Image: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland will open its new season on Aug. 28, 2026 with 'Lake Valley', an eight-minute film by Rachel Rose that will remain on view through March 7, 2027. The museum describes the work as a single-channel HD video with a unique installation, and says support is provided by Art Bridges Foundation. The exhibition appears alongside other moCa Cleveland season-openers announced in the museum’s email: Jody Pinto’s 'Body/Land', Tishan Hsu’s 'permeable surface', and Faye Wei Wei’s 'Draw in your head and sleep the long way home.'
'Lake Valley' draws on imagery from 19th- and 20th-century children’s books to build a dreamlike narrative centered on loneliness, imagination, and the search for connection. According to the museum, the film follows an imagined rabbit-like pet that leaves its family’s suburban home to look for friendship in a nearby forest. Rose combines collage, found footage and repurposed materials to create the work’s cel animation, while the sound editing uses recognizable but unexpected effects. The museum’s text highlights images such as a shirt made of animal skin and spaghetti made of hair as examples of the film’s unusual visual world.
Rose’s work has been framed by moCa Cleveland as part of a broader practice in film, painting, sculpture and drawing. The exhibition page notes that her work explores how landscape shapes storytelling and belief systems, and considers how the everyday can hold the sublime. It also places 'Lake Valley' within Rose’s established museum and biennial presence, while keeping the focus on the film’s specific blend of childhood imagery, fantasy and unease.
The museum’s season-opening email presents 'Lake Valley' as one of four fall 2026 exhibitions launching together when the building reopens to visitors after a period of closure for preparations. Hours listed for after Aug. 28 are Thursday and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum’s exhibition page gives the same run dates for 'Lake Valley' as for the rest of the season-opening shows, extending through March 7, 2027.
Rose, born in 1986 in New York, lives and works in New York. The exhibition page lists her work as held in major public collections including the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, LACMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, the Dallas Museum of Art, LUMA Foundation and others. It also notes her participation in the 57th Venice Biennale, the 57th Carnegie International, the 32nd São Paulo Biennial and the 3rd Jeju Biennale. The artist was also the recipient of the Frieze Artist Award in 2015 and the Illy Present Future Prize in 2014.
