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hello welcome to everyone joining me today my name is Liana nanka Biscay and

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I am the curator of interpretation and engagement at the Art Gallery of Alberta

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and this is AG live so while we’re all

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going through these in certain times and let’s face it we surely did not expect

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living through a pandemic here at the Aga we want to help you stay connected

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to art creativity and ultimately spend some time with you

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so you might be familiar with some of the programs that we offer on a regular

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basis or simply new to it what matters today and brings us together is that

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curiosity and desire to learn through looking it out together and possibly take our mind for a walk so

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I’m thrilled to be your host for the next little while and share with you compelling perspectives around the

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themes of our current exhibition royal kasi the king is dead this exhibition is currently on display

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in the RBC new works gallery but as you know it is not accessible to the public

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until further notice due to covered 19 so without delay

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I’ll begin this program with an introduction of the artists royal kasi and the curator Lindsay shaman who both

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envisioned and created this exhibition I will then highlight some of the core

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themes stemming from this installation for us to reflect on and in the process

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I hope to catch on some of your comments you may have your welcome of course to

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use the chat window on the side of your screen to share your comments as you

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follow this presentation and I will do my best to make this as interactive as possible so let’s start with the premise

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of this exhibition and how these were came about so Linda shaman is our

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resident curator of the Art Gallery of Alberta and prior to joining us in 2019

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she was the first curators first curator of the founders gallery at the military

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museums in Calgary which was an academic appointment through the University of

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Calgary her curatorial research is politically and socially engaged art

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practice this exhibition the king is dead presents a commissioned work by Canadian

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artists while kasi currently based out of Medicine Hat the final installation

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in the gallery space is the result of a continuous dialogue between those two

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with many iterations of what the project could look like

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Cassie’s work often revolves around serendipity intuition and associations

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with research interest in world war ii and the emergence of a youth demographic

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and youth marketing his practice also focuses on the question of jazz Boras as

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well as the tension between our egos and our interconnectedness as human beings

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so of course of course I invite you to

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check his website and I’m going to check to share with you the link right away

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maybe in the chat so yeah so I invite

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you to check out the artists website to learn more about him and his contemporary practice through previous

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work before talking about the exhibition concepts or the artistic motivations

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behind this installation I’d like for us to get familiar with the work itself in

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its physicality and unless you visited this exhibition already you may have seen fragments of a

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full installation on our social media but I’d like to take us for a tour in

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the galleries so hold on a second bear with me I will no it’s just a real quick

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tour of Boyka sees exhibition installation the king is dead stone and

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take a quick look at this here you see a

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sculptural installation give you a quick look around the antenna piece

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interesting detail here as well and some

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other interesting additions here so

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that’s just a quick peek at what it cost ins insulation is dead so what are we

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looking at they are many ways of approaching the work of what and here are some of the

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questions that I usually ask myself what are the different elements that constitute this work are we familiar

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with some of these objects how do these objects relate to each other as well but

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also I’d like for us to ask yourself how do we as individuals relate to these

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objects so I’m going to go back to work here it is so when I first experienced

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this work one of the thing that immediately caught my attention was the small replica of the teacher is Bertha

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Venice now what attracted me to it is not only its central placement almost

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like a focal point or a bright spot in the eyes when you enter the room but it

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was also its aesthetic contrasting with the rest of the installation I also know

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these concrete blocks and what looks like the base of a bathtub I also

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noticed some sculptural objects organically shaped and made out of ceramics two golden eggs and what seems

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to be beer cans so in other words a variety of elements that do not

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necessarily deal with each other and yet they are stacked together or against

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each other to create oh this architectural structure at this

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point I’m curious to know what your first impression is as well so please don’t hesitate to share your comments in

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the in the chat window and go back to the first screen and start looking at

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your comments so I realized that those images cannot replace the in-person

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experience of course and you may you know the experience you might have in

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the gallery space but um I’d like to know what and how do you feel when you look at this installation so let’s see

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if anybody wants to come and I see

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okay no commands yet don’t be shy alright so I’ll move on um okay I see

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guy guy is saying I’m trying to understand the purple objects what is

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the material so we’ll come to that Oh shrine light okay sorry saying shrine

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like cool alright so you know one might

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feel confused on what to make of it one approach to discovering a work for the

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first time is to let yourself be guided by your instinct and feelings before

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even intellectualizing your emotions in his interview with Lindsey shaman while

