CALGARY -- Calgary's newest contemporary art museum announced its 2020 season Monday, which will include an exhibit that pays homage to its earlier roots as a planetarium, an exhibition from Dakar and Geneva-based artist Omar Ba, as well as a major show from Yoko Ono.
The 2020 season will mark the culmination of a $25-million life cycle upgrade and building modernization supported by the City of Calgary that started in 2017 and was completed in April 2019.
Since then, Contemporary Calgary has been open two days a week, featuring Collider, an open-studio artist residency that has featured more than two dozen diverse artists at work at the same time they have presented public programs to visitors.
Ono's show is called Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono and The Art of John and Yoko, which opens May 21. The show is a survey of Ono's long and varied career, and includes work she created with John Lennon, including the Montreal Bed-In, in 1969.
Museum of the Moon, by Britain's Luke Jerram, replicates the moon and will dangle from Contemporary Calgary's domed ceiling, which should fit comfortably into a venue opened in 1967, when it was hailed for its Brutalist architectural design dedicated to the future.
"We're excited about our 2020 programming," said Contemporary Calgary curator Ryan Doherty. "Developing engaging and relevant exhibitions in Calgary that put local, national and internatinal artists together in dialogue is fundamental to our vision. In conjunction with rigorous and diverse public programs, we hope this inaugural line-up at the Planetarium ignites excitement in our community for what's to come."
Beginning Jan. 23, Contemporary Calgary will be open six days a week. Admission for a single visit is $10. An annual membership: $20, the lowest annual membership fee of any cultural attraction in the city.
