Past Residents
Past Resident2012: Ontario Arts Council
Vessna Perunovich
Vessna Perunovich’s practice encompasses drawing, performance, video, sculpture, painting and installation. Individual yet nonetheless interrelated, her work is defies a simple categorization. Perunovich’s subject matter grapples with issues of personal intimacy and societal constructs; her work is autobiographical and at the same time universal. It dwells, emotionally and philosophically, on the subject of boundaries, both physical and psychic, orchestrating a fine balance between confinement and content. Perunovich’s works are connotations of meanings, suggesting that they can wear the conceptual clothing necessary to expressing inexpressible feelings for things that are inexplicable.
Perunovich (born former Yugoslavia) is a Toronto-based visual artist and has exhibited at international biennales in Cuba, Albania, Portugal, UK, Montenegro and Greece. Her survey solo exhibition, Borderless, recently toured galleries and museums in countries of the former Yugoslavia, including the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Serbia and Museum of Contemporary Art Republic of Srpska in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Her recent exhibitions include, Neither Here Nor There, at Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Borderline, at Angel Gallery in Toronto, Canada; performance project, The Web, at Grimmuseum in Berlin, Germany and video installation, Open Ended, as part of HT&B exhibition in Hamilton, Canada. Perunovich is the recipient of many grants and awards including the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts award in 2005 and the Chalmers Development Grant in 2011.
Vessna Perunovich, I Hug the World and the World Hugs Me Back, 2003-ongoing, Performance. Courtesy of the artist and Tate Modern.
Vessna Perunovich, Infinite Wall, 2006, White elastic thread, 132 × 288 in. (335.28 × 731.52 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Vessna Perunovich, Currency, 2007-2011, Sculptural and video projection, elastic bands, staples, and metal frame, 120 × 180 in. (304.8 × 457.2 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Vessna Perunovich, Wounding, 2002-2011, Mixed media installation, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Vessna Perunovich, Homage to Mother, 2009, Graphite, 108 × 216 in. (274.32 × 548.64 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Canada
Past Resident2012: Canada Council for the Arts
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay’s artistic work articulates itself chiefly through videos that combine singing, song lyrics and self-reflexive performance to contemplate the singing voice and the history of song, the rendering of love and emotion into words and the ways emotional expression is influenced by technology and popular culture. In recent years, his work has shifted focus towards the exploration of wordless, vocal calls and the vast possibilities of what vocal sounds can signify. Ramsay has also focused a renewed approach to the use and reinterpretation of found sonic and visual material, moving away from the banal discourses of pop music to the visionary wisdom of elders.
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay (born 1973, Montréal, Canada) is an artist and diarist. His work in video, sound, print and textile has exhibited across Canada, Europe and Asia, garnering prizes in festivals in Germany, Portugal, Poland and Canada. His work is represented in numerous private collections as well as the National Gallery of Canada.
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Mayday, 2007, Choreography for solo dancer and video projection, 5 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, The Burden, 2010, Sound with variable arrangement of mirrors, 7 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, How Dare You Speak To Me This Way, 2010, Silk Habotai, 6 ft.
Residents from Canada
Past Resident2012: ACC - Asian Cultural Council
Mu Li
Mu Li works with video, photography, installation and performance art. His work transcends the boundaries of the artist by broadening his personal understanding of art through the works themselves. Everyday life also plays an important role in Li’s work, in which a relationship between the environment, the general public, and the artist is established. Often, the boundaries between art and life are questioned by the artist’s personal experiences portrayed in his work.
Mu Li (born 1974, Feng County, Jiangsu Province, China) lives and works in Shanghai. He graduated from the Suzhou School of Art and Design, Suzhou, 1995 and the Academy of Art of Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2001.
Events & Exhibitions
The Power to Host
June 15–July 29, 2011
Mu Li, Blued Books, 2008-2009, Photography, video, drawing, installations, and text. Courtesy of the artist.
Mu Li, New Job, 2010, Contract, photography, and interview. Courtesy of the artist.
Mu Li, Present, 2009, Photography, video, sound, and letters. Courtesy of the artist.
Mu Li, My Questions, 2010, Installation, video, and interviews. Courtesy of the artist.
Mu Li, Unfamiliar, 2009, Video installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from China
Alchemyverse
Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Alice and Lawrence Weiner, New York City Council District 34, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Hartfield Foundation, Danna and Ed Ruscha, The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation
2023