Davis, Alexandra Kehayoglou, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Kaveri Raina, Liang Shaoji, and Marie Watt Jul 7-Jan 7, 2024 A soft place to land , installation view at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler About the Exhibition A soft place to land highlights artists who use textiles to unpack personal histories and underscores the metaphorical and material importance of fiber arts in connecting these stories to broader cultural and societal narratives. Rooted in explorations of the physicality of memory, this exhibition demonstrates the ways that textiles function as, “containers of collective and individual memory, as devices capable of triggering emotional, psychological, and even physiological reactions, and as tools for expressing or retaining identity and narratives.” The artists in this international, intergenerational exhibition build upon fibrous foundations to share the moments and traditions that shaped them, elevating what may be thought of as mundane or ubiquitous objects to emphasize the immeasurable value of one’s lived experiences. Themes of resilience, homesickness, and the desire to feel connected emerge within this examination of material culture. The artwork in A soft place to land showcases the influence of place and placemaking on one’s identity, confronts intergenerational trauma and trauma associated with upbringing, and celebrates materiality as an essential tool in self-discovery. Installation Images A soft place to land . Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photos: Jacob Koestler About the Artists Margarita Cabrera Margarita Cabrera A self-defined social practices artist, Margarita Cabrera ’s (she/her) work is often fueled by collaboration from community engagement to get a holistic view of social issues. Materials such as US Border Patrol uniforms and cochineal-dye are used, and transformed, to deliver a multi-tiered conversation on topics such as globalism, populism, and the migrant experience. Often in playful representation, Cabrera’s work, such as embroidered soft-sculpture potted desert plants; mimicking parrots made from found border patrol uniforms; and collaged works on paper made with cochineal dye, implores viewers to confront contentious topics by utilizing materials tied inextricably to the issue. Cabrera was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to El Paso, TX at the age of 10. She received an MFA from Hunter College in New York, NY and is currently an assistant professor at the Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Kevin Beasley, Site XVI, 2022, Polyurethane resin, raw Virginia Cotton, altered t-shirts, confetti t-shirts, housedress, 74 x 55 x 2 in (188 x 141 x 5.1 cm). ©Kevin Beasley. Photo: Jason Wyche, Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York. Kevin Beasley Kevin Beasley (he/him) lives and works in New York. His practice spans sculpture, photography, sound, and performance, while centering on materials of cultural and personal significance, from raw cotton harvested from his family’s property in Virginia to sounds gathered using contact microphones. Beasley alters, casts, and molds these diverse materials to form a body of works that acknowledge the complex, shared histories of the broader American experience, steeped in generational memories. In March 2023, Beasley released A View of a Landscape , a 300-page book and double LP record, conceived as equal elements and designed together. The publication is produced in collaboration with the Renaissance Society and The University of Chicago Press. Recent exhibitions and performances include The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse , a touring exhibition curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver, which traveled from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2021), to the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston (2021), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2022), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2022); and Prospect.5, New Orleans: Yesterday we said tomorrow (2021), in which Beasley began a multiyear site-specific project in the Lower Ninth Ward. Pia Camil. Photo by: Pirje Mykkänen Courtesy of Pia Camil and Finnish National Gallery Kiasma. Pia Camil Pia Camil (she/her) is a Mexican visual artist based in San Mateo Acatitlán, State of Mexico. Her work ranges widely from painting and sculpture to performance and installation. Highlighting the importance of the collective and communal, her work is often inclusive and directly engages the viewer. Camil draws inspiration from her context with a critical and political interest around commercial culture or the frenetic pace of mass commodification. In an effort to gear away from industrialized labor, her practice is mostly done in collaboration with friends and specially skilled producers. Currently, her rural context is informing new ideas of the collective–the relationship of humans with nature and to other species. Camil is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, USA, and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Cass Davis. Photo: Gillian Fry Cass Davis Cass Davis (they/them) is a Chicago-based artist with an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Their solo shows include Out of Time at Engage Projects, Revelations at University of Southern Indiana, HEARTLAND at G-CADD St. Louis, No Body on Earth But Yours with the Chicago Underground Film Festival, and Of Roses and Jessamine at SITE gallery, Chicago. Davis has shown in group exhibitions and screenings at the