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  • Istanbul Biennial THE BIENNIAL AS CURATORIUM by Patricia Watts

    Istanbul Biennial THE BIENNIAL AS CURATORIUM by Patricia Watts

    The 12th Istanbul Biennial, September 2011
    Gathering for the press conference for the 12th Istantul Biennial, Sept. 15, 2011
    Istanbul Biennial curators Jens Hoffmann, left, and Adriano Pedrosa
    The exhibition spaces at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011, designed by Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa
    Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Death by Gun), 1990, Museum of Modern Art
    At the Istanbul Biennial 2011: “Untitled” (Death by Gun), 2011, installation photo by Natalie Barki
    At the Istanbul Biennial 2011: “Untitled” (Passport), 2011, installation photo by Natalie Barki
    Vesna Pavlovic, Search for Landscapes (Projectors), 2001, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Vesna Pavlovic, Search for Landscapes (Projectors), 2001, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Tamas Kaszas and Aniko Lorant, Broadband Bulletin Board, 1998-2009, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Dani Gal, Historical Record Archive, 2005-ongoing, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Ali Kazma, O.K., 2010, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades. The Horror Show File, installation view at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Ala Younis, Tin Soldiers, 2010-11, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Kristen Morgin, The Third of May, 2011, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011, photo by Natalie Barki
    Mona Hatoum, Afghan (Black and Red), 2009, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Hank Willis Thomas, I Am a Man, 2009, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Ahmet Ogut, Perfect Lovers, 2008, installed at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Rivane Neuenschwander, At a Certain Distance (Public  Barriers), 2010, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Renata Lucas, Failure, 2003, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011
    Wilfredo Prieto, Politically Correct, 2009, at the 12th Istanbul Biennial 2011, photo by Natalie Barki

     

    Istanbul Biennial

    THE BIENNIAL AS CURATORIUM
    by Patricia Watts

     

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    This year’s 12th edition of the Istanbul Biennial (Sept. 17-Nov. 13, 2011), designated “Untitled,” is likely to disappoint — that is, if you are looking for what we might expect from a biennial: a large, open-ended survey of recent global contemporary art. What you will see instead is actually akin to a museum exhibition, a focused, thematic and interpreted group of artworks — a curatorium, if you will — and as such, it is a bold (if problematic) move on the part of co-curators Jens Hoffman, director of San Francisco’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, and Adriano Pedrosa, an independent curator based in São Paulo.

    The show these curators did assemble can be seen, when considered on its own terms, as intellectually rigorous and provocative. Yet, presented as a biennial, it comes across as a highly confining exhibition experience with thematic narratives structured around the work of a deceased artist — Felix Gonzalez-Torres — who is not even included the exhibition. What? This “ghost in the shadows” approach does not leave much room for the “open interpretation” that the curators themselves have stated as their goal for the biennial.

    The show draws attention to its own exhibition design, by the architectural office of Ryue Nishizawa in Japan, a nicely done series of white-box viewing spaces, stretching into the distance, each room separated from the other and wrapped with an exterior of corrugated steel siding. The Istanbul Biennial has over 50 solo presentations and five group exhibitions in two buildings at one location — Antrepo on the waterfront in Karaköy and, next door to it, the Istanbul Modern.

    As I’ve mentioned, this non-biennial is structured around concepts and esthetics embodied in the work of Cuban American Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996), and the curators have named the five group exhibitions, with titles such as “Untitled (Death by Gun)”and “Untitled (Passport),”after particular artworks of his, with their themes of gay love, sexuality and loss, and the critical and creative possibilities for understanding history.

    Even if you are familiar with the work of Gonzalez-Torres (who was included posthumously in the 1997 Istanbul Biennial), you might wonder: Why? Why him? And how does using his work as a point of reference illuminate today’s contemporary art practices?

    Just the same (considering the show we have rather than one we might expect), the curators have used the framework of Gonzales-Torres’ work quite effectively as a lens to focus on Latin American, Eastern European and Middle Eastern artists with an emphasis on the political (social, geographical, cultural). Through this means, they have created a curious, and even haunting, departure from the biennial format that leads the viewer on a poetic treasure hunt for some important historical artworks, by Tina Modotti, Martha Rosler, Elizabeth Catlett and Chris Burden, among others.

    As for our expectation that a biennial will give us a cross section of cutting-edge contemporary art, approximately 20 of the installations were commissioned specifically for this edition. But at least 30 works were made before 1999, and some pieces have already been seen in other biennials of recent and not-so-recent years. Newell Harry’s Untitled (Gift Mats) in the 2010 Sydney Biennial, for instance, and Catherine Opie’s Surfers in the 2004 Whitney Biennial.

