Month: April 2020

For the fifth post in our #MAOarchive series we are celebrating legendary artist Yoko Ono. Have you seen the horizon lately? was Ono’s major solo exhibition at the gallery in 1997. The show brought together photographs, performances, films, paintings and sound works spanning 38 years. Among these were a selection of Ono’s ‘instruction paintings’, a series of… Continue reading From the MAO archive: Yoko Ono in 1997

In April 2020 Activating our Archives participant Etain took over the Modern Art Oxford Instagram feed for the day to share some of her photographs and reflections that have been emerging from the project. In this blog post we share her thoughtful words and images, which will be a lasting record of creative work in… Continue reading Artist Takeover by Etain O’Carroll – Activating our Archives

n the first of his two-part series for MAO Assembly, Oxford-based musician, Martin Andrews aka Octavia Freud reports on music in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part one sees Martin speak to DJ and electronic artist Timothy J Fairplay about his experience of social isolation, exploring the question, ‘how do you stay creative as a… Continue reading MAO Assembly – Isolation Music Diaries, Part One

For the fourth in our #MAOarchive series, we take you back to 1998 when Mona Hatoum exhibited at Modern Art Oxford. Born in Beirut to a Palestinian family, the artist Mona Hatoum has lived in London since 1975. The outbreak of civil war in Lebanon delayed her return from what was meant to be a… Continue reading From the MAO archive: Mona Hatoum in 1998

If you’re a regular visitor to the gallery you’ll know Deb Pill from our Front of House team. On weekends, Deb is a Creative Practitioner for our Creative Space, and she works in the Shop too. In this blog post we share her artwork Reaching Out, alongside her reflections on the interactions she was missing most in… Continue reading Creative Connections: Reaching Out by Deb Pill

Interested in contemporary art and digital culture? Art Historian and Modern Art Oxford’s Exhibitions Administrator Jess Robertson has curated an introductory reading list for you.  Many of these texts are available to read for free online, or to download as ebooks – perfect for isolation reading! The list includes key texts from artists, curators and… Continue reading Contemporary Art and Digital Culture ~ Reading List

Since 1966, Modern Art Oxford has hosted avant-garde artists, performances and art forms. In this third post in our #MAOarchive series we look back to a pioneering show in 1990. At a time when video art remained marginalised in the art world, Signs of the Times was the first major exhibition of British sculpture and… Continue reading From the MAO archive: Signs of the Times in 1990

Take five minutes out of your working day to breathe, listen and find a moment of calm. Yoga teacher and artist Najia Bagi leads you through a 5 minute meditation that you can do wherever you are, without changing out of your work clothes. Najia encourages you to hit pause for just a few minutes… Continue reading Take a Break and Listen – 5 Minute Meditation with Najia Bagi

Read Laura Purseglove’s introduction to the concept of Flow state and its relation to the upcoming exhibition Flow at the Glass Tank. Laura is our Creative Associate (Participation) and is working with Modern Art Oxford’s volunteers as they develop this exhibition. Our creative process is unique to us. We all have our own ways of… Continue reading Flow and Human Flourishing by Creative Associate Laura Purseglove

For the second blog in our #MAOarchive series we take you back to 1966, the year the gallery opened. Space Place: Constructed Space Participation was to be the gallery’s first self-generated exhibition. In the words of art critic Andrew Forge, it declared the director’s intention to make the museum “a place where things can happen… music… Continue reading From the MAO archive: Space Place in 1966