NEUES DEUTSCHLAND

Von Tom Mustroph 22.12.2009 / Berlin / Brandenburg

Ironische Weltenretter

Zehn türkische und kurdische Künstler in der Galerie Tanas

S. Özmen »Kreuzung« Foto: Tanas

Manche Dinge sind nicht einfach. Die Welt zu retten zum Beispiel. Erst recht, wenn man nur 90 Tage Zeit hat. Die zehn türkischen Künstler, deren Werke insgesamt 90 Tage in der Galerie Tanas in der Gruppenausstellung »Nicht einfach, die Welt in 90 Tagen zu retten« präsentiert werden, beschränken sich daher auf subtile ironische Interventionen.

»Ich kann nicht die ganze Welt ändern oder sie einer kompletten Analyse unterziehen. Aber ich kann auf meine Art eingreifen«, sagt Cengiz Tekin. Der im kurdischen Diyarbakir lebende Künstler unternimmt dies auf eindrucksvolle Art und Weise. Seine fotografischen Inszenierungen geraten zu Allegorien der Wirklichkeit. In »Normalisierung« etwa platziert er eine traditionelle Familie in einem mit Teppichen ausstaffierten Raum, dessen rechte Hälfte von einem ein mächtiges Loch ausschachtenden Mann besetzt wird. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob der Bauarbeiter in diesen privaten Raum eingedrungen ist oder die Bewohner sich, vom permanenten Prozess des Bauens und Abreißens abgestumpft, hier einfach häuslich eingerichtet haben. Für Tekin symbolisiert die Grube jene Löcher, die der Krieg in die Gesellschaften des Mittleren Ostens reißt.

»Freistoß« hingegen bildet die neuen Möglichkeiten, die sich nach der Entspannung der Situation in den 90er Jahren ergeben haben, metaphorisch ab. Jeder kann nun wie der Mittelstürmer des örtlichen Fußballklubs zu einem Freistoß antreten und darauf hoffen, diese Ausgangslage in einen Vorteil umzumünzen. Die Verhältnisse wären aber nur unzureichend beschrieben, wollte man nicht auch auf die gucken, die sich diesen neuen Möglichkeiten ängstlich entgegen stellen. Tekin hat seine Familie eine Mauer im Strafraum bilden lassen. Fußball-geschult schützen die Männer mit ihren Händen die Unterleibspartien. Auch die jüngere Schwester verhält sich so. Mutter und Großmutter des Künstlers stellen sich ohne diesen Schutz verzagt dem Mittelstürmer entgegen. Der jüngere Bruder, der vermutlich noch am häufigsten selbst Fußball spielt, krümmt sich angesichts des bulligen Profis, der ihm gegenüber steht, und in Erwartung eines fulminanten Schusses furchtsam zusammen. Das Doppelpanorama aus Möglichkeiten und Zumutungen ist grandios in Szene gesetzt.

Bei einem weiteren Werk von Tekin stellt sich heraus, dass die sich im ersten Moment aufdrängenden Lesarten mitunter in die Irre führen können. Ein paar Buben werfen lachend einen Haufen Geldscheine in die Luft und lassen an ein Ritual des großzügigen Schenkens und Tauschens denken. Jedoch handelt es sich um das exakte Gegenteil. Tekin, der als Kunsterziehungslehrer an einer Grundschule arbeitet, nimmt seinen Schülern, die sich exzessiv dem Glücksspiel hingeben, immer wieder das dabei verwendete Falschgeld ab. Den im Bild zu sehenden Kindern, die nach der Schule auf den Feldern arbeiten und gar nicht die Gelegenheit zu dieser Art von Freizeitvergnügen haben, gab er die Scheine. Doch diese vorzeitig Erwachsenen erkannten die Geldscheine als falsch und damit wertlos und warfen sie deshalb in die Luft.

Großes ironisches Potenzial weisen auch die Arbeiten von Sener Özmen, Köken Ergun und Servet Kocyigit auf. Letzterer formt aus bunten gehäkelten Deckchen, die von Ferne an Neonelemente erinnern, den Spruch: »Alles, was du über türkische Männer hörst, ist wahr«. Özmen ist mit seiner ebenfalls in der Ausstellung »Istanbul Next Wave« im Gropius Bau zu sehenden Videoarbeit, die zwei als Sancho Pansa und Don Quixote verkleidete Künstler den Weg zur Londoner Tate Modern suchen lässt, präsent. »Natürlich ist klar, dass die Tate Modern nicht unmittelbar hinter dem Gebirgszug liegt, den die Männer durchstreifen. Aber mir war von vorneherein klar, dass ich mit diesem Video in der Tate Modern landen werde«, beschreibt Özmen seine launige Doppelstrategie.

Köken Ergun schließlich lässt in seinem Video einen Panzer durch eine kleine dänische Ortschaft fahren und verlagert so die früher in Kurdistan allgewärtige Militärpräsenz ins satte und friedliche Nordeuropa. Mit dem neuen, von Angst getrübten Blick der Europäer auf die islamische Welt spielt Fikret Atay mit seinem Video »Theorists«. Bei den »Theoretikern« handelt es sich um Koranschüler, die nach simpler westlicher Lesart allesamt potenzielle Terroristen sind und hier Suren murmelnd den Raum durchschreiten.

Die Ausstellung ist von dem exzellenten Türkeikenner René Block zusammengestellt. Weil das Gros der Künstler nicht aus dem mittlerweile unglaublich gehypten Istanbul stammt, sondern entweder im Ausland lebt oder noch im heimischen Diyarbakir arbeitet, weitet die Ausstellung den Blick auf die zeitgenössische türkische Kunstszene. »In Diyarbakir kann ich in Ruhe arbeiten. Man kommt von hier aus vielleicht nicht nach Istanbul, aber doch in die Welt«, meint lächelnd Cengiz Tekin. Und Galerist Block hält seine Ausstellung für eine »vitale Ergänzung« der Istanbul-Ausstellungen, die gegenwärtig im Martin Gropius Bau stattfinden. Die Ausstellung in der Galerie Tanas ist nicht nur vital; sie sprüht über vor Witz und Lebendigkeit.

Tanas, Heidestr. 50, bis 13.3. 2010, Di.-Sa. 11-18 Uhr, Informationen unter

sabah gazetesi

La Friche La Belle

Arts visuels
Les 12 et 13 janvier 2009
EXPOSITION COLLECTIVE
Vernissage le samedi 9 janvier à 18h30
EMPLOI SAISONNIER
Une proposition de Sextant et plus

Sextant et plus, associée à Culture France et IKSV, présente 3 expositions, 3 points de vue singuliers, 3 histoires qui parfois s’entrecroisent, 3 écrits à plusieurs mains qui se nourrissent d’une création contemporaine plurielle :

“ Une partie des mots qui m’ont été jusqu’à ce jour mystérieusement interdits ” avec Sener Özmen, Cengiz Tekin et Berat Isik
“ Arrangements ” avec Elmas Deniz, Mehmet Dere, Cevdet Erek, Deniz Gül, Borga Kanturk, Ahmet Ogut, Canan Senol, Merve Sendil et Gokce Suvari
“ La Ville Blanc ” (Die Weisser Stadt) un projet du collectif Xurban

Organisées dans le cadre de La Saison de la Turquie en France (juillet 2009 à mars 2010), ces expositions s’inscrivent dans un projet global qui inclut également un programme de résidences d’artistes de Turquie à Marseille, en amont, et l’édition d’un catalogue à l’issue des expositions.

		Horaires : ouverte du mardi au samedi de 15h à 19h Lieu : Galerie de la Friche Entrée libre Renseignements : Sextant et plus au 04 95 04 95 94

http://www.monopol-magazin.com/termine/berlin-tanas-nicht-einfach-welt-90-tage-retten

art-in-berlin

Nicht einfach, die Welt in 90 Tagen zu retten, TANAS Berlin

(Einspieldatum: 18.12.2009)

Der Weg zur Tate Modern ist steinig. Der schmale Pfad führt durch karge Gebirgslandschaften, fernab von jeglicher Zivilisation, zwischen Bauern, Bächen und Felsen.

Sener Özmen und Erkan Özgen, zwei türkische Gegenwartskünstler, wandern in ihrem Film „Road to Tate Modern“ (2003) als Don Quijote und Sancho Pansa mit Stock und Esel durch den „wilden Balkan“. Ihr Ziel: Das bekannteste Museum für Moderne Kunst Europas.
Nicht die Tate Modern, aber der Projektraum „Tanas Berlin“ stellt derzeit Werke zeitgenössischer türkischer Künstler aus und beweist mit der Ausstellung „Nicht einfach, die Welt in 90 Tagen zu retten“, dass die Türkei keineswegs als künstlerisches Hinterland gelten kann. Mit dieser Einschätzung sind die Ausstellungsmacher nicht allein. Auch in der Akademie der Künste und im Gropius-Bau scheint die türkische Kunstszene Einzug gefunden zu haben. Mit dem großangelegten Projekt „Istanbul Next Wave“ wird gleich in drei Ausstellungen Istanbul als neue Kunstmetropole gefeiert. René Block, der die Ausstellung für „Tanas“ kuratiert hat, versucht hingegen den Blick über die Grenzen der Metropole auszuweiten und junge, international noch unbekannte Kunstszenen aus Izmir, Ankara, Eskisehir und Diyarbakir mit einzubeziehen.
Die Türkei auf Tate-Modern-Kurs?



Die Spannung zwischen Tradition und Moderne erscheint dabei in vielen der Fotografien und Videoarbeiten als das grundlegende Thema. „Free Kick“ (2005) von Cengiz Tekin zeigt einen Fußballer vor dem Freistoß. Vor ihm bilden kopftuchtragende Frauen, schnurrbärtige Männer und Kinder eine „Mauer“. Die Familie als Wächter von Tradition wird zur Einschränkung, zum Hindernis.
Auch der Film „Mirage“ (2009) von Halil Altindere spielt mit Brüchen und kontrastierenden Lebenswelten, wenn ein hagerer, einfach gekleideter Mann mit einem Bodybuilder konfrontiert wird. Oder wenn sechs betende und wild gestikulierende Bauern auf einer Traktorschaufel wie Kinder in einem Leiterwagen durch die Ackerlandschaft gekarrt werden. Die Gebete-murmelnden Köpfe wippen im Takt der Erschütterungen und wirken lächerlich altmodisch, während die Ausrichtung nach Mekka durch die Bewegung des Traktors ad absurdum geführt wird. Klischees von türkischer Tradition, Familie und Religion werden in diesen Arbeiten angekratzt. Es entsteht ein bröckelndes, zerrissenes Bild einer Türkei – kurz vor dem Freistoß.
Gelangweilt, fast mechanisch scheinen auch die uniformierten Männer in Servet Kocyigits Videoarbeit „shake it ´til it drops“ (2007) an eingefahrenen Traditionen festzuhalten. Zu orientalischer Musik schütteln sie mit lustlosen Mienen eine Bauchtänzerin hin und her – wobei der im Titel angekündigte „Fall“ ausbleibt.

Bodybuilder und Bauer, Fußballstar und Kopftuch – findet man die Realität der Türkei zwischen diesen Polen? Manche Bilder lassen die Gegensätzlichkeiten auf den ersten Blick plakativ erscheinen. Und dennoch, gerade das provokative Spiel mit den Klischees und deren Verwandlung in Karikaturen ist es, was diese Positionen so erfrischend macht: „Everything you heard about turkish men is true“, so bekennt Servet Kocyigits ironischer Schriftzug aus zusammengesetzten Garnrollen. „Everything you heard about turkish art is true“ - so könnte man den Satz umwandeln und gleichzeitig entlarven, dass wir kaum etwas über türkische Kunst wissen. Die Türkei als Hinterland der Gegenwartskunst, das den Weg zur Tate Modern mit Packeseln beschreitet, gibt es nicht. Und so führt uns die viel versprechende „Road to Tate Modern“ nicht nach London, sondern vielmehr direkt nach Diyarbakir.

Abbildung:
- Servet Kocyigit, Motherland, 2007
Courtesy: The artist, Copyright: Tanas Berlin
- Cengiz Tekin, Normalizasyon
C-Print auf Dibond, 150 x 200 cm
Courtesy: The artist, Copyright: Tanas Berlin

Künstlerliste:
Halil Altindere, Fikret Atay, Köken Ergun, Ali Kazma, Servet Kocyigit, Ahmet Ögüt, Erkan Özgen, Sener Özmen, Cengiz Tekin, Nasan Tur

Öffnungszeiten:
Di-Sa 11-18 Uhr

TANAS Berlin
Heidestraße 50
10557 Berlin

tanasberlin.de

Not easy to save the world in 90 days

Group exhibition 15/12/ - 13/3/2010 Opening:December 12, 5 – 9 pm The recent Turkish art scene. Curated by René Block exhibition 15/12/ - 13/3/2010

Riot/Emeute

Video

4-6 aralik

Centre Pompidou, Paris

PART 1

Servet Koçyiğit, Shake it ‘till it drops, 2007

Şener Özmen & Cengiz Tekin, One Day a T and a K, 2009

Bengü Karaduman, in place of silent words, 2009

Ahmet Öğüt, Things we count, 2008

PART 2

Nevin Aladağ, Raise the Roof, 2007

Nilbar Güreş, The Letter, 2006

Ferhat Özgür, A Young girl is growing up, 2003

Aslı Süngü, Püff, 2002

Küratör : Azra Tüzünoğlu

Ya Türk demokrasi tablosunun fiyatı?

http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=RadikalYazarYazisi&ArticleID=966788&Yazar=AY%DEEG%DCL%20S%D6NMEZ&Date=30.11.2009&CategoryID=113

Diyarbakır'dan 'mesaj' var

ECE KOÇAL

yaşayan sanatçılar Şener Özmen ile Cengiz Tekin, 'Orijinal Mesaj' sergisiyle Batı'nın Doğu algısını ve güncel siyaseti sorguluyor

Diyarbakır'da yaşayan ve çalışan sanatçılar Şener Özmen (38) ile Cengiz Tekin'in (32), 2006-2009 yılları arasında birlikte ürettikleri ve ilk sergileri olan 'Orijinal Mesaj' sergisi, günümüz toplumsal-siyasal olayları üzerine düşünüyor ve düşündürtüyor. Birbirine bağlı dört videodan ve fotoğraflardan oluşan sergi, Türkiye'deki politik sıkıntılara geniş bir perspektif de sunuyor.





Şener Özmen öncelikle sergi ismini neden 'orijinal mesaj' koyduklarını açıklıyor: "2000'lerin başından bugüne dek Doğu'da üretilenlere İstanbul'dan klişeler yüklendi. Üretilenlerin bir mesaj vermesi gerekiyormuş gibi algılandı. Mesaj verilen yer ya bir sanat çevresi ya devlet katı olacaktı... 'Orijinal mesaj' aslında görünürde hiçbir şey iletmeyen, böyle bir derdi olmayan bir isim. 'Aslında sizin ilettikleriniz kötü de, biz iyisini iletiyoruz' da demedik." Bu bir anlamda 'Siz boşuna mesaj aramayın, biz kendi mesajımızı kendimiz veririz' anlamına da geliyordu sanki...

Sergideki çalışmaların çoğunda toprak görüyoruz; kısacası toprağa bağlı bir durum var ama iki sanatçı sırf buradan hareketle serginin okumasının yapılamacağını anlatıyor: "Bazı şeyler çok klişeleşti. Bunlardan çıkmalı artık. Sergideki Bir Gün Bir T ve K videosunda da bu var. K'nın ve T'nin Türk mü, Kürt mü oldukları belli değil. Film böyle bir işaret vermiyor. Bir şeyden kaçıyorlar ama neden kaçtıklarını bilmiyoruz. Bir kavga ediyor, bir barışıyorlar. Biri bir şeyle uğraşırken, diğeri korkudan titriyor. En sonunda biri ölüyor gibi gözüküyor. Film, ilk bakışta 'Noluyor burada?' dedirtiyor. Bu, tam da önemli olan soru. Gerçekten o bölgede ne oluyor? Projeksiyonu oraya çevirip 'Ne oluyor?' demek gerekiyor."

DERİN DEVLET HENDEĞİ
Cengiz Tekin'in Normalizasyon isimli çalışmasında, oturma odasındaki bir ailenin yanıbaşında bir hendek açıldığını görüyoruz. "90'lı yıllarda derin devlet söylemleri hayatımızda çok yer aldı. Gerçek bir travma yaşadık burada. Bu durum, evin insanlarının buluştuğu oturma odasında derin bir oyuk açtı" diyor Tekin. Sanatçıların bu son çalışmaları bir tür 'iyileşme dönemi yapıtları' olarak değerlendiriliyor. Bunun açıklamasını şöyle yapıyor Şener Özmen: "Uzun bir dönem, çok hızlandırılmış bir sanat pratiği vardı. Biz kendimizi birer sanat işçisi olarak gördük. Ve nitekim küratörler de bize devamlı 'Çalışın,' diyorlardı. O zaman hep yarım işler üretiyoruz; hep bir yerde kalan, bir şey söyleyecekmiş gibi davranan ama aslında bir şey söylememeye çalışan simgesel bir dil var. Şiir gibi, sürekli gizliyorsun. Çok derinlere gidersen, ana dil, baskı birçok şey çıkıyor içinden. O dönemde sorunlu, psişik işler çıkıyordu. Gelişme döneminde biraz geri çekilip hem sanata hem yaşadığımız topluma bakmamız, bize daha sağlıklı bakış açıları verdi. Poşunun içinden kafamızı çıkaramayabilirdik."