    And as for our expectation of a global representation, the show includes no Chinese artists, only one East Asian, and a handful of Americans. So this homage exhibition was really designed, instead, to showcase artworks with esthetic strategies similar to those used by Gonzalez-Torres — minimalist and poetic works, a love story, a memorial and works that incorporate his noted takeaways.

    Rather than discussing art from within the framework that the curators have imposed on viewers, I am simply going to summarize some of my favorites, biennial style.

    New kid on the block from Belgrade, Serbia (schooled in the U.S. and now teaching photography at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University), is Vesna Pavlovic. Her installation Search for Landscapes (2011), commissioned for the biennial, is an anthropological study presented as a vintage slide show. With multiple screens and projectors, the work cycles through images from one family’s travels around the world in the 1960s — using a recently outdated medium to examine historic landscapes from the period of its mass popularity.

    The show features several other collections or ephemera-based works, including Hungarian artists Tamás Kaszás and Anikó Loránt’s Broadband Bulletin Board (1998–2009), a wooden structure housing broadsides, drawings and videos of propaganda espousing a bohemian utopian lifestyle. Also, Historical Records Archives (2005–ongoing), assembled by Israeli artist Dani Gal, is a collection of vinyl record albums presented as objects (no sound), including political speeches and other historical events with orations by Martin Luther King, JFK, Hitler and Lenin.

    Los Angeles artist Mungo Thomson‘s 2010 video Untitled (TIME) encapsulates history in a rapid sequence of all the covers of Time magazine from 1923 to 2010. A century passes by your eyes in two minutes in this compressed succession of famous people and world leaders. And, from Istanbul, Ali Kazma‘s video O.K. (2010) captures a government clerk fiercely stamping documents with such intensity and speed that time and space themselves seem to be distorted.

    Perhaps the most provocative work in the biennial is Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show File (2010). This 30-minute video, made with 200-year-old marionettes from the Lupi Collection in Turin, gives us the story of the First Crusade of 1096–1099, a military expedition by western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands, told from the perspectives of Arab historians in Arabic with English subtitles. The film opens with a scene of the plague in Constantinople and goes on to display the bloody battles and civilian massacres, showing us religious war from a peasant’s perspective. The antique marionettes, dressed as Christians and Muslims, present a story that is evocative and telling — a horror show of subjugation despite the beauty of the handcrafted figures, filmic lighting and sets.

    Two other impressive war-related works include Ala Younis’ Tin Soldiers (2010–11) and Kristen Morgin’s The Third Day of May (2011). Younis, who lives in Amman, Jordan, and was born in Kuwait City, presents, on top of a massive table, 12,235 custom-made tin soldiers, produced in numbers proportional to the numbers of active troops in 2010. The soldiers are re-creations of toys that children of noble households are given to prepare them for future rule, fitted with military outfits of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. This work brings home the scale of current militarization in the Arab World.

    The Los Angeles-based Morgin, by contrast, makes her own hand-sculpted and painted clay figurines and constructs 3D version of the famous 1814 painting by Francisco Goya of the execution of a Spanish citizen near Madrid. With equal impact, both works address war and death by gun from a childlike perspective.

    Afghan (Black and Red) of 2009 by Mona Hatoum, the Palestinian sculptor and installation artist who lives in Berlin and London, transforms an afghan rug by cutting out threads in the shape of the Peters Project world map, introduced in 1973 to render a round world on a flat surface, giving a new world view. New York artist Hank Willis Thomas, who lives in Paris, presented I Am a Man, addressing identity politics and referencing the U.S. Constitution, which in 1787, during the slavery era, deemed the African American essentially three-fifths of a man for tax purposes. Included were twenty small paintings with statements like: I AM A MAN, A MAN I AM, WHAT A MAN, I AM YOUR MAN, I AM HUMAN.

    One work, created in honor of Felix Gonzalez-Torres by Turkish artist Ahmet Öǧüt, who lives in Amsterdam, is Perfect Lovers (2008). The artist presents two coins (a euro and a Turkish coin) as precious objects in a vitrine on black velvet, like social readymades. While almost identical formally, the coins have different monetary values. The work mimics Gonzalez-Torres’ artwork (of the same title) that presents two wall clocks working in perfect unison. Both artists highlight the potential contrasts between two seemingly similar realities.