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Cassie himself talks about the importance or the power of confusion

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which offers that room for interpretation and allows visitors like us experiencing the work to inject my

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own thoughts my own point of view into the work and so by doing that as viewers

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we develop a personal connection with the work and in this process we might

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even discover new layers of meanings an example is that when I you know spoke to

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the first thing that attracted me to the work I noticed the budget Shelley Venice

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because it took me right back to my art history courses at university so that

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was for me the entry point to work but that is not the only one so the other

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all setup resemble a man-made architectural structure exhaling a

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feeling of sanctity or spirituality a shrine as so I would say the general

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atmosphere in those images leads us to believe that we are in entering some

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kind of sacred place so all those

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improbable objects are gathered into what looks like a pyre as well ready to

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be lit and I wonder if you will agree with me on one to say but I sense a certain fragility

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and vulnerability looking at the way the structure is built and and here is a

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close-up of the installation that refers that illustrates what I’m saying in

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terms of fragility and vulnerability there is a sort of ephemerality to it

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the structure is clearly not built to remain the way it is or resist to the

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passage of time although we have concrete blocks and a heavy bathtub that

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are here to support the overall installation we also have planks and rods of woods that are thin and stacked

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onto each other almost like a match house and as one you know as one knows

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tires are heavily symbolic in the cremation ritual carried during funeral

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ceremonies in many cultures this customs

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celebrate life through the process of freeing the spirit of the dead to the

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afterlife and maybe one of the most known example we can refer to in modern

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history is the cremation pyre tradition carried by hinduist and jaian east on

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the river Ganges that yes so here is a

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screenshot from the National Geographic documentary death along the river so

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talking about cremation the process itself has an interesting story taking us all the way back to

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ancient history cremation dates from at least 17,000 years ago with the oldest human remains

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of a man and a woman ritually cremated found at Lake Mungo in in Australia in

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the Western world and Europe in particular what is now known as Central

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Europe they are traces of cremation dating to the early

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early Bronze Age now the custom became dominant for Europe with the unfilled

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culture which is that tradition of placing the ashes in urns before burying

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them in the fields and if we fast forwards in our history it’s also

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interesting to note that this practice was once forbidden by law starting in

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the middle age for instance and even punishable by death if he was combined with pagan rites in Germany incense in

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the mid 19th century a movement to reintroduce cremation as a viable method

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of body disposal began and was made possible by the invention of new furnace

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technology and of course contact with Eastern cultures that practice it now as

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history tells us this practice also refers to some of our darkest moments

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during World War two Nazi Germany used specially built furnaces in at least six

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extermination camps throughout occupied Poland to dispose of the bodies of those

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murdered by gassing and I refer to this gloomy detail in relation to causes

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interest in world war ii as mentioned previously so this brings us to think

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about the act of burning which expresses concepts of destruction

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they’re also cleansing and rebirth all at the same time so this fire standing

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in the gallery and about to be Leeds forces on us a certain contemplation

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there is a certain gravity to it and without needing to know the artists

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intentions the installation is an opportunity to be alone I think with our

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own thoughts guiding us into reflecting on the past and to imagine new

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beginnings now let’s talk about the ceramic objects and

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possibly answer guy’s question so yes let’s talk about the ceramic objects and

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the poetic views of clay when I think about clay I think about the expression

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to have feet of clay referring to someone’s weaknesses or character flaws

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and somehow I see it fitting well with the notion of fragility and

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vulnerability that I was you know mentioning previously of the overall structure if we think about the

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properties of this organic matter Clay’s also versatile and malleable it

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has a certain plasticity to it and yet it becomes firm and sturdy once it’s

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fired in a in a kiln so one can connect this simple fact to the image of a child

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maybe affirming himself while growing entering into adulthood possibly now the

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different characteristics of clay make it one of the oldest building materials also used as a natural seal to fill the

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voids in any type of structure so here is another view of the structure this

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installation showcases royal castles own artistic vocabulary that he developed by

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creating these amorphous shape Emma for shape saw or ghost as he calls them

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almost body like and made of organic matter they can be perceived as well as

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a presence filling the room with us in his interview with Lindsey

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Cassie also talked about the connection to his Southeast Asian heritage and how

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being part of the Indian diaspora in Canada impacted his own practice and the

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visual representation of the object that it creates so for instance how in his

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work he refers to certain forms amorphous forms or colors seen in his

