La Biennale di Venezia
La Biennale di Venezia
50th International Art Exhibition
15th June-2nd November 2003
The Pavilion of Türkiye
(Arsenale)
Opening: 13th June, 2003, Friday 16.30
IN LIMBO
Artists:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Ergin Çavusoglu
Gül Ilgaz
Neriman Polat
Nazif Topçuoglu
Curator/Comissar:
Beral Madra
Under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture
and Tourism
The sponsor of the Pavilion of Türkiye is TOFAS AS.
Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (UCCET), Profilo Telra
Elektronik San. ve Tic. A.S., Aksoy Grafik Dizgi Matbaacilik A.S., Turco-Italian
Friendship Association in Milano, Cognis Kimya Türkiye and Organik Holding A.S.,
Alitalia and Kodak are the contributing sponsors.
At the 50th Biennale di Venezia, Türkiye presents five artists (Nuri Bilge
Ceylan, Ergin Çavusoglu, Gül Ilgaz, Neriman Polat, Nazif Topçuoglu) of the
current mercurial art scene of Istanbul in an exhibition entitled "In Limbo",
curated by Beral Madra.
The title "In Limbo" is a reference to the producer of the dreams, the artist
and to the anonymous, yet omnipotent viewer, as described in the concept of F.
Bonami. It also points to the art appreciation in general, at the moment of
encounter with the artwork or within the different layers/ hierarchies of the
art system. In the current global political and cultural scene, dreams of the
viewer and of the artists are intersecting in a circuit of visual and conceptual
crisis, not only owing to "globalisation", but also to ongoing conflicts and
their transmission through the electronic media. Yet, in paradox, the conflict
is not breeding itself in the field of art but on the everyday life of the
viewer and the artist.
The concept, "limbo", which means a region on the border of hell, a place of
souls which do not go to heaven or hell, a state of neglects, oblivion and
complication clearly defines the currently experienced "warscape". Within this
"warscape" and the supremacy of the corporate economy and global politics, the
everyday life of the artist and the viewer makes all the difference in art. The
artist, aware of the eminence of it, approaches these twenty-four hours in
detail, itemises and particularises the facts with his/her inevitable
sophistication and self-contempt. Whoever gives him the right to intervene into
the minute details of the common life, and the authority to cry out his message
to the world from a headland, also consumes it with the same empathy or apathy.
ARTISTS
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films guide the viewer throughout the everyday life and
psychology of the small town individual, but disclose the social conflicts of a
population entrapped in phases of transition between past and present. Cocoon is
an excerpt or citation, related to his concept of his past and recent films and
gives a perspective into the land as the background of the global city, as the
source of psychology of the current city-individual. Ergin Çavusoglu's current
artwork consists of photography and video. Through the images, personal and
cultural identities are negotiated and located in urban everyday life. The
excessive use of the voyeuristic character of the camera highlights the
ambiguous behaviour of individuals in their street existence. Gül Ilgaz’s
photography work is largely authobiographical, yet it also offers the viewer a
key to open a discussion on common everyday realities and the ambiguity of
representation. She juxtaposes illusion and reality, subjective and objective,
individual and social to give the viewer an opportunity to exercise his/her
perceptive skills. Neriman Polat's vocabulary with photography and video is
lucid, calm and substantive. Itemisation, classification and arrangement of the
facts and events she is observing and inquiring is ironic and amusing. In her
present digital photography she displays a "warscape" within an orientalistic
landscape, both constructed with the elements of the natural and urban
environments. Time, memory and loss is the basic concept of Nazif Topçuoglu's
work. He reconstructs dubious and tainted images of an idealised past with the
intention to defeat the transience of people and things in general. Currently,
he produced images of young girls - in ambiguous retro positions and appearance
- dealing with books, with strategic details implicating the power of knowledge
and information.
www.inlimbotheshow.com /
www.btmadra.com/venicebiennale.html
For further information Beral Madra 0090 (0212) 231 10 23 /
btmadra@turk.net