Abbas Akhavan at Small Arms – Toronto Biennial of Art

Abbas Akhavan, *Study for a Garden,* 2017, bronze. On view at Small Arms Inspection Building as part of the Toronto Biennial of Art (2019). Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid. Courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art.

Abbas Akhavan, *Bray for Cello,* 2017 / 2019, laser print on paper, 16 pieces. On view at Small Arms Inspection Building as part of the Toronto Biennial of Art (2019). Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid. Courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art.

Study for a Garden consists of a stack of bronze sticks sharpened at one end. They may be posts for a garden fence, a faggot (a bundle of wood to fuel a fire), or a collection of crude spears. Praised for its strength and ductility, bronze has long been used to make weapons, shelter, and monuments. Akhavan has described bronze as both “an obedient and disobedient material,” suggesting that working with bronze follows a logic and life all its own. Titled a “study,” the work subverts the material’s relation to monumentality and permanence, focusing instead on its mutable qualities and alchemical associations.

Nearby, Bray for Cello is a series of scores pinned to the wall that comprises a composition of braying sounds to be performed intermittently and unannounced by a cellist.

Bio

Abbas Akhavan

Abbas Akhavan (born in 1977, Tehran, Iran; lives and works in Montreal, Canada) works in mediums ranging from site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. Abbas received his BFA from Concordia University, Montreal and his MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He is the recipient of the 2015 Sobey Art Award; the 2014 Abraaj Group Art Prize; and the 2012 Berliner Kunstpreis.

Exhibition Site

Small Arms Inspection Building (2019)

Small Arms Inspection Building was originally part of a large munitions plant built in 1940 before it was acquired and renovated as an art centre by the City of Mississauga in 2018. With its female dominated workforce, Small Arms Limited manufactured thousands of rifles daily for the Canadian and Allied forces in WWII. In 1990, the TRCA conducted an environmental audit of the site, revealing the presence of polychlorinated biphenyl, volatile organic compounds, and combustible gases across nineteen acres. More than 70,000 tons of contaminated radioactive soil was removed to eventually transform the Arsenal Lands into a park.

1352 Lakeshore Road East
Mississauga ON
L5E 1E9