Shift: Music, Meaning, Context

About the Exhibition

Shift: Music, Meaning, Context explores how music changes in form and interpretation as it moves across time, bodies, and place. Folk songs are used for propaganda, pop hits are deployed as tools of torture, and cultural origins are erased – or reinvested – in particular songs, instruments, and genres. At the same time, music can also become a site of play, serendipity, and healing. This exhibition combines video, sound, and photography to transform the museum’s galleries into a unique choral mélange.

The exhibiting artists for Shift include: Bani Abidi, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Tony Cokes, Jeremy Deller, Hassan Hajjaj, Sven Johne, André Lützen, Cecil McDonald, Jr., Emeka Ogboh, and Taryn Simon. This exhibition is produced in collaboration between Goethe-Institut Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, held on-site at the museum. The exhibition is curated by Leonhard Emmerling, Director, and Leah Gallant, Program Curator of the Goethe-Institut Chicago, along with Asha Iman Veal, Associate Curator at MoCP.

The MoCP is supported by Columbia College Chicago, the MoCP Advisory Board, the Museum Council, individuals, and private and corporate foundations. The 2022-2023 exhibition season is sponsored in part by the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, the Efroymson Family Fund, the Henry Nias Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency.