Celebrate Passover like they did in Biblical times…by camping out in a giant house made of matzo! In “The Medium is the Matzo,” a public art installation on display at Concordia’s Library Building from April 10-May 1, Toronto-based artist Melissa Shiff used 5480 pieces of matzo (kindly donated by Manischewitz) to construct a 3-D, multimedia ode to Passover.

A mash-up of art, music, and technology (and matzo), the exhibition will feature Shiff’s “Passover Projections,” in which scenes from Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” are projected onto a matzo movie screen.

Shiff has also curated events to unfold inside the exhibition space, including a guest appearance by Montreal “Klezmer hip-hop maestro” Socalled, who will perform his rarely heard “Socalled Seder” for 70 participants on April 10 at 7:30pm (tickets available here), as well as a conversation between activist Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Montreal radio host Tamara Kramer on April 24 at 7:30pm (60 tickets, available here).

Free events include the Opening Reception, featuring free Manischewitz products (Wednesday, April 14, 5-7pm); Menachem Freedman on African asylum seekers in Israel with a screening of Strangers No More, winner of the 2011 Academy Award for best documentary (Sunday April, 17, 4-6pm); and the Closing Party (Sunday, May 1, 4-6pm).

“The Medium Is the Matzo” runs from April 10 to May 1 on the main floor of Concordia University’s Library Building (1400 de Maisonneuve West).

Hours: Monday to Friday, 11am to 7 pm; Saturday & Sunday, noon to 6 pm. Admission is free.

Photo credit: Melissa Shiff