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child and on Hindu temples using those memories as a source of inspiration to

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generate those blobby let’s call them my dad’s blood shapes so let’s progress in

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our look at the work and one thing we can notice our two eggs or golden eggs

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on each side of the pyre also made of

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clay and ceramic pigments like gold so this fun connection between the

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different elements on display gives a sense of continuity in the use of

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natural elements throughout causes work and similar to clay in its properties

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gold is also physically and metaphorically one of the most versatile

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metals on earth can be malleable when melted gold also hold the potential to

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transition to transform itself into many different states it can be dance it can

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be soft so I’m curious you know you know what what comes to mind when you think

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about gold think about your perception of this precious element gold is one of

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the first metal ever used by humans and prospecting for gold was common for

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centuries before it was ever used as money this precious metal metal reminds

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us of the first settlers pioneers possibly and the gold rush in the mid

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19th century it was considered as a common commodity it it is still up to

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this day and the expression of devotion power wealth and greed so as a result

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this train of thoughts also brings us to I think meditates on human behavior

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towards the planet we live on it leads us to contemplate once again our actions

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and and possibly these self entitlements with which we exploit the resources we

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stand on now I’d like to go back to the

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egg let me put this back yes I’d like to

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go back to the egg on which the gold is applied and talk about its shape itself

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and let us think about the metaphors that are held in this primal shape of

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the egg not only it symbolizes wealth the egg symbolizes wealth but it also

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holds this potential for change a passage from the a few words from the

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artist who says on one hand the egg alludes to an unknown and unwritten

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future that is not locked in but full of optimism and possibility on the other

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hand the egg contain so it sounds like the egg is the perfect vessel for

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storytelling a piece of gold a lump of gold inside the animal cuts off from the goose and

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I’ve also made in ceramic so for Cassie

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the beer can illustrate the normalized and stereotypical behavior in which

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cultural and social beliefs are passed on from one generation to to the other

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to the next and in her essay in sea shaman makes an analogy to masculine

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ideologies that are passed from father to son and ingrained into younger generations I can safely say that we all

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have this mental image and possibly flashback of the first sip of beer given

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you know to us or from a father to his son which can be interpreted as an act

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of socialization and almost like a rite of passage into adulthood now

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there is another example a close-up of the beer can now I’d like to move on

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from the ceramic objects to a special encounter with Venice or should I say a

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knockoff version of one of the most popular ladies of the Renaissance period

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originally painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1492 and 1485 the birth of

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Venice has become a landmark 15th century Italian painting and Western art

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history in general actually her imagery is reaching meanings and allegorical

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references to integrity so I’m just gonna pull up the original painting here it is by Botticelli and the core theme

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of this painting is inspired by ovid metamorphoses so we have that notion of

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transformation once again and in Roman mythology Venice was the goddess of love

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sex Beauty fertility bone of seafoam and

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washed ashore in the shell she was the Roman counterpart of to the Greek Aphrodite

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except that she had a few more abilities she was also a goddess for the Romans

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that she was also the goddess of victory and even prostitution well in other

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words she was an object of veneration for many images of Venice have been

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found in countless forms obviously paintings mosaics shrines even domestic

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murals and fresco and of course sculptures Venice was often depicted

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nude for obvious reasons her natural beauty and sexual nature so this doll is

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still replica presents a caricature of sexualized femininity really steering away from its

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original iteration which I think was likely more friend I mean she does have the hair the

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wind in her hair but uh it’s a bit more tamed but this this replica speaks to

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the social norms and stereotypical expectations from society conveyed

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earlier by the the beer cans what we were talking about when we were mentioning the vehicles also notice the

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petite size the miniaturization of the object of this replica which i think is

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far off from the kind of glory a divinity deserves and noticed as well

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here it is notice as well that the price tag has been left on on its face so

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similarly to the egg she too holds the power of change and transformation means

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a shaman makes an interesting connection as well of her rising out of the sea to

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the rising sea waters which are a clear signifier of climate change so while we

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might consider what rises from the ashes of a pyre we might also speculate on

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what will rise front of the ocean from the oceans during and after human caused

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environmental collapses but possibly as well during a life-changing events like

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the one we currently live in during pandemic times so what causes us to

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behave in such harmful ways with our planets and to be so detrimental to

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ourselves and future generations is it just all for grieved this work in

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particular I think poses the questions you know what will it take for this world wild generational tantrum let’s