Design Museum Chicago, IL, Bemis Center in Omaha, NE, York St. John University, UK, Tile Blush in Miami, FL, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The American Medium in NYC, UIS Visual Arts Gallery, Springfield, IL, Terrain Biennial Oak Park and Springfield, IL, Mana Contemporary Chicago, Chicago Artists Coalition, 062 Gallery, Sullivan Galleries, and the Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery, Utah. They have been awarded the Praxis Fiber Arts Residency, HATCH Residency, Oxbow Artist's MFA Residency, Roger Brown Artist's Residency, IOTO Residency, and the Shapiro Center Eager Research Grant. They have been lecturing faculty in the Fiber and Material Studies department at SAIC. Alexandra Kehayoglou. Photo: Francisco Nocitois Alexandra Kehayoglou Alexandra Kehayoglou (she/her) is an Argentinian and Greek visual artist who works primarily with textile materials. She produces works combining textiles, sculpture and installation. Kehayoglou’s repertoire includes memories of various native and endangered landscapes that the artist has visited and desires to preserve over time. Her renowned pastizales (grasslands), fields, and shelter tapestries exhibit sublime realities which the viewer can contemplate or utilize. Her work is created from an ancient family tradition of weaving. She presented the No Longer Creek at Design Miami/Basel, decrying the decimation of the Raggio Creek in Buenos Aires. At the end of 2017, The Triennial of The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, included Kehayoglou’s work, Santa Cruz River . Tiona Nekkia McClodden. Palais de Tokyo 2022. Tiona Nekkia McClodden Tiona Nekkia McClodden (she/her) is a visual artist, filmmaker, and curator whose work explores and critiques issues at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and social commentary. McClodden’s interdisciplinary approach traverses documentary film, experimental video, sculpture, and sound installations. Most recently, her work has explored the themes of re-memory and narrative biomythography. Her writing has been featured on the "Triple Canopy" platform in Artforum , Cultured Magazine , ART 21 Magazine , and many other publications. She is the recipient of a 2021 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.McClodden lives and works in North Philadelphia, PA, and is the Founder and Director of Philadelphia-based, Conceptual Fade, a micro-gallery and library space centering Black thought and artistic production. Kaveri Raina. Photo: Zhiyuan Yang Kaveri Raina Kaveri Raina (she/her) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016 and her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011. Raina has had solo and two-person exhibitions at Chapter NY, New York; Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA; PATRON Gallery, Chicago, IL; M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH; Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy; Assembly Room, New York, NY; Rata Projects, New York, NY; Permanent Collection/Co-Lab Projects, Austin, TX; Permanent Collection/Co-Lab Projects, Austin, TX; Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA, among others. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the National Indo-American Museum, Lombard, IL; Deli Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY; Luhring Augustine, New York, NY, among others. Raina is the recipient of several fellowships and awards including the James Nelson Raymond Fellowship, the Ox-bow Residency Award, and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture Fellowship Award. She is represented by PATRON Gallery, Chicago, IL. Liang Shaoji Liang Shaoji Liang Shaoji (he/him) studied soft sculpture with Maryn Varbanov at China Academy of Art. For more than thirty years, Liang has been interested in interdisciplinary creation in terms of art and biology, installation and sculpture, new media and textile. His Nature Series sees the life process of silkworms as a creation medium, the interaction in the natural world as his artistic language, time and life as the essential idea. His works are fulfilled with a sense of meditation, philosophy and poetry while illustrating the inherent beauty of silk. Selected exhibitions include: Liang Shaoji: A Silky Entanglement , Power Station of Art, Shanghai; The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China (touring exhibition), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smart Museum of Art; Liang Shaoji: As If , M Woods Art Museum, Beijing; the 3rd Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, the 5th Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon the 48th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, Venice, and the 6th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (1999). Marie Watt Marie Watt Marie Watt (she/her) is an American artist. She is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians and also has German-Scot ancestry. Her interdisciplinary work draws from history, biography, Iroquois protofeminism, and Indigenous teachings; in it, she explores the intersection of history, community, and storytelling. She is represented by PDX Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon; Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, California; and Marc Straus Gallery in New York City, New York. Selected collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Yale University Art Gallery, the Crystal Bridges Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and Renwick Gallery, the Tacoma Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Portland Art Museum.