Özmen ve Tekin'in en çok duydukları soru tabii ki Diyarbakır'da sanatçı olmakla İstanbul'da sanatçı olmak arasında ne gibi farklar olduğu... Şener Özmen soruyu şöyle yanıtlıyor: "Bu soruya şöyle cevap verilmeli: Çok kötü durumdayız, her şeyden yoksunuz. Oysa böyle bir şey yok. İstanbul'da kümelenmiş güncel sanat camiasının dikkatini çekmek için üretilen bir söylemdi. Bu söylemler artık midemi bulandırıyor. Gerçek hiç de öyle değil. 'Sizler çok daha iyisiniz, çünkü her şey elimizin altında; bizler kötüyüz, çünkü elimizin altında bir şey yok,' denildi. Bu düşünce biçimi üzerinden sanat üretenler var. Öyle bir şey yok. En kötü dönemde bile iş yaptık. Oradan kamera kiraladık, buradan film aldık."

Sergi, 9 Aralık'a dek Tophane'deki Outlet// İhraç Fazlası Sanat'ta izlenebilir.
Tel: 0212 245 55 05

Nicht einfach, die Welt in 90 Tagen zu retten

TANAS DER ORT

Die türkische Kunst- und Kulturszene hat sich, insbesondere in Istanbul, in den letzten Jahren rasant entwickelt. In den 1980er Jahren haben junge türkische Künstler den Bruch mit der traditionellen Kunst ihres Landes vollzogen, zunächst unbeachtet von der Öffentlichkeit im eigenen Land und der globalen Kunstszene. Nach Jahren der Isolation meldete sich diese Künstlergeneration in den 1990er Jahren auch international zu Wort und setzte politisch engagiert, ästhetisch radikal und mit neuen bildnerischen Argumenten maßgebliche Zeichen. Auch die seit 1987 bestehende Istanbul Biennale erfuhr in dieser Zeit zunehmend an Bedeutung und hat seither einen hohen Stellenwert für die zeitgenössische Kunst, nicht nur in der Türkei. Mit der Biennale von Istanbul wurde die Bildung eines lokalen und internationalen Netzwerks in Gang gesetzt, dessen Ausformung nach wie vor in erster Linie von Privatpersonen und privaten Stiftungen vorangetrieben wird. Einige große Unternehmen und Bankhäuser haben neue Ausstellungsorte eingerichtet, wie etwa Borusan, Platform Garanti oder PROJE 4L, die alle ausdrücklich eine Plattform für die Diskussion neuer und avantgardistischer Tendenzen bilden sollen. Neben dem Mitte der 1990er Jahre gegründeten Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art entstand kürzlich SantralIstanbul, ein der Bilgi-Universität angegliedertes Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, das zugleich auch Kultur- und Bildungszentrum ist und das erste internationale Artist-in-Residence Programm der Türkei beherbergt. Um die Jahrtausendwende sprach man angesichts dieser Entwicklung sogar vom "Wunder von Istanbul", ein Phänomen, das nicht zuletzt im Zusammenhang mit den Diskussionen um die EU-Erweiterung damals für besonders hohe Aufmerksamkeit gegenüber zeitgenössischer Kunst aus der Türkei gerade im deutschsprachigen Raum sorgte, wie zahlreiche Ausstellungsprojekte belegen. Mit dem Projektraum Tanas sollen die fortlaufenden Entwicklungen der zeitgenössischen türkischen Kunst weiter verfolgt und in Berlin präsentiert werden - in enger Zusammenarbeit mit türkischen Kulturschaffenden und unabhängig von repräsentativen Pflichten. Tanas versteht sich als Plattform der kontinuierlichen Auseinandersetzung und regelmäßigen Interaktion von türkischen Künstlern und Kuratoren mit dem deutschen und internationalen Publikum. Berlin bildet hierfür den richtigen Standort, sowohl hinsichtlich der hiesigen Kulturlandschaft als auch der gesellschaftlichen und politischen Implikationen. Nicht zuletzt verbindet Istanbul und Berlin seit 1988 eine Städtepartnerschaft, in deren Rahmen durch Stipendienprogramme und Kooporationen kultureller Institutionen ein feines Beziehungsgeflecht im Bereich der Kunst entstanden ist. Der Projektraum Tanas wird von René Block betreut, der damit seine 14.12. – 13.3.2010 Eröffnung: 12. Dezember, 17 – 21 Uh TANAS, Heidestr. 50, Aufgang 2, 10557 Berlin Foto: Uwe Walter/Berlin langjährige Auseinandersetzung mit zeitgenössischer Kunst aus der Türkei fortführt. Bereits 1994 präsentierte er mit Iskele. Türkische Kunst (ifa-Galerie, Stuttgart) einen Überblick über eine damals noch unbekannte Szene. 1995 setzte er unter dem Titel Orient/ation neue Maßstäbe für die Istanbul Biennale und 1998 folgte die Ausstellung Iskorpit - Aktuelle Kunst aus Istanbul (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin). Zurzeit ist René Block zudem mit der Herausgabe einer Reihe von Monografien über türkische Künstler beim YKY Verlag, Istanbul, betraut. Tanas entsteht in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der Vehbi Koç Foundation in Istanbul. Die Vehbi Koç Foundation fördert Projekte im edukativen, sozialen und kulturellen Bereich und gründete 1980 mit dem Sadberk Hanim Museum das erste private Museum der Türkei. Das Wort TANAS ist ein Anagramm von Sanat, dem türkischen Wort für Kunst.

