Michael Petry

Michael Petry (b. 1960, Texas) is a London based, American-born author, curator, artist and Director of MOCA London. Found in 1994, MOCA is a contemporary art project that started showing internationally interesting contemporary art exhibitions without a fixed museum space. Since 2004 MOCA has run a project space of its own in southern London. Petry has previously worked as Guest Curator for Kunstakademiet in Oslo and as Researcher for University of Wolverhampton in UK. He is the author of e.g. Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life, published by Thames & Hudson in 2013. A touring exhibition based on the publication has been presented in e.g. Hå gamle prestgard in Stavanger, Norway; Bohuslän Museum in Sweden; The Four Domes Pavilion – Museum of Contemporary Art Branch of the National Museum in Wrocław, Poland; and Guildhall Art Gallery in London.

As an Artist, Petry works with temporary and large-scale installations as well as performance and music. His work include the evolution and introspection of the individual, especially from a homosexual male’s point of view. Petry has participated in numerous exhibitions and international biennials, e.g. in the Frontiers Reimagined exhibition in Museo Di Palazzo Grimani at the Venice Biennale in 2015. His works are included in significant collections worldwide, e.g. in the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Toledo Museum of Art, the British Museum, London; The National Collection, UK; the Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublick Deutschland, Bonn; the Bellerive Museum, Zurich; The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK; Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norway; The Gallery of Art, Legnica, Poland; and the Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany.

The Book of the WORD exhibition at Helsinki Contemporary is part of Michael Petry’s namesake project, which will be published as a book for Thames & Hudson in 2018.