The Building Sat. May 18, 2024 9PM-1:30AM Big Duke Connect to CREATIVITY It's time to Connect as Cleveland-native and acclaimed hip hop producer Big Duke returns to the city to celebrate at moCa. Duke starts the party with a creator talk and demo where he will take you into his process, producing live, improvised beats and sharing memories from collabs. Then hit the floor in a hot 'fit for a late night dance party. $25 advance ($30 at door) Valet available Featured Food Truck: Yum Village $25 advance ($30 at door) Valet available Featured Food Truck: Yum Village $25 advance ($30 at door) Valet available Featured Food Truck: Yum Village ​ ​ GET TICKETS Limited edition T-shirt Big design by Big Duke! Available on May 18, Duke has curated this exclusive design for you as part of our limited edition moCa Connect Capsule Collection. Guarantee your shirt by pre -ordering with the Ticket/T-shirt bundle by April 28!t 9PM: Doors Open 10PM: Artist Talk 11PM-1:30AM: Party! GET TICKETS About Big Duke Chris “Big Duke” Malloy is an American Producer/Drum Programmer from Cleveland, Ohio and has been working professionally in the music industry since 2007. During Duke’s time at the University of Akron, he began achieving recognition through promoting his childhood friend’s “Chip Tha Ripper & Al Fatz’s” music and devising unique marketing strategies to catch the eyes of music industry executives and the ears of fans throughout the country. In 2007, Big Duke began exploring his passion in music production and worked day and night to master the technique of creating sounds that evoke raw emotion. Influenced by the sounds of Anita Baker, Tony Toni Tone, Master P, and Too Short, Big Duke has developed a unique sound substantiated with soulful southern hip-hop sounds and harmonized with the organic rhythms and melodies of R&B. Duke relocated to Los Angeles in 2012 to pursue music production and has since worked and collaborated with many artists and producers including The Game, Byrson Tiller, Symba, 21 Savage, and many more. ​

designExplorr: Design Learning Challenge Workshop Feb 17, 2024 FREE for all ages SIGN UP NOW Design Learning Challenge workshops unlock your creativity as you approach problems with design solutions. This workshop was developed by designExplorr, an organization devoted to helping youth find their way to creative careers. Workshops start every 30 minutes, 12-4PM If you have questions or if there are additional access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive, please contact access@mocacleveland.org . 1-2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required. About designExplorr. designExplorr is a social impact organization aiming to address the diversity gap within the design profession by expanding design education and raising awareness among community partners. More at designexplorr.com . FAMILY FUN ON moCa Saturdays supported by PNC. About FREE for all ages SIGN UP NOW Design Learning Challenge workshops unlock your creativity as you approach problems with design solutions. This workshop was developed by designExplorr, an organization devoted to helping youth find their way to creative careers. Workshops start every 30 minutes, 12-4PM If you have questions or if there are additional access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive, please contact access@mocacleveland.org . 1-2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required. About designExplorr. designExplorr is a social impact organization aiming to address the diversity gap within the design profession by expanding design education and raising awareness among community partners. More at designexplorr.com . FAMILY FUN ON moCa Saturdays supported by PNC. FREE for all ages SIGN UP NOW Design Learning Challenge workshops unlock your creativity as you approach problems with design solutions. This workshop was developed by designExplorr, an organization devoted to helping youth find their way to creative careers. Workshops start every 30 minutes, 12-4PM If you have questions or if there are additional access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive, please contact access@mocacleveland.org . 1-2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required. About designExplorr. designExplorr is a social impact organization aiming to address the diversity gap within the design profession by expanding design education and raising awareness among community partners. More at designexplorr.com . FAMILY FUN ON moCa Saturdays supported by PNC.

