NEXT Matilda Aslizadeh: Moly and Kassandra

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Matilda Aslizadeh, "Moly and Kassandra," 2018

3-channel video installation with sound, Courtesy of the Artist and Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto

In light of recent developments and our responsibility to help slow the spread and impact of COVID-19 across our communities, we have decided to close the Gallery to the public effective today, Monday, March 16 at 5:00 pm until further notice. This closure includes all exhibitions, programs, events, rentals, 1931 Gallery Bistro, the Gallery Store and Art Rental and Sales. The Art Auction Gala scheduled for May 30 is postponed.

NEXT Matilda Aslizadeh: Moly and Kassandra marks the nineteenth installment of the NEXT Series, a series that highlights recently made works by artists in the Pacific Rim not previously seen in Vancouver.

Over the past decade, Aslizadeh’s compelling video installations and photo-based works have drawn upon the history of cinema, have incorporated animation techniques and mass-media tropes in order to rethink narrative structures that pervade contemporary Western culture. This includes the pursuit of happiness in an era of neoliberal economics.

The title of Moly and Kassandra (2018) refers to molybdenum, a chemical element also known as “moly.” Molybdenum is a raw material that is extracted to strengthen steel alloys deployed in the production of weapons, automobiles, bicycles and many other products. It also references Kassandra, a mythological figure of ancient Greece. Kassandra foretold the death of Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae, and the fall of the city of Troy but was ignored by others. Aslizadeh’s Kassandra sings the history and fate of molybdenum to warn of the deprivations that will be wrought by neoliberal capitalism. But, as with her ancient namesake, her predictions go unheeded.

“The NEXT Series seeks to highlight the diverse practices and incredible talents of Pacific Rim artists and Matilda Aslizadeh epitomizes the high calibre of artists working in the region,” stated Daina Augaitis, Interim Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “Aslizadeh layers operatic performances, economic charts, divinations and images of excavations to skillfully examine economic power by revealing the relationship between the physical and nonphysical manifestations of the economy.”

The installation features three sculptural components that resemble stage scenery. Flats of mountain landscapes with precipitous horizons evoke the rise and fall of the stock market and simultaneously function as screens for video projections of operatic performances by a solitary female figure that is both a historian and a prophet. In each projection, the performer stands in an open-pit mine that bears an uncanny resemblance to an ancient Greek amphitheatre. Her costumes recall the haute couture fashion of 1979, a pivotal year in the shift from Keynesian to neoliberal economic policies in many Western democracies. The expressive songs she sings are composed from economic charts that trace the value and production levels of molybdenum from 1912 to the present. In addition to the video projections, Moly and Kassandra (2018) includes inkjet prints that layer the figure, landscapes and charts on which the songs are based.

About Matilda Aslizadeh

Born in Iran, Aslizadeh moved to Greece after the Islamic Revolution before arriving in Vancouver, Canada in 1981. Aslizadeh received a BFA from the University of British Columbia and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and film festivals and has been the subject of several solo exhibitions including at AC Institute in New York City (2019), Foreman Art Gallery in Sherbrooke, Quebec (2017), Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2016), Simon Fraser University Gallery (2012), La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (2009), SKOL Centre des Arts Actuels (2005), Or Gallery (2005) and Artspeak (2003). Aslizadeh is a visual artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Presented in conjunction with The Tin Man Was a Dreamer, NEXT Matilda Aslizadeh: Moly and Kassandra addresses the relationship between culture and economic power. The exhibition is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art.

Moly and Kassandra (2018) is a part of the 2020 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.

Public Programs for NEXT Matilda Aslizadeh: Moly and Kassandra 

First Friday Tour

April 3 | 7 PM

Free for Gallery Members or with admission.

Artist Talk with Matilda Aslizadeh

April 25 | 3 PM

Room 4East, in the Gallery

Registration is required