Outlet'ten orijinal mesajlar

STANBUL - Outlet//İhraç Fazlası Sanat, Şener Özmen ve Cengiz Tekin’in birlikte hazırladıkları, bugüne kadar izleyici karşısına çıkmamış ‘Orijinal Mesaj’ isimli video ve fotoğraf çalışmalarına ev sahipliği yapıyor. Özmen ve Tekin’in 2006-2009 yılları arasında birlikte ürettikleri, Türkiye’nin toplumsal ve siyasal temelinde ‘iz bırakan’ meseleleri irdeleyen ‘Umut’, ‘Manzara’, ‘Bravo’, ‘Bir gün bir T ve bir K’ isimli birbirine bağlı dört yapıttan oluşan video serisi Outlet’in alt katında izleyiciyle buluşurken, Özmen ve Tekin’in yeni dönem fotoğraf işleri mekanın giriş katında takip edilebilecek. ‘Orjinal Mesaj’, 1 Aralık-9 Ocak tarihleri arasında açık kalacak. 0212-245 55 05 (Kültür Sanat)

http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=RadikalHaberDetay&Date=28.11.2009&ArticleID=966550

'Orjinal Mesaj'

stratejik analysis studies 3

THE 2009 ATTITUDE FESTIVAL

___________________________________________

THE 2009 ATTITUDE FESTIVAL
26 – 30 JUNE 2009 BITOLA MACEDONIA
CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC ARTS BITOLA MACEDONIA
http://ccpaelementi.blogspot.com
This is the 5th time that we are organising The Attitude Festival in the city of Bitola. Each year there were numerous artists participating, from all over the Europe and World.
The selected video art and experimental film will be shown in public spaces this year, in front of the banks within the city, as a reaction to financial crises and globalization of the financial market:
“The capital does not create the poorness but invents it. This system which is threatened not only by the energy crises but much more by the individual crises, encouraged and leaded from the connection of material luxury , mental disaster and abuse of the necessity to propagandize the importance of the economy, portrays that the society is being directed towards the discourse of general catastrophe. In this stadium of social reality in which the hyper-reality is becoming the reality, the manipulation of truth is imposing as absolute focus. This focus on the problem which leads us to the problem resisting of capitalistic domination, at the same time gives us the possibility to fight against it, not accepting it as a moral but also not as an unmoral , but above all creating a net of signs which would direct towards displacing the gravitation of the reality and that would comes up into the loss of the power concentrated in the governance. But if this kind of disarranging the historical myth would release us from the ominous and false function of the things which are leading us to the loss of real essence? Where the new seduction begins – through power of the money or through the power of the artwork?”
The Attitude Festival has collaborated with numerous cultural organizations (Art Expo Italy, Prima Centre Berlin/Skopje, The One Minutes Foundation Amsterdam, EAF Adelaide, Remont Belgrade, SKUC Galerija Ljubljana, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje Macedonia, Franz West Studio Wien, Visura Aperta Zagreb and others).
Open Space at The Attitude Festival
Project curator: Gülsen Bal
Participant artist:
Peter Mörtenböck and Helge Mooshammer
Alban Muja
Şener Özmen & Cengiz Tekin

potlatch 2009,

...

zirve mi ?

TRACTATUS / Yönetmenler Directors: Cengiz Tekin, Şener Özmen / 2006 / 7'31"

