A 'self-serve' store is opening inside Toronto's MOCA, and everything's made by ordinary locals

A typical visit to Toronto's Museum of Contemporary Art doesn't usually include the option of buying a piece of their newest exhibition, but the MOCA's opening shop this Friday — an Honest Shop.

Not a gift shop, an Honest Shop, though the distinction might be confusing. The regular rules of commerce more or less apply to both; money gets exchanged for the stuff inside, but the first thing about an Honest Shop — and there have been several staged at arts institutions around the world since 2012 — is that everything for sale is made by ordinary locals.

MOCA began collecting the DIY-ed inventory in the first week of April and they'll continue to accept new items throughout the exhibition. (It wraps July 7.) "Nothing's turned away — unless it's food," says Sabrina Maltese, who's the curator of public programs at the museum.

Local makers set the prices, but there's nobody manning a cash register. Instead, the store's run on the honour system — hence the name. If you want something, you're trusted to leave your money with the store, and according to the museum, profits largely go to the suppliers. They get an 80 per cent cut, and the remaining 20 goes to MOCA for operating costs.

"The premise is essentially that it's for the local community, made by and for the local community," says Maltese, and it's the same M.O. at all iterations of the Honest Shop. The first, launched by Grizedale Arts — an international artist residency in rural England — is still running. (Unlike Toronto, folks there can sell jam.)

"When people re-stage the Honest Shop, they reformat it to serve their own respective communities," says Maltese. "So for us, we decided we wanted to highlight all the local makers and talent and things that are happening in the Sterling Road or larger Junction area," which is the MOCA's home turf. 

The Honest Shop isn't only for people who are professional artists and professional makers.- Sabrina Maltese, MOCA Curator, Public Programs & Learning

So what makes it any loftier than an urban version of a farm stand?

The project is being presented as part of MOCA's "Art in Use" series, which launched last September — and as Maltese explains, there's a concept driving the Honest Shop.

"It's about thinking about art in an expansive way," she says. "The whole thing with 'Art in Use' is we're trying to think about how art can also be useful." The year-long program itself was devised in partnership with artist/curator Tania Bruguera, whose international association Arte Útil develops projects that, well, advocate for art's "usefulness" in everyday life. "How can art and museums be useful in today's communities?" "What meaningful role does art play in our lives?" Those are a few of the guiding questions on MOCA's event page, to give you an idea.

From a maker's point of view, the Honest Shop certainly offers room to showcase work at the MOCA — a platform that might not otherwise be available to them. And they can show there with no (or next to no) questions asked. But ideally, the Honest Shop will be plenty useful to anybody who visits, regardless of whether they walk away with new handmade ceramics or prints or bandanas, etc.

"I hope that once it's up and people from the community start to see it and experience it that they might contribute to it as well," says Maltese. "The Honest Shop isn't only for people who are professional artists and professional makers. It can be for people who make things in their spare time, or do things as a hobby, or whatever."

Any Junction-area residents interested in having their handiwork featured can contact honestshop@moca.ca. Drop-off times are listed on the MOCA website.

Check out a few of the items that'll be on sale opening day.

Honest Shop. May 10 to July 7 at MOCA, Toronto. www.museumofcontemporaryart.ca