The mega-exhibition on Leonard Cohen, which drew a record 315,000 visitors to the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), is going on tour starting next year.
Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything will be at the Jewish Museum in New York from April 12-Sept. 8. It then travels to the Kunstforeningen GL STRAND and Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen, from Oct. 23, 2019-Feb.16, 2020, and will be at San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum from Sept. 17, 2020-Jan. 3, 2021.
Additional destinations are in the planning stages.
Organized by the MAC as part of Montreal’s 375th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition, which ran for five months, opened in November 2017, one year after the Montreal-born singer-songwriter’s death, although it had been in the planning a couple of years earlier.
“The great interest it piques on the international scene confirms the colossal impact of the work of Leonard Cohen, whose legacy remains alive and current despite his passing,” said MAC director and chief curator John Zeppetelli, who was co-curator of the exhibit with Victor Shiffman.
The huge multidisciplinary exhibition combines visual art, virtual reality, music and writing – all new works created by local and international artists who were commissioned to take inspiration from Cohen’s life, work and lasting impact.
Claudia Gould, director of the Jewish Museum, stated: “I greatly admire Leonard Cohen’s use of language and acute observations on the human condition. By presenting Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything to New York audiences, we look forward to offering our visitors this opportunity to experience contemporary works of art that powerfully evoke the essence of Cohen’s moving and thought-provoking songs and poems.”
Zeppetelli said the exhibition will be tailored to each venue’s space and needs, and the selection of works may vary from one museum to another.