The Building The Building About moCa's Mission DEIA The Building Support Membership Staff & Jobs Board Shop News Contact Us Farshid Moussavi moCa's building garners various reactions from those in our city. 11400 Euclid Avenue, often used as a personal mirror by passers-by, was designed to inspire dialog centered on creativity. It does so while reflecting a cosmopolitan area of Cleveland and those who bring it to life. moCa's physical structure is nearly 34,000-square-foot, 44 percent larger than moCa's former rented space. A museum expansion need not be large in scale to be ambitious. Both environmental and fiscal sustainability were key considerations within the design. Resulting in a landmark that is at once technically inventive and highly practical. ​ Iranian-born, London-based Farshid Moussavi designed the dynamic structure, formerly with Foreign Office Architects (FOA) and now principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA). moCa remains her first U.S. commission and her first museum. In addition to FMA, the design team included executive architects Westlake Reed Leskosky , headquartered in Cleveland, and designers of more than 50 cultural buildings throughout the United States. According to Moussavi, "museums today are not just homes for art, but serve multiple functions and host a variety of activities. Our design for moCa Cleveland aimed to provide an ideal environment for artists and visitors to foster creativity in a variety of exhibitions and programs." The four-story building, which anchors the Uptown district, rises 60 feet from a hexagonal base to a square top, where the primary exhibition space is situated. All four floors contain areas for either exhibitions or public programs. The exterior is primarily a mirror-finish of black Rimex stainless steel. Three of the building's six facets, one of them clad in transparent glass, flank a public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations , a New York-based landscape architecture and urban design firm. The plaza serves as a public gathering place and links moCa to Uptown attractions and amenities. Upon entering the building, visitors find themselves in an atrium where they can experience the dynamic shape and structure of the building as it rises. This space leads to moCa's lobby and a double-height multi-purpose room for public programs and events. From there, visitors may take moCa's monumental staircase, a dominant architectural feature of the building, to the upper floors. On the top floor, the 6,000-square-foot gallery space has no fixed dividing walls, allowing for various configurations. This floor also contains a gallery designed for new media work and the Dick and Doreen Cahoon Lounge, which overlooks Toby's Plaza and Uptown.

Studio Access w/ Manabu Ikeda Mar 29, 2024 Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. About Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season.

Studio Access w/ Manabu Ikeda Feb 18, 2024 Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage About Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Generous support for Manabu Ikeda's artist residency and programming by Flagstar Foundation. RELATED EXHIBITION: Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage

Engagement Guide About moCa is always looking to find people interested in joining our Engagement Guide team. You may be contacted as positions become available. Department: Engagement Status: Part-time As Northeast Ohio's premier site for contemporary art, moCa advances the critical role that art and artists play in our world. Grounded in Cleveland and engaged in the global cultural ecosystem, we focus on art now to open and connect people to new possibilities. Our work culture is passion-driven, inclusive, fast-paced, collaborative, and fun. We value and support an enterprising staff who anticipate and react nimbly to change, embrace new opportunities, embrace and learn from failure, and face challenges responsibly and thoughtfully. moCa is the people who help to realize its mission and each employee has agency and accountability for moCa's success and value to our community and audiences. moCa Cleveland’s Engagement Guides are a diverse community of museum educator apprentices who guide visitors, all of whom we call learners, in their on-site experience. Engagement Guides move throughout the museum each day, welcoming and orienting learners, supporting and customizing their experience, nurturing dialogue, caring for the art and architecture, and contributing innovative ideas to enhancing future onsite experiences. Engagement Guides are naturally curious and enthusiastic about museums, contemporary issues, artists, and culture. The EGs are active listeners who demonstrate patience, generosity, and consideration with all museum visitors, ensuring a coordinated, consistent, and memorable experience for all. The Engagement Guide group will receive ongoing workforce development coaching from moCa team members, be introduced to area cultural organizations and happenings, and network with cultural practitioners. This position is best suited to someone interested in museum education and starting a career in the cultural sector. LEARNER ENGAGEMENT : Initiate and lead interaction with diverse museum learners using question-based, art object-focused, developmentally appropriate methods about new, frequently changing material, ideas, and exhibitions. Collaborate with the Visitor Engagement Director and the Community Engagement & Education Coordinator to co-create and execute interactive interpretive strategies and programming that increases satisfaction for all onsite audiences. Participate in all learning workshops for exhibition content, engagement and teaching strategies, and development of interpretive tools and programs. Cooperate with and model excellence in engagement strategies for peer Engagement Guides. Implement accessibility and equity policies, exhibit an openness to multiple forms of knowledge and experience, and regularly participate in a reflective professional practice. Support collection of evaluative protocols designed for assessing onsite learning and experience. OPERATIONS : Learn, model, and apply museum philosophy, policies, and procedures with learners and peer staff. Monitor and maintain accessibility, appearance, and cleanliness of all public areas, including the Learning Labs, Welcome Center, and public gathering areas. Enforce security and safeguarding policies that ensure the safety of learners, artworks, and spaces. Actively update and apply knowledge of moCa’s exhibitions, mission, events, facility, and emergency and incident procedures. Commit to follow all Covid-19 safety procedures as required by CDC, State and Local Government, and moCa Cleveland. This includes wearing a CDC-approved mask within