TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS | playtime | inside my head

September 4 to October 10, 2020

I am thrilled to announce my exhibition, TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS on now at Centre 3 in Hamilton. This is a two part show – in gallery and online.

The show is curated by the amazing artist Lesley Loksi Chan

There will be an artist talk on Saturday, September 12th, 2020 | 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Register via Zoom

TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS | playtime | inside my head encompasses two of Midi Onodera’s newest ongoing projects. The exhibit speaks to the artist’s contemplation of time spent during the pandemic lockdown and social upheaval, a period in which she finds herself simultaneously looking outward and inward, working with others and working alone.

Playtime refers to Onodera’s collaborative online project “EXC-19”, an undertaking based on the Surrealist parlour game known as “The Exquisite Corpse”. Over 100 artists, cultural workers, and students have participated in this project, generating over 60 videos on exc-19.com. Inside my head is Onodera’s series of sculptural video containers inspired by daguerreotypes and the obsession with mobile phones. Made of plaster, pigment, and wax, these “miniature video works encased in cloud-filled sky vessels” speak to the complicated relationship between childhood memories, youthful impressions and implicit biases.

Seen together, the works in this exhibit call attention to the shifting parameters for community-building and self-reflection in our contemporary moment. In Onodera’s words, “TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS is a reflection of our dual nature: the outward public flaunting of who we project to the world and the concealed part of who we are, a complex, contradictory self.”