    The most oddly sited work in the show was the multi-part deconstructive fencing that appeared in a few locations, both inside and outside the white cubes, in both buildings on separate floors. Unlabeled and providing an esthetic demarcation, the fences appeared to constitute a carelessly placed and inappropriate exhibition design feature. Yet, after further investigation, I learned that that the wood, wire and cement barriers were Rivane Neuenschwander’s work At a Certain Distance (Public Barriers) (2010). What a relief — rather than intrusive and ill-placed exhibition elements, they turned out to be interesting and intentionally disruptive interventions.

    The show also boasts a potentially dangerous interactive work by Brazilian artist Renata Lucas, entitled Falha (Failure) (2003–11), which at first appeared like an exhibit at a children’s museum. This wall-to-wall large room installation was an obstacle course of hinged plywood sheets with handles, designed to be lifted and lowered, thereby allowing visitors to reconfigure the space. These metaphorical portals, which were almost impossible to move without potentially hurting yourself, seemed awkwardly appropriate for its given title.

    Another oddity is Cuban artist Wilfredo Prieto’s Politically Correct (2009), a minimalist cubed watermelon sitting on the floor seeping juices. The sculpture seems discourteous to the biennial staff, which has to replace it almost daily and deal with any insects or animals it might attract. But I suppose it references Gonzales-Torres’ celebrated candy spills, in which cellophane-wrapped sweets are neatly piled in the corner or spread out on the floor of the gallery. Both works definitely exemplify the transformation of the everyday into a meditation on love and loss, figuratively and literally. The ghost of F.G.T. lives on.

    Overall it was a thoughtful and methodically crafted exhibition. The works were both esthetically and politically engaging. Complicated, yes. Was it a traditional biennial? No. But it does have enough new work from an international representation of artists to keep a visitor interested. And, an added bonus — the Istanbul Biennial is sited in one of the world’s most beautiful and enduring cities, aptly known as a cradle of civilization. While viewers may find it’s organization odd, it is hard to be critical of such a sophisticated and rewarding show.

    PATRICIA WATTS, an independent curator, was formerly chief curator at the Sonoma County Museum in northern California. She has been a curator for ecoartspace since 1999.

    http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/watts/2011-istanbul-biennial.asp

     

    2011 istanbul biennial 7

  • Turkey’s largest mosaic discovered on the Med

    Turkey’s largest mosaic discovered on the Med

    HATAY- Anatolia News Agency

    Drilling work at a construction site in Hatay has unearthed ancient works including an 850-square-meter mosaic. Said to be Turkey’s largest, the mosaic will be exhibited in a new hotel at the site along with other discoveries

    Thanks to the artifacts discovered, Hatay will have another museum, according to mayor Lütfü Savaş. The hotel will display the precious works when it opens. AA photo
    Thanks to the artifacts discovered, Hatay will have another museum, according to mayor Lütfü Savaş. The hotel will display the precious works when it opens. AA photo

    Archaeological treasures, including a large mosaic, have been found during drilling at a construction site for a new hotel in the southern province of Hatay. The mosaic found during the drilling is 850 square meters and estimated to be the largest mosaic discovered in Turkey. As a result of the discovered artifacts the construction project will now only employ man power and the hotel will display the precious works when it opens.

    Antakya Municipal Mayor Lütfü Savaş, deputy manager Faik Selçuk Kızılkaya and Hatay Museum manager Nalan Yastı evaluated the latest discoveries at the hotel construction site on the Hatay-Reyhanlı road. The construction project belongs to businessman Necmi Asfuroğlu.

    Thanks to the artifacts discovered the city will have another museum, Mayor Savaş said, adding that the construction works are still continuing. The hotel will also contribute to employment in the city in Hatay. The hotel will consist of two parts. There will be a museum in the basement. This will contribute to the cultural heritage of the city, according to Savaş.

    “The excavations and discovery of ancient artifacts under the soil are very important, exhibiting them in the museum is vital for the city’s cultural background,” he said, adding that Hatay will gain a new museum thanks to the drilling process. There are further attempts to building another hotel in Hatay, he said, adding that he is positive about those initiatives.

    After the discovery amid the drilling, the Hatay Museum started a six-month rescue excavation project in July 2010, Hatay Museum manager Nalan Yastı said. The necessary documents about the excavation were sent to the Adana Culture and Environment Protection Association, she said, adding that the association agreed to exhibit the valuable artifacts in the hotel, which is currently under construction.

    Construction continues

    An ancient glass artisan workshop, walls from the Hellenistic era and the largest mosaic have been found.

    The construction of the hotel is still continuing under the protection and controls of museum officials, said Yastı. The officials constantly control the drilling process and preserve the new artifacts unearthed, she added. The 850-square-meter mosaic is not damaged and in very good condition, she said, adding that it is the first time a mosaic like this has been unearthed in Turkey.

