PinchukArtCentre

Kasper Bosmans

Rooted in historical research, Kasper Bosmans disentangles the intersection of signs that create cultural meaning in both micro and macro registers. His interdisciplinary works include institutional intervention, installation, sculpture, and painting that parse and restructure the objects and symbols from varied political, artistic, ecological and social orders. Bosmans investigates diverse cultural relics—taken from the realms of government, folk art, and technology—in order to establish new modes of reading the history of power and knowledge that linger in spaces between concept and material.
Rooted in historical research, Kasper Bosmans disentangles the intersection of signs that create cultural meaning in both micro and macro registers. His interdisciplinary works include institutional intervention, installation, sculpture, and painting that parse and restructure the objects and symbols from varied political, artistic, ecological and social orders. Bosmans investigates diverse cultural relics—taken from the realms of government, folk art, and technology—in order to establish new modes of reading the history of power and knowledge that linger in spaces between concept and material.

In his interdisciplinary and often playful works Kasper Bosmans investigates histories of traditions and objects creating new narratives to offer a critical view on cultural and political relics.

Leaning on his research into European political and cultural history, in Amber Room and Star Chamber Bosmans implicitly critiques the mechanisms of authority and power by rendering them as aesthetic objects. By superimposing an aesthetic rendering of the Amber Room, (a room panelled by wrought amber, gifted by Frederic II of Prussia to Peter the Great of Russia in 1717 to forge an alliance against Sweden) on top of the decorative scheme of the Star Chamber (A room in Westminster palace, London that housed a court of law that punished politically and socially prominent figures from the 15th until the 17th century which currently stands as a symbol of power abuse and absolutism). The small stork skull disrupts the quiet authority of the room, mechanically clapping its bill at irregular intervals. The fact that these birds don’t have vocal chords seem to be a significant fact in this context. ‘Triumphal Arch (Bowels)’ with its combination of the digestive tract going through a crown and the ruined state of the arc starts to play a significant role under these circumstances. The series of four so-called Legend paintings are a visual guide to divulge nuances and details of the anecdotes used to make the installation.

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