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call it that way to stop when will this egotistical mind set to leave a mark on

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everything surrounding us shifts once and for all and why can’t we accept the

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fact that we are possibly insignificant in the great scheme of things and that

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we are too made of organic matter so these are not particularly hard

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questions we might just not you know like the answers as they forces us to

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before they you know designers force us to we examine ate our daily routines and

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the realities that we’ve created and that brings me to one more element in

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this installation that we haven’t talked about yet which is the Mickey Mouse hat

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so here it is so the Mickey Mouse hat is

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also a collectable paraphernalia or an object of a certain devotion from our

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childhood and possibly adulthood for most North American kids and most of the

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world now it is a customizable take away from the magical world and the real time

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spent at Disneyland it’s a hat you can

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stitch you name on so come on if the ultimate embodiment pretty much of

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capitalism and the cult of self I was created in 1955 for a generation of baby

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boomers so as a brand DNA constructed a reality where dreams come true and where

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boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred to become the

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happiest place on earth so are you

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confused now are you are you embracing the power of confusion and you know

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wondering where is this going and what is this exhibition really about let’s go

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back to a full shot of installation

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let me see some mojo comment the cans

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are connected to recycling which is a fun modern take on rebirth oh I like

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that comment Sarah what else okay

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recalls butter jelly the Venice recalled Botticelli but it’s not quite a gaze is different that’s the very true

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she’s molding mirror that’s true this makes the piece feel very tender so

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we’ve talked about the Finnerty tradition that is cremation and the

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restoring notion of fire we’ve talked about this installation holding the

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potential for contemplation and awareness for past actions we talked

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about the social norms and expectations that tie us and future generations as

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well together through the imagery of the egg possible futures and the beer cans

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and perhaps we’ve even instigated in instigated surrett

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a reflection on the society of consumption believe it

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we’ve also spoken to possible futures and realities dark or bright through the

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memorabilia that is Venice and Mickey Mouse hat so using a childlike logic and

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playfulness to create this work Kazi looks back to our legacies and what can

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emerge from what is left behind and by combining a typical elements unique in

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their natures and symbolism he then creates a

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surrealist narrative in which I would say myriad of meanings can

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materialize remember those elements can be read either in contradiction with

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each other or in conversation with each other we have a female male and in

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balance with each other this monument exists for an imagined

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child or better it possibly speaks to the nostalgia of the child in us and the

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burning desire of experimenting things so let’s go back to installation Casa

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spire sits in the gallery on top of the shower stall and ready to be satellites

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but the question is who will light it and what will rise from the ashes and

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I’d like to quote curator Lindsay shaman on this and she says by offering this

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fire through a younger generation kasi is literally passing the torch in hopes

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of empowering youth to envision and create better futures so let me ask you

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what sort of futures can be imagined after that fire or after a world-changing event like this pandemic

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what is inevitable and what can be changed so let’s see what are some of

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the Commons

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struck by the beauty of the individual objects puzzled by its title so the dead

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King Andrea says so the dead king is our dying overly large egos our cultural

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narcissism possibly I would say so

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so let me go back

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so I’d like to leave those questions open obviously the intention is not to

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exactly answer to give an exact answer for each questions but I’d like for you

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to keep you know those questions in minds and almost like some sort of food

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for thought for the coming days and I saw a number of questions asking about

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how the ceramic objects were made what was the process the fact that he was

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commissioned and so how how all of that went down so I’d like to say that much

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more can be read on the subjects in the online RBC New Works exhibition catalog

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as well which include the the essay by a curator Linda Shauna and of course I

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invite you to visit the Aga website and to find it under about the Aga and

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publication or you can as well click on

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this link which I will be sharing this

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way there you go in India chats and that takes you straight to the online version

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of the reputation I would also like to recommend the artist and curator

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conversation in which you will learn about all those details you’ve been asking about and so this hasn’t been

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published yet but it is about to be published so stay tuned as we announce the publication of this

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interview on our social media outlets in the coming days and of course if you

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have further questions on this exhibition you know please do not hesitate to email us at marketing at

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your agh CA or which reach us on all our

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social media forms it would be my pleasure to you know answer those

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questions over there I’m movin to the curator as well so I’d like to conclude

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by saying that our AGA team continues to work hard to bring you all and creative

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projects to do at home and engage with you daily so until next time stay safe

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stay curious and stay connected with us bye bye

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