    There was also a 3,000-square-meter marble floor discovered during the drilling process, she said, adding that the construction process never damaged the artifacts.

    Businessman Necmi Asfuroğlu who owns the construction project said they did not want to damage the artifacts discovered during construction. There will be a 17,000-square-meter museum to exhibit those artifacts, he added. The hotel, on the other hand, will have 200 rooms.

    “We avoid using any kind of construction machines in order not to damage ancient artifacts on the site,” he said, adding that they are working with man power.

    “Our aim is to finish both museum and hotel in 2013 April,” he said. Currently, there are 90 people working on the hotel’s construction. The hotel and the museum were estimated to cost $60 million.

  • Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative

    Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative

    Source: Habervitrini.com & ESCDaily.com

    Image Source: TRT

    trtTRT will start its plans for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in November. However, the artist that will represent the country won’t be picked internally this time.

    Habervitrini.com reports that TRT, the Turkish national broadcaster, will be changing the method of chosing the representative of the country for Eurovision. In November, a commision will invite musicians and composers to submit entries. Later, their entries will be rated but the full process of what exactly will be done is still unknown. This year it is much more open for artists and singers who will all have a chance to represent Turkey on the big Eurovision Stage.

    Traditionally, TRT decides on one artist and several songs are presented to the broadcaster. In terms of the planned process in 2011, it’s reported that TRT will choose a number entries to present to the public and later will cut entries one by one until eventually a winner will be selected. It’s still believed however there will be no public say in the decision and still technically it will be an internal decision just more open for artists.

    Additionally, popular Turkish pop artist Hande Yener, has said on several occasions that she wants to represent Turkey in Eurovision and this year she feels no different. Recently she stated ‘I want to represent my country at Eurovision’ on a local radio station. Hande has sold close to 17 million albums worldwide and she was approched by TRT to represent Turkey in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

    Other popular names rumoured to be interested include Atiye and Sebnem Ferah.

    Stay tuned!

    via Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative | ESCDaily.com || The latest Eurovision 2011 news from across Europe.

  • Old city lends new meaning to ‘supermarket wine.’

    Old city lends new meaning to ‘supermarket wine.’

    ISTANBUL, Turkey. Some cities are wrapped in fog or smog; Istanbul is swaddled with antiquity and exoticism. No doubt when the emperor Constantine established this city as a purpose-built Imperial capital in the fourth century of the common era he did so with the idea that it would remain eternally youthful and relevant – such is the classical dream. From that time until the present, through good times and bad, the city has been the very model of a worldly, cosmopolitan, if not always modern, metropolis, as fortuitously situated as a city could well be to both administer a far-flung empire and control lucrative trade routes.

    A city built for the ages that believes no new age has anything to teach it will shortly be a hive of anachronism and incongruity – aspects we encounter everywhere here, though nowhere more poignantly than on the rooftop of our hotel where we retire at the end of the day to sip Cappadocian chardonnay. Before us, tanker and cargo ships queue up in the Sea of Marmara in preparation for their passage through the narrow, snaky Bosphorus to the open waters of the Black Sea; behind, flocks of birds whirl around the domes of Ayasofiya and the Blue Mosque. In the deepening dusk calls to prayer issue from their minarets. The singing has a surprising, lusty virtuosity. It’s not at all like the calls to prayer we heard in Marrakesh, which seem amateurish in comparison. Perhaps an outpost like Morocco just doesn’t attract the vocal talent of an Istanbul.

    Our La Scala-quality muezzins strike-up at the moment one can no longer tell a black thread from a white one with the naked eye – or so we are told – but we note that in our hotel this tends to coincide with the moment rooftop barkeep Hassan puts the needle down on a Diana Krall rendition of some Cole Porter tune. For a few minutes sacred and secular vocalists duel ineffectually. Then the muezzins give it up, while Krall swings on. It’s clearly no longer a question of the barbarians being at the gate. They’ve bought condos and registered the kids for school.

    We experience another moment of expectation dissonance when we beg our driver (a Turkish-born computer science PhD who lived for a while in Brookline, Massachusetts; the friend of a friend), to take us to an upscale mall so we can get a taste of how affluent Istanbullers shop. The place is a knock-out — classier and more tasteful than anything we know in Boston. We take the elevator up from seven floors of underground parking into a retail wonderland the architect has designed it to be self-cooling.

