Vancouver Art Gallery presents Babak Golkar Time to Let Go…

Vancouver Art Gallery presents Babak Golkar Time to Let Go… on view September 28, 2014, a site-specific public installation by Vancouver artist Babak Golkar that encourages viewers to liberate their frustrations by screaming into large terracotta vessels.

Screaming is believed to have a therapeutic effect because it immediately releases tension. Uncontrolled bursts of emotion, however, are inappropriate in most public situations—until now. Golkar’s installation presents a socially acceptable opportunity for viewers to literally let go and formulate more effective ways of dealing with raw and natural emotions.

The project emerges from Golkar’s interest in spatial analysis and its relationship to communal space. Responding to the difficulty of viewing art from a distance, he initiates audience engagement by creating practical vehicles for visual and physical interactions. As participants handle the rough-textured pots they are also asked to consider the materiality of ceramic sculpture, an ancient art medium that is characterized by its slow, hand-crafted production—which stands in opposition to the fast-paced, digitally driven world we inhabit today. The scale, form and positioning of the sculptures on top of burlap sandbags evoke references to cannons and trenches used in warfare. Rather than offering destructive means to manage stress and anger, Time to Let Go… presents a constructive alternative to negotiate tensions.

Babak Golkar was born in the United States in 1977, but spent most of his formative years in Iran. He moved to Canada in 1996, where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2003 and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia in 2006. Golkar has developed an active career exhibiting his works nationally and internationally. In his practice Golkar juxtaposes dichotomies of tradition and modernity, craft and fine art to find an underlying common ground and an opportunity for multi-layered readings. Such strategies are implemented by exploring how ideas and forms transform in different contexts and how new meanings emerge from recontextualization. Golkar lives and works in Vancouver.

Offsite, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s outdoor exhibition space, is dedicated to newly commissioned public art projects and brings innovative contemporary art to a broad audience. Offsite: Babak Golkar is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Diana Freundl, Assistant Curator.

Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver BC V6Z 2H7
Canada