Ilya & Emilia Kabakov

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov will mount two exhibitions in our galleries and two public sculptures in Gairloch Gardens, including the infamous Ship of Tolerance. This project involves over a thousand children involved in the production of the ship’s sails. Opening events will include concerts and performances, including those by children. While the Kabakovs’ work has been deeply rooted in the Soviet social and cultural context where the Kabakovs came of age, their work still attains a universal significance and speaks to our ideological and socio-political present. Their exhibition and public sculptures at Oakville Galleries go on to ask us to consider our collective future. Through the eyes and spirit of children and with a spirit of hope, The Ship of Tolerance asks us all how we can make the world a better place.

A collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada, this is Oakville Galleries most ambitious project to date.

Ilya (1933–2023) and Emilia (b.1945) Kabakov are ex-Soviet American-based artists who collaborate on environments that fuse elements of the everyday with those of the conceptual. While their work is deeply rooted in the Soviet social and cultural context in which the Kabakovs came of age, their work still attains a universal significance. The Kabakovs are globally recognized as the premier artists to emerge from the former Soviet Union and major figures on the international art scene. ARTnews named them among the world’s top 10 living artists.