all public spaces, maintaining 6 feet of physical distance, and following regular sanitation protocols. WORKING CONDITIONS : Flexible schedule with regular weekend hours and some evenings required. JOB SPECIFIC QUALIFICATIONS : Proven dedicated interest in education, museums, contemporary art, and/or culture Motivated, reliable, responsible, and professionally oriented Upholds obligations and follows established procedures Fluency in English with awareness and confidence in both verbal and non-verbal communication Minimum of 6 months to 1 year direct experience with adult learners Computer competency and efficiency with Microsoft Office, Google Apps, and POS/ticketing software (moCa will provide training on our POS software) ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS : Communicate clearly with museum staff and visitors/learners Able to work in a public-facing role Lift and move up to 15 lbs Positioned for extended periods of time on concrete floors Positioned for extended periods of time at a counter-height desk Operate a computer for extended periods of time Move quickly between various facility areas Reports to the Visitor Engagement Director Curious and open-minded lifelong learners who enjoy new ideas and perspectives Inspired by and interested in contemporary art and culture Committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility Responsive, flexible, and adaptive to regularly changing content and needs Self-starters who are enterprising in their time and resource management Respectful, collaborative, caring team players Starting at $12/hr Send a resume and cover letter to: To apply, email a one-page cover letter and a resume to Natalie Grave at ngrave@ymocacleveland.org Subject Line: Engagement Guide moCa & its workforce Job objective Duties & responsibilities Minimum qualifications ​ Reporting relationship All moCa staff are expected to be Salary range To apply To perform this position successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job duty satisfactorily. The duties above are intended to outline those functions typically performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This description of duties is not intended to be all-inclusive or to limit the discretionary authority of the Kohl Executive Director to assign other tasks of a similar nature or level of responsibility nor does it imply an employment contract The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform their essential duties. Deputy Director & Senior Curator Engagement Guide Open Jobs

Where We Overlap David Buttram Kacey Gill Jacques P. Jackson Joyce Morrow Jones Crystal Miller Younghyeon Ryu Lauren Sylvia Derek Walker Aaron D. Williams Apr 29-Jun 5, 2022 Where We Overlap Presented in partnership w/ Museum of Creative Human Art and moCa Cleveland Where We Overlap asks, “Have you experienced an artist’s technical process? Ideation process? The research that goes behind the work or the tools that contribute to it? How many studio visits have you attended lately?” It’s amazing that we attend our peers’ exhibitions and sometimes hear them discuss the meaning behind a piece while at these shows but how engaged are we when it comes to their studio practice? With this exhibition, we have brought a selection of artists together to collaborate amongst each other. Paired off in groups, artists work together creating pieces that unified their skillsets. Though the artists paired may have different approaches to how they execute specific styles, topics, mark, color, etc., they come together and learn from each other to make masterpieces. Here is the result! Davon Brantley, Curator Presented in partnership w/

Studio Access w/ Manabu Ikeda Feb 16, 2024 Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. About Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season. Experience the artist create onsite at moCa as he develops a new monumental artwork over the course of the Winter/Spring season.

The National AIDS Memorial Quilt In conjunction with moCa’s presentation of Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. and World AIDS Day Oct 8, 2021-Jan 2, 2022 Square from The National AIDS Memorial Quilt (detail). With over 50,000 panels created by thousands of participants worldwide, the AIDS Memorial Quilt is the world’s largest community folk art project. Made up of individually created three by six-foot panels—each the approximate size of a grave—the Quilt memorializes 125,000-plus victims of AIDS and HIV-related illness. Portraits appear alongside names and dates, pictures of pets, flowers, rainbows, musical instruments, and thousands of other symbols that represent friends, lovers, and family members. Currently spanning 1.2 million square feet and weighing 54 tons, the Quilt is a powerful symbol of the AIDS pandemic and a living memorial to a generation lost to AIDS and HIV-related illness. The Quilt was conceived by long-time San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones, who in 1978 created the first panel in memory of his friend Marvin Feldman. That same year the Quilt grew to 1,920 panels and on October 11, 1987, it was exhibited for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. where half a million people visited on the opening weekend. Jones said of the Quilt, “It could be therapy, I hoped, for a community that was increasingly paralyzed by grief and rage and powerlessness. It could be a tool for the media, to reveal the humanity behind the statistics. And a weapon to deploy against the government; to shame them with stark visual evidence of their utter failure to respond to the suffering and death that spread and increased with every passing day.” This focused installation brings together two blocks of the Quilt in conjunction with moCa’s presentation of Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. and World AIDS Day (December 1). Block 0227 and Block 4506 are a poignant and beautiful tribute to the lives of Edmundo “Mundo” Meza—the artist at the center of Axis Mundo —James Brooke Shoulberg, Michael McDowell, David Caroline, Merle Long, Hugo Niehaus, John (surname unknown), John Doe, Terry David Hernandez, E. Gordon Hanna, Jorge Fernandez, Steve Brown, Ted Zak, David Lewis, Paul Mark Patinka, and Michael F. Farrell. With thousands of displays of the Quilt in locations across the globe, over 14 million people have experienced and participated in the project. To learn more about the National AIDS Memorial Quilt please visit www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt . moCa’s presentation of The National AIDS Memorial Quilt is organized by Courtenay Finn, Chief Curator, Ray Juaire, Exhibitions Director, Lauren Leving, Curator of Public Programs & Artist Residencies, Karl Anderson, Exhibition Technician, and supported by the entire moCa Cleveland staff.

