By Canada - Biennale Arte 2015
Presenting Sponsor: Royal Bank of Canada - Major Sponsor: Aimia
An Installation by the BGL art collective for the Canada Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, 2015; Marie Fraser, Guest Curator; organized by the National Gallery of Canada
Canadassimo
Canadassimo, which gives the impression of being still under installation, offers a strange excursion that begins outside the pavilion with the scaffolding that partially obscures its facade. Beneath this platform is the entrance to a small neighbourhood convenience store like many across Quebec.
BGL's preparatory work
Transportation and installation
A convenience store...
This typically chaotic and shabby convenience store sells tinned goods and other household essentials.
... a living space ...
The next room is a somewhat more organized living space that is evidently the preserve of a recycling enthusiast...
... a studio ...
... followed by a studio crowded with countless objects of all kinds, including tin cans covered in drips of paint.
... and an outdoor balcony.
This bizarre living/working domain leads to an outdoor balcony, a rest area that extends the pavilion and offers a view overlooking the Giardini. Constructed almost entirely out of recycled materials and objects, Canadassimo exposes the excess to which North American society is prone as well as the eccentric character of a tinkerer/junk collector who recycles everything.
From the second floor balcony, visitors are invited to drop coins into a maze of channels and hear them trickling down all the way to the first floor and see them land between the plexiglass panels.
BGL : Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière
The BGL art collective is established in Quebec City, Canada.Often described as provocative and critical, BGL’s practice employs humour and extravagance to explore social and political issues related to the world of objects, humanity’s relationship to nature, contemporary lifestyles, economics and the art system.
The National Gallery of Canada is grateful to Royal Bank of Canada, the exhibition’s Presenting Sponsor, and Aimia, its Major Sponsor, and also acknowledges the generous support of the Gallery’s Contemporary Art Circle Patrons, its donors, its volunteers from across Canada, and the Distinguished Patrons of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