VERY SMALL DISTORTIONS IN THE ORDER

The International İstanbul Film Festival this year opens itself to video art for the first time with a programme consisting of works of artists from Turkey. Cinema structures a (very) ordered system due to the production methods its industry imposes on itself and due to its perpetually controlled perceptive mechanisms. Taking advantage of the free zones that contemporary art creates, video brings a "distortion", an aesthetic and political alternative to this order. The works that the viewer is to discover in this section push the boundaries of the white screen. The image shakes, shifts, narrows and widens from time to time, the screen is split, the space is ambiguous, the focus is lost, bodies dissolve in the background, taboos are visible, İstanbul catches fire, an earthquake shakes the movie theatre (very) small distortions in the cinema order call the audience to new discoveries and new experiences.
Uluslararası İstanbul Film Festivali, son dönem Türkiyeli sanatçıların eserlerinden oluşan bir programla ilk olarak bu yıl video sanatına açılıyor. Sinema gerek endüstrinin dayattığı üretim yöntemlerinden, gerek sinema dilinin görece katı kodlarından, gerekse algı mekanizmalarının sürekli kontrol altında olmasından dolayı (çok) düzenli bir sistem oluşturuyor. Video güncel sanatın yarattığı serbest bölgelerden yararlanarak bu düzene bir "bozukluk", estetik ve politik bir alternatif getiriyor. Bu bölümde izleyicinin keşfedeceği eserler beyaz ekranın sınırlarını zorluyor. Görüntü titriyor, kaymalar başlıyor, zaman kâh daralıyor kâh genleşiyor, ekran bölünüyor, mekân belirsizleşiyor, netlik kayboluyor, vücutlar arka planda eriyor, tabular görünür oluyor, İstanbul yanıyor, sinemada deprem oluyor... Sinema düzeninde (çok) küçük bozukluklar, seyirciyi yeni keşiflere, yeni deneyimlere çağırıyor.
HİCAP / Yönetmen: Canan Şenol / 2007 / 5'
SHAKE IT 'TIL IT DROPS / Yönetmen: Servet Koçyiğit / 2007 / 4'
ACAİB'ÜL MAHLÛKAT STRANGE CREATURE / Yönetmen: Canan Şenol / 2006 / 4'
ECE / Yönetmen: Songül Boyraz / 2005 / 1'
7.4.4 / Yönetmen: Selda Asal / 2004 / 1'54"
BENİM BÜTÜN KÂBUSLARIM ALL MY NIGHTMARES / Yönetmen: Ethem Özgüven / 3'20"
MONODIALOG LIQUIDWARE 2.1 :MK / Yönetmen: :mentalklinik / Ekip Working Team: Kerem Demirbaş, Selami Şimşek, Yıldırım / 2008 / 9'12"
BİRTEK / Yönetmen: Evrim Kavçar / 2008 / 1'
TRACTATUS / Yönetmenler Directors: Cengiz Tekin, Şener Özmen / 2006 / 7'31"
BEBEKLER THE DOLLS / Yönetmen: Erkan Özgen / 2005 / 3'30"
BİR YER A PLACE / Yönetmen: Nasan Tur / 2004 / 6'40"
KAYIP BEDEN LOST BODY / Yönetmen: Erkan Özgen / 2005 / 4'30"
KISA DEVRE SHORT CIRCUIT / Yönetmen: Ahmet Öğüt / 2006 / 3'30"
PSYCHO / Yönetmen: Berat Işık / 2001 / 2'40"
KABRİSTAN CEMETERY / Yönetmen: Ozan Emre Han / 45''
POMPA PUMP / Yönetmen: extramücadele / 2008 / 3'
KIRMIZILI KADIN WOMAN IN RED / Yönetmen: Berat Işık / 2008 / 3'
KÖLE SLAVE / Yönetmen: Hakan Yonat / Senaryo Screenplay: Extramücadele / Müzik: Baba Zula / 2008 / 4'
2 HIT COMBO / Yönetmen: Gökhan Okur / 1'
SCARLATTI'YLE KAVGA ETMEDEN KAÇ YA DA VENEDİK'İN KAVGA TARİHİ / Yönetmen: Ozan Emre Han / 1'05"
"RENDU" / Yönetmen: Karahaber - Oktay İnce / 5'
HEY WORLD, HEAR MY VOICE / Yönetmen: Selda Asal / 2008 / 8'30"
TINICA / Yönetmen: Fikret Atay / 2004 / 7'30"
İSTANBUL / Yönetmen: Ozan Adam / 2007 / 8'
AVLUDA IN THE COURTYARD / Yönetmen: Cevdet Erek / 4'30"
SHOPPING WATER / Yönetmen: Genco Gülan / 2006 / 10'07"
YIKILSIN! LET IT GO DOWN! / Yönetmen: Ozan Emre Han / 59''
PFHH! / Yönetmen: Aslı Süngü / 2002 / 3'
EYES WIDE SHUT / Yönetmen: Berat Işık / 2001 / 3'
KONSER II CONCERT II / Yönetmen: Ozan Emre Han / 1'15"
ÇİZGİLER SİLİNİYOR THE LINES ARE BEING ERASED / Yönetmen: Ozan Emre Han / 19''
NO (OR BAD) SIGNAL / Yönetmen: Ali Demirel / 1998 / 4'20"
DANCER IN THE DARK / Yönetmen: Berat Işık / 2003 / 2'
İSİMSİZ UNTITLED / Yönetmen: Çınar Eslek / 2008 / 2'
KON / Yönetmen: Onur Uyar / 2006 / 4'
RÖNTGEN / Yönetmen: Çınar Eslek / 2008 / 2'20"
DEMONOID / Yönetmen: Ali Demirel / 2001 / 4'20"

stratejik analiz dersleri 1

Cengiz Tekin'in ışığı, kompozisyonu ve ismiyle Rembrandt'a göz kırpan "Stratejik Analiz Dersleri" çalışması, geçen yıl başladığı dizinin ikinci fotoğrafı. Sanatçı; Koçyiğit'le aynı coğrafyalara ait bir derdi paylaşıyor ve metaforunu yine kadın üzerinden kuruyor. Bu kurgusal fotoğrafında Tekin; açıkça görülen ama dilsiz bir tartışmanın içinde konuşan en güçlü figür olarak bir kadını işaretliyor. Kompozisyonun tam ortasında ancak biraz arkada duran kadın; Ortadoğu'nun en mühim sembollerinden birini; bir karpuzu elinde tutuyor. Fotoğrafın ışığı onu oldukça net görmemizi sağlıyor. Erkek grupları önde fısıltılarla tartışıyorlar. Kadın hiçbiriyle diyalogta değil. O tek başına. Ve tek başına büyük bir sorumluluğu taşıyor gibi..Karpuza saplanmış bıçak; yeniden bıçaksırtı dengelerin bir metaforu olarak karşımıza çıkıyor. Ülke/vatan ve kadın imgeleri yine çakışıyor..Karpuz ağırlığı ve kıpkırmızı kalbiyle, stratejik oyunların metaforik dersine konuk oluyor. azra tüzünoğlu...

2008 eskizlerim...

