some just walk past the post
post the past past the boast
hit deep see this big hole seep
try you the best the most
some got ready to raise the host
timing time to raise the ghost
– The Infinite Hip-Hop Song (2019)
 
This is the story of how a chance encounter with a mid-nineteenth century pedestal table, that so accurately, and offensively, channeled and celebrated the racial politics that built what we call the modern world, became the starting point for an exhibition. This is also, and by necessity, a story of transformations and causes; why the tousled outline of Boris Johnson's hair ended up an emblem on a banner, or how an early noughties marketing tool for cellphone ringtones and an appropriated meme signaling hatred produced by the hysterical fear of losing white privilege met one day and became something else. This is a tale of surprises; how a dairy shop sign of two cows kissing on the streets of Abdeen becomes the gateway to collective projections, or a smiling ceramic pig on the buffet table of a cheap hotel a totem of collective fears. In this lecture, Hassan Khan will discuss an exhibition titled The Keys to the Kingdom that ran from 18 October 2019 to 1 March 2020 at the Crystal Palace, Reina Sofia in Madrid. The exhibition included an algorithmic hip-hop song, illustrated flags, a ceramic mural of digitally printed computer generated images, glass columns produced by exerting direct pressure and a variety of other forms.

Hassan Khan is an artist, musician, and writer. Recent solo exhibitions include The Keys to the Kingdom, Reina Sofia, Madrid and Host, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover. Both his Anthology of Published and Unpublished Writings (Koenig) and album SUPERSTRUCTURE EP (The Vinyl Factory) were released last year. Hassan Khan is the winner of the Silver Lion Award at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017) and is a Professor of Fine Arts at Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany. He mainly lives and works in Cairo, Egypt.  

Registration

The lecture will be held in English.