Expression of Interest for a Curator for the Melissa Shiff Retrospective
Melissa Shiff was a contemporary Toronto-based artist whose work was deeply conceptual and spanned a range of mediums, including video, augmented reality, performance, and sculpture. She grappled with the meaning of Jewishness as a cultural, spiritual, national, and secular practice.
Early on, she focused on troubling gendered Jewish rituals such as circumcision and marriage. Later, she mined the museum’s archive with ARK to understand anew notions of citizenship and belonging.
Scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett called Melissa’s 2006 Ark project “nothing short of brilliant.”
Melissa passed away in October 2025. Over her career, she produced a large body of work and was actively working on a piece to be completed posthumously. Her final project will be a collaboration titled Shiva for Peace, which is to be developed in collaboration with a Palestinian artist. Shared mourning and peaceful co-existence preoccupied Melissa’s last efforts.
Melissa left this full body of work under the guardianship of her art trustees.
The trustees are seeking a curator who can help conceptualize, design, program, and promote the exhibition.
Beyond the Museum
We encourage curator-selected projects that are not only gallery or museum-based. They can be site-specific in nature, and we appreciate your conceptual innovation and cohesion to Melissa’s complicated questions about being Jewish and how to negotiate the need for Indigenous self-determination and the needs of refugees.
Budgets, including artist fees, will be developed by the curator and trustees. The curator in consultation with the trustees, will be responsible for the development of a comprehensive Retrospective proposal that includes confirmed artist participants, a detailed project description(s), Retrospective schedules, and site confirmations.
The trustees will support the curator with creative guidance, promotion, marketing, and documentation.
Selected curators will also be expected to:
* Take part in the Retrospective programming.
* Promote the Retrospective through their network.
* Attend Retrospective information sessions.
​
Curatorial Position
​
Responsibilities:
* Present updates to the trustees and the Retrospective Advisory Committee as needed.
* Conduct interviews with local and national media.
* Host one to two public presentations about the curatorial vision leading up to the Retrospective.
* Collaborate with project partners as needed.
Compensation:
The selected applicant(s) will receive a curatorial fee of up to $10,000 CAD pro-rated annually for the development of the Retrospective theme, the selection of collaborating artists, and the administration of the curator-selected programming.​
Application Materials:
1. * A brief letter of intent including a curatorial direction for the Retrospective. This vision can be further developed after selection. We only require a general direction.
2. * Biographies of curator(s) (maximum 300 words) and CV(s).
3. * Images or links to completed exhibitions or projects (maximum 5 total) that convey an impression of your curatorial approaches, achievements, and interests.
4. * Experience in curating large exhibits is considered an asset but is not required.
Submission Process:
5. Please compile your materials into a single PDF (largest file size 20 MB) and email the PDF to Michelle Cohen (mcohen0714@icloud.com).
Submission Deadline: June 12th, 2026
6. The Trustees will invite up to three shortlisted curators to an interview to present details of their proposed theme and experience. The Melissa Shiff Retrospective will provide an honorarium of $250 CAD for the shortlisted curators, for their time to prepare and for the interview.
Timeline:
* Shortlisted curators notified: End of June 2026
* Shortlisted curator presentations: July 2026
* Successful curators notified: End of July 2026