Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to share with you the wonderful news that our dear colleague Adelina Vlas has accepted the position of Head of Exhibitions and Publications at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. It is an exciting opportunity and truly reflects her curatorial and professional excellence. We will miss Adelina immensely not only because of how much she has done for the AGO, but also how much of a genuine, dedicated, and collaborative colleague she is to work with. In our short time spent together at the AGO, I have grown to be an admirer of hers. 

Adelina joined the AGO in 2014 as the Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, and has left an indelible mark on the Modern and Contemporary Art Department and the AGO during her seven-and-a-half-year tenure. Her scholarship, commitment, and determination have led to the creation of many successful and innovative exhibitions.

Most recently, Adelina has curated two large career-survey exhibitions of artists Haegue Yang and Hito Steyerl, and commissioned Yang’s monumental-scale installation Woven Currents – Confluence of Parallels, currently on view in the Tannenbaum Sculpture Atrium. Both exhibitions featured works that were shown in Canada for the first time and accompanied by comprehensive catalogues. Adelina has spearheaded many solo presentations for the Iskowitz Prize including Liz Magor, Sandra Meigs, and Valérie Blass. She was the in-house curator of the successful exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors and has also curated two editions of the AIMIA/AGO Photography Prize. Besides organizing special exhibitions, Adelina has contributed significantly to the building of the contemporary art collection and has curated many collection-based displays among them: As If Sand Were Stone: Contemporary Latin American Art from the AGO Collection and Arte Povera. Since 2018, she has also coordinated gallery rotations on the fourth floor including an ambitious installation of Adrian Villar Rojas’s Today We Reboot the Planet. Additionally, Adelina has worked closely with many other departments at the AGO to advance our mission as a collecting institution to care for the artworks we acquire, most notably as the lead curator working with the cross-divisional Time-Based Media Working Group.

The opportunity at the Power Plant will allow Adelina to continue shaping the contemporary art scene in Toronto and Canada at large. I have no doubt that her work will create a lasting impact on the contemporary art community internationally. Her last day at the AGO is February 1, and she begins work at The Power Plant on February 14. Adelina will continue to work towards the completion of the publication on the major commission by artist Brain Jungen.

Please join me in congratulating Adelina on her numerous accomplishments at the AGO, and on this new adventure in her career. It is bittersweet to say goodbye, but we will certainly look forward to continuing conversations and collaborations with her in the future.

Warmly,

Xiaoyu Weng 翁笑雨

Carol and Morton Rapp Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art