2008

The Stranger Erlkönig Süreyyya Evren

Although Turkey has been hosting various immigrants from different countries (i.e. Iran, Nigeria, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Moldova, etc.) in recent decades, it continues to have the category of »the Stranger,« who is crucial in the construction of Turkish national identity, and who has been in this position since the beginning of the Turkish Republic. This »privilege« of being considered as »the Stranger« is given to people who are categorized as »others within ourselves.«These strangers, who originate from »us« – the Ottoman Empire – and who on various political grounds played an important role as the other for the new Turkish Republic, are the ones who in the national imagination supposedly represent the biggest threat (the ethnic side of this spectrum contains most prominently Armenians, Kurds and Jewish immigrants, and Arabs of various origins). The politically threatening stranger is the real alien figure for both the nationalists and the state. The way those strangers are represented in society thus constitutes a major concern. There are various control mechanisms over their actual persons, but also there are various control mechanisms for their representations. Sociologically, there are many differences in the ways these representations are repressed in detail. But here I will be mostly interested in the ways artists deal with the control mechanisms over strangers (and especially »the Strangers«) and the control mechanisms over their representations.If we are aiming to focus on how today’s art learnt to deal with the figure of the Stranger, it is necessary to work out how artists dismantle various control mechanisms over the »specters of the strangers.« And in the Turkish case, because the stranger is understood in a political way, according to the mainstream discourse Kurd is something very close to the communist and Arab is something very close to the Islamist threat. They are also understood as actual human beings with historical content. And repressions over actual beings intermingle with an official history-writing process. Historical ghosts are breathing inside the Strangers…However, if it is essential for all nations to control the movements of ghosts, and if this is done using many forms of repression, resistance against those forms is crucial to let the ghosts be! Specters/ghosts related to Strangers or of Strangers are obviously not free to move under existing conditions.If we take the Turkish case, the Stranger is always redefined by those control mechanisms, which fear ghosts moving independently. Ghosts are supposed to be controlled by the official history and official national identity. There is one discourse that we all have to fit in. Artists interested in acting against these controls deploy several tactics, ranging from ironical disguise of control forms to direct identification with the specters/ghosts of Strangers. In search of artists working against this control, we may find figures of the Stranger reflected freely in the movements of its ghosts.Hiding themselvesArtists deploy sophisticated tactics to identify themselves with the ghosts. One main approach to resisting any repression has always been to give voice to the repressed, but there has been a twin sister: to »give voice« to the silence. Here, the repressed forms hide themselves, talk without words but with silence, without appearance but with non-existence. They find languages of hiding themselves.