Nina Chanel Abney Cafeteria 2 Jan 27, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 Nina Chanel Abney, Cafeteria 2 , installation view at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Site-specific vinyl mural, 313.5 x 536.5 in (796.29 x 1362.71 cm). Courtesy the artist. About the Exhibition Nina Chanel Abney’s site-specific mural, Cafeteria 2 , was first unveiled alongside her solo exhibition at moCa, Big Butch Synergy (Jan 27-Jun 11, 2023). This mural incorporates elements from Big Butch Synergy and expands on Fishing Was His Life , her series of collages inspired by Gordon Parks’s photographs documenting the 1940s fishing industry in Gloucester, MA and at New York City’s Fulton Fish Market. Abney transports audiences to a bustling cafeteria to explore themes of desire, loathing, and personal value in relation to gender and racial identity. Within this marketplace, sneakers, basketballs, and other goods are balanced by images of figures and price tags. She encourages visitors to think about how these goods are often read as masculine, contributing to the social dynamics that impact gender performance. Price tags connecting to the objects and figures highlight capitalism as a dominant power structure that we use to assign value to individuals based on race, class, gender, and social status. At the base of this larger-than-life image, the artist includes “I AM,” paying homage to the pivotal “I Am A Man” signage used in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike during the Civil Rights Movement. By notably omitting the word “man,” Abney leaves space for her experiences; she shines a light on discriminatory systems that work to maintain heteronormative ideals–beliefs that assume heterosexuality as the default sexual orientation–while also highlighting how the objects depicted have supported the formation of her identity as a Black, queer, masculine-of-center woman. This omission opens up the phrase as a resource for self-advocacy, while also reminding us about how our biased systems continue to center certain identities over others. Lead support for Cafeteria 2 provided by Joanne Cohen & Morris Wheeler. Additional support provided by The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation. Installation Images Nina Chanel Abney, Cafeteria 2 . Installation view at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler About the Artist NIna Chanel Abney Nina Chanel Abney Nina Chanel Abney (b. 1982, Chicago) strives to signal narratives that speak to topics on politics, heritage, race, sexuality, and celebrity. The figures in her works typically appear as heavily stylized, graphic, geometric shapes against vivid backgrounds overlaid with symbols and patterns. Known for her frenetic, large-scale paintings, Abney has recently been commissioned to transform the Lincoln Center’s new David Geffen Hall’s façade in New York, drawing from the cultural heritage of the neighborhood previously known as San Juan Hill that comprised African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Puerto Rican families, which she similarly did recently for a public mural at the new Miami World Center inspired by Overtown, a historic Black neighborhood in Miami. Her first solo exhibition debuted in 2017 at Nasher Museum of Art, North Carolina, and subsequently toured to Chicago Cultural Center; Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the California African American Museum; and the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York. Recent exhibitions include The Gordon Parks Institute (2022), The Art Gallery of New South Wales (2021), ICA Boston (2020), The Contemporary Dayton (2019), The Norton Museum of Art (2019), and Palais de Tokyo (2018). Her work is in the collections of MoMA New York, The Rubell Family Collection, The Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum and the Burger Collection, Hong Kong. Exhibition Materials ▶ Wall Text ▶ Gallery Guide ▶ Videos