    The Apple Store is thick with shoppers – perhaps related to the death of Steve Jobs which we learned of during a layover at the Munich airport days before. As for the clientele, there’s no shortage of jeggings and decolletage on display, though tattoos are very rare.

    We step into a supermarket that is so beautifully lit and organized it would (or should) make Whole Foods blush. Momentarily transfixed before a Krispy Kreme kiosk, we wander off in search of the wine department – if there is one. There is, and it’s extensive with a majority of Turkish offerings and a fair selection of European wines familiar to us. I spot, for example, a red and a white from old favorite Vaucluse producer Chateau Valcombe. But the real surprises are in a special upright cooler case where we spy what you see in the photo above: a 2004 Gaja DOC Langhe wine priced at 1010 turkish lira – around $550 – and 2001 La Mission Haut Brion at 1189TL (around $650).

    A young security guard who saw me take out my camera rushed over to tell me photos were forbidden, but we won on appeal when the young GM with the moussed up hair came by and said it was no problem.

    When we complimented him on his beautiful market he shrugged.”Next week we close and take everything out of here,” he says.” “After that, everything new.”

    via Old city lends new meaning to ‘supermarket wine.’ – Boston.com.

  • Iranian cinema discussed at Istanbul meeting

    Iranian cinema discussed at Istanbul meeting

    TEHRAN – Tarik Zafer Tunaya Cultural Center in Istanbul hosted the session “Iran’s Cinema of Today” on Thursday as part of Iran’s Film Week now underway in Istanbul.

    Cosponsored by the Iranian cultural office in Turkey and Istanbul Municipality, the weeklong festival opened on October 10, the Persian service of MNA reported on Friday.

    The session was attended by experts on cinema of Iran and Turkey Ihsan Kabil and Faysal Soysal, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad-Hadi Karimi and actor Mostafa Zamani.

    Kabil regarded the weeklong event a good opportunity to introduce Iranian cinema and familiarize Turkish people with the cinema of Iran.

    He named Iranian directors like Dariush Mehrjuii, Bahram Beizaii and Kamal Tabrizi and pointed to the young filmmakers and their big successes in the recent years.

    Karimi also called Iranian cinema a developing one in the world and expressed hope that more theaters in the world would be dedicated to films with spiritual themes rather than the cinema of Hollywood.

    “Prophet Joseph (AS)” actor Zamani believed Iran’s cinema would have a bright future since it has good filmmakers and promising youths.

    Soysal who is a graduate of cinema from Iran also said that Iran enjoys rich art and culture with worthwhile activities in cinema, adding that filmmakers must make films for people, not for the festivals.

    Organized by the Iranian Visual Media Institute, 10 films are scheduled to be screened during the event including “Prophet Joseph (AS)” by Farajollah Salahshur, “Canaan” by Mani Haqiqi, “The Day of the Devil” by Behruz Afkhami, “The Hidden Sense” by Mostafa Razzaq-Karimi, and “Aal” by Bahram Bahramian.

    RM/YAW

    END

    via Iranian cinema discussed at Istanbul meeting – Tehran Times.

  • İstanbul Oktoberfest organizers in hot water for incorrectly listing sponsors

    İstanbul Oktoberfest organizers in hot water for incorrectly listing sponsors

    The organizers of İstanbul’s Oktoberfest are being sued by several companies who claim they were incorrectly listed as sponsors on the event’s website.

    The Culture and Tourism Ministry, Karaköy Güllüoğlu (one of the most famous producers of baklava in Turkey) and Coşkun Et (a company selling meat products) received many complaints after they were made out to be sponsors of the İstanbul Oktoberfest, a beer festival held with the aim of bringing German culture and tradition to İstanbul.

    Karaköy Güllüoğlu told the press on Thursday that it had not sponsored the Oktoberfest, adding that a student had bought some sweet products in bulk from them, after which the organizers listed Karaköy Güllüoğlu as being a sponsor of the beer festival. The Culture and Tourism Ministry and Cuşkun Et also claimed that they had not sponsored the event. A written statement on the ministry website on Thursday said the ministry had only sent a letter of support to the organizers, thinking the event it would help Turkey attract tourists from German-speaking countries.

    Coşkun Et’s owner, Hanefi Coşkun, said that his company had sold sausages to the organizers of the event and were consequently considered to be a sponsor, adding that they will no longer consider selling products to be consumed at the Oktoberfest in İstanbul.

    The İstanbul Oktoberfest was held at Parkorman on Oct. 9, 2011 by the İstanbul-based entertainment and gastronomy company, KafePi. The original Oktoberfest dates back to 1810 and is held annually in Munich from the end of September to the first weekend in October.(todayszaman)