Cengiz Tekin, an artist from Diyarbakir, works very interestingly with this hidden discourse, accepting the position of being a ghost, but under this repression still keeping the ghost moving in an uncontrolled way. Thus he interprets the Kurdish question in Turkey in a special manner.In his »Man Behind a Curtain« (2003), we see the naked legs of a man behind a curtain. The carpets and curtain imply a traditional house. Everything is normal and calm. But there is a potential crisis. There is a man hiding behind the curtains and his naked legs imply that he is totally naked. His nakedness is a kind of existence and resistance; he hides himself but he can also expose himself any minute. He wants you to feel that potential by using the language of silence in a rebellious way without the actual rebellion. The language of silence uses potentials and possibilities instead of words. We can read this together with Tekin’s two other works, »Calm Situation« and »Duvets,« and Bulent Sangar’s »Man in the Closet.«»Calm Situation« is striking for its sense of absence, repression and potential. This time we see the total picture of a traditional room (not only curtains and carpets), an everyday scene, with its daily details. A man (»Father«) sits in the middle of the scene. There is nothing unusual here as long as you don’t notice the hand under the man – the hand of the »ghost.« The repressed is buried under the »normal« scene. The violence of daily life and normality is confronted with the hand of the ghost, the rebellious potential again.In the »Duvets« the rebel-ghost shows its existence by hiding itself even more. You can’t silence them anymore because they silence themselves in an even more violent manner in daily life. They are burying themselves under beds, behind curtains or inside a colorful mountain of duvets. Or just inside a closet as in Sangar’s work.Especially the family scene with a buried man under the bed shows how the culture is constructed upon someone whose face you cannot see. You can’t face them. And even in the »Duvets« you see them pressing their own face into colorful traditional duvets so you can’t see their face at all. The ghost doesn’t have a face and does not exist in normal living spaces; the ghost lives in voids, between duvets, under beds, behind curtains, in closets. And that’s the way it speaks.In between the duvets the ghost seems like a pattern, embedded inside the patterns of culture. The ghost of the stranger is a potential monster for the state and mainstream discourse, an Erlkönig, as in Goethe’s poem. The Stranger-as-Erlkönig is considered as a threat to the stranger-as-(harmless)-child and the stranger-as-(cynical)-father.In various ways, artists embrace Erlkönig in an empowering way for the oppressed and for the stranger. By hiding themselves in voids, artists show another face of the Erlkönig, a hidden face, as the rebel in a pose of exaggerated submission.But they also show the Stranger-as-Erlkönig after the rebellion.In a striking example from Cengiz Tekin’s series »Still Life,« we see a different version of hiding yourself in the pattern. This time we see a ghost with a gun. We again can’t see his face. But we can see his gun. He doesn’t seem to be hiding, but rather as if he were shot, and dead. But still, he has a potential. He existed, and his existence is embedded in the patterns of nature. Knowing that is an empowerment for the Stranger-as-Erlkönig. He is a part of the frame at last...The desire for the ErlkönigTekin’s Erlkönig is embedded in daily life, hidden under a bed, under a culture, or shot dead in nature. Erlkönig turns into a tool for inventing a language to make the silence speak. Positioning the stranger as the Stranger-as-Erlkönig or as the stranger who desires to be Erlkönig are two tactical shifts seen in artistic responses to the control mechanisms over strangers. This is obviously more empowering than situating yourself as the powerless and even cynical father.Guido Snel examines how Bosnian poet Semezdin Mehmedinovic was surprised by the rise of Serb nationalist leader Radovan Karadzic as a killer during the war, because formerly Karadzic wrote poems for children. Yugoslavia was a terrible example of evil emerging from inside, monsters emerging from the words of a children’s book even. Just like the Erlkönig’s nice-sounding words attract the child in Goethe’s poem.Mehmedinovic didn’t really want to demonize Karadzic, because he didn’t want to turn evil into metaphysics. But he still continued to refer to the Erlkönig metaphor, and living with his son in Sarajevo under the Serbian siege, he couldn’t help but position himself as the father (and even at times as the son by remembering his own father). Mehmedinovic opens an important area by rethinking the situation in Erlkönig terms – but we can step forward and look at artists who, instead of accepting the ethically comfortable positions of the father and son, desire the Erlkönig inside themselves.Angela Carter, a British writer known for her feminist approach, also works on this »desire for the Erlkönig« theme, but in a slightly different manner. In her short story »The Erl-King,« where she rewrote the poem, the main protagonist is a woman who meets the Erlkönig in the forest and who has an affair with »him.« But then she thinks the Erlkönig will do her harm and in order to pre-empt this, she kills the Erlkönig by strangling him while he is lying on her knee. The last sentence of the short story is remarkable: »Mother, mother, you have murdered me!« Although she has a relationship with the Erlkönig she doesn’t let him inside her and kills »her own imagination.«Here we remember Octave Mirbeau’s novel »The Diary of a Chamber Maid,« where we follow the adventures of the chamber maid Celestine. Most strikingly, in the last episode Celestine falls in love with a man, Joseph, although she is pretty much sure that Joseph raped and killed a small child! Nevertheless, Celestine’s desire for this Erlkönig goes further and she lets the Erlkönig in. In the last paragraph of the novel, she says that Joseph got inside her like a demon, and she feels that she will do whatever he wants, and this could even be a murder!Instead of murdering the imagination she decides to take the Erlkönig in and murder together with him.Speaking through what is hiddenThe Stranger doesn’t talk at a normal pace. He talks faster or slower. Beyond the consensus. And he plays with the consensus mechanisms he sees that exist outside him.The mainstream discourse forces the stranger to be sorry for the child in herself/himself who has been taken in by the Erlkönig. The Stranger is only loved in his innocent and childish form or in his helpless father form. The Stranger wants to express himself as a potential Erlkönig who will take the life of the child in himself. As someone who can’t be forgiven but who is nonetheless desirable. Loving the stranger in its Erlkönig form has crucial consequences. And even having a child by the Stranger-as-Erlkönig…Necla Rüzgar’s French-kissing women with scarves brings to the fore two ghost forms – lesbians and women with scarves. But by mixing them she dislocates many things – repression of the hidden lives of women with scarves, a general repression of women’s position as a sexual subject who searches for her own desires. Instead of marginalizing the category of lesbians, these daily traditional outfits bring the ghost of lesbianism back to traditional daily life.In another work by Rüzgar we see a man, a slaughtered sheep behind the man, and a woman behind that sheep. They are in a kind of »threesome.« A love triangle. The ritual of sacrificing animals is criticized without the sheep being stuck in the position of victim. The sheep becomes part of the family and situates itself behind the man and in front of the woman, just in between them. The classical picture of a family sacrificing a sheep changes into a family sacrificing themselves, or not being able to sacrifice the animal.Similarly in some ways, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk’s film »Bin-jip« (3-Iron, 2004) tells the story of a drifter. He stays in other people’s homes, but the residents can’t see him, and he does housework in return. He is the helping ghost of several houses, an artist of hiding, an artist of being a ghost-being. And at the end of the story, he even becomes the lover of a woman who suffers under a violent husband. This time we have a »happy end« where the woman and her ghost lover live happily ever after in voids…These ghost forms talk with silence, with rests. These repressed forms never talk too much. They can’t talk too much. Their own language is taken away or suspended or repressed. So they express themselves with rests. They talk with hiding, emptiness, voids… We see various types of talking with hiding in the Stranger.Resistance and disobedienceThe Stranger in Cengiz Tekin’s works talks by embedding himself in colors, patterns, nature, everyday life. He is expressing a potential rebellion with this awareness. He is also showing that he is very much aware of the voids and patterns that are left to him. And when he is inside the duvets his neck also looks like a broken neck – is he really alive? Or faking death like some animals do to survive?The stranger is also represented in »hidden rebellions.« Ahmet Ogut’s animation »Light Armoured« depicts a light armored military vehicle in the middle of nowhere. As the animation begins, we slowly start to witness stones being thrown at the army vehicle. Against the powerful form of the military vehicle we have the forms of little stones. Stones are thrown with hands, not with any computer-aided war machine. And the thing is, we can’t see who is throwing the stones. They are coming from a hidden corner. Little by little. Slowly. Never really damaging the military vehicle. But showing that they are there. In the void. In the pattern. They exist. We don’t see the people who are throwing stones, and they don’t even always hit the vehicle. Basically these stones are not being thrown to damage the vehicle but they are being thrown to show that there are people out there who are repressed by this vehicle and who resist and dare to resist it. Here the artist directly identifies himself with forms that are linked to resistance. Again, it works with the language of rests, and the language of silence. People who throw stones do so from a place unseen and without making much noise.We can trace this same theme in Ahmet Ogut’s artwork »School Memory.« Here we see a boy detached from his friends in a school memory photo which is supposed to show their togetherness. And the boy seems proud of it; he is still in the picture, in the frame of their supposed togetherness but in his own detached way. »Civil disobedience« at a very early stage of »society.« The silence of our discontent enters the stage.In the Turkish case there is also a strange two-sidedness. The mainstream national identity discourse declares some people as strangers and as potentially unwanted Erlkönige. But at the same time there is a growing feeling that this national mainstream identity is itself considered as the other, alien identity in the idealized EU conceptualization. Being in the position of the stranger against the EU adds a different psychology to the repression inside the country. Repressive languages also see themselves as victims. And the EU becomes our national identity’s desired other, the desired Erlkönig in a way. We want the EU but it is going to eat us as in Angela Carter’s story. A notorious question is heard: Shall we strangle it beforehand?In the »Temptations of Doctor Antonio« (part of »Boccaccio 70«) Federico Fellini is somehow dealing with the same problem. A prudish man, Doctor Antonio, is fighting against a huge billboard advertisement of Anita Ekberg, which he finds extremely dangerous for the whole society. He works hard to remove the billboard, but he does not succeed, and in his dreams we see that he is actually feeling a strong desire for her. And he also wants to kill her. Here we have a femme fatale Erlkönig (very similar to how we imagine the EU in the mainstream discourse in Turkey). And, like the woman in Carter’s story does, in the end Antonio throws a pike at the billboard to kill her... But of course it is not that easy to kill a »femme fatale Erlkönig«; the next morning Antonio is taken to the hospital, while the billboard is still there…http://www.springerin.at/en/

SPRİNGERİN...