'Choosing Another Strategy': Machine Raum / 13 October 2011 Vejle/ Denmark

Introduction

Machine-RAUM 2011 Choosing another Strategy

On the 13. October Machine-RAUM will open its second international festival of video art and digital culture in Vejle. The intension behind the theme for 2011, Choosing another Strategy, is motivated by a wish for openness and new thinking, both as regards experimentation and taking on responsibility for a globalised future. This theme expresses a wish for dialogue and democracy between artists and art works across social, ethnic, political and cultural strategies. The festival encompasses works that, in their different ways, demonstrate alternative ways to deal with everyday life and alternative ways to deal in the world. The special thing about art is that it is not bound by the obligations of journalism or documentation when it comes to contemporary issues, and therefore it is able to come up with new strategies. The works show this in different ways, in everything from conceptual videos, short fictive gimmicks to performative actions documented on video. With the vision of seeking out alternative strategies Machine-RAUM presents a number of artists and art art curators from parts of the world that are currently undergoing enormous changes, and therefore have a need for dialogue and communication extending beyond the political. Thus the festival feels the pulse of the way in which art and artists act some of the world’s crisis areas. There will also be a showing of video works by European artists and art students from Denmark and Germany. In these countries the political situation is very different, but the relation between art and politics is still an issue. It is the intention of Machine-RAUM to function as a platform and venue for artists working with video and digital culture. During the festival the exhibiting artists will present their works and through artist talks open up the possibility of discussion and the sharing of experiences. Students from art academies in Denmark and Germany will present their works and offer their proposals regarding a new generation’s way of working with digital media. Machine-RAUM is a non-profit organisation. Machine-RAUM 2011, a festival for video art and digital culture, is organised by the association Machine-RAUM in collaboration with Vejle Art Museum, Spinderihallerne, Bryggen, Keller and Videoraum. Supported by the Municipality of Vejle, the Danish Arts Council, Steen og Stroem,The Keller Institute for contemporary Art Directors and curators, Hanne Nielsen & Birgit Johnsen Project coordinator, Lene Noer Artists Kristina Norman (Estonia)Moataz Nasr (Egypt)Guy Ben-Ner (Israel)CANAN (Turkey)Larissa Sansour (Denmark)Claus Ejner (Denmark)VIDEOIST Ferhat Satici and Hülya Özdemir (Turkey)Evrim Kavcar (Turkey)Ferhat Özgür (Turkey)Fikret Atay (Turkey)Suat Ögüt (Turkey)Nancy Atakan (Turkey)Gülçin Aksoy (Turkey)Neriman Polat (Turkey)Hülya Özdemir & Ferhat Kamil Satici (Turkey)Antje Feger and Benjamin Florian Stumpf (Germany)Adel Abidin (Iraq)Eva la Cour / Kristian Poulsen (Denmark)Emanuel Licha (Canada)SONA (Denmark)Julia Scher (USA)Curator Beral Madra (Turkey)Curator Moataz Nasr (Egypt)Bodies in Urban Spaces, a performance by Willy Dorner (Austria)The Jutland Academy of Fine Arts (Denmark)The Funen Academy of Fine Arts (Denmark )Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (Germany)Muthesius Hochschule Kiel (Germany)

'L'Oeil Sur Les Rues: Parc La Vilette: France / 12 October 2011 - 15 January 2012

'Mercosul Biennale - Porte Alegre-Brasil'

'Video Collage: DAZ / Architect's association, Jelacic Square 3-Zagreb- Croatia

VIDEO/ COLLAGE: Architecture

screening program

MARKO LULIĆ / ALBAN MUJA / FERHAT ÖZGUR / DAMIR OČKO / MIHOVIL PANSINI / PULSKA GRUPA/ RIMAS SAKALAUSKAS / NEBOJŠA ŠERIĆ SHOBA / DARIO ŠOLMAN

curated by Branka Bencic

DAZ / Architect's association, Jelacic Square 3

Zagreb (Croatia)

September 29, 8 PM

Concepts of space are grounded in individual and collective experiences. Screening program VIDEO/ COLLAGE: Architecture gathers different artistic positions questioning the transformation of social cartography and detecting critical tools to explore spatial issues. Videos by international and Croatian artists question models of representations of a contemporary city (Vienna, Ankara, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Pristina...) - places where "geometric rationality and entanglements of human lives meet", where modernist utopias, dystopic futures and realities of transition coexist, where different spatial, ideological, cultural, social, economic phenomena meet. Concepts of representation of a city are based on different fragments - layers of immediate surroundings, everyday experiences and routines, parts of history and culture, all which is shaping processes of thinking and perception.

Selection of works ranges from film experiments and 60s anti-film neo avantgarde issues by Mihovil Pansini, a video essay in theory of modern architecture by Marko Lulic, to fallen socialist utopias in works by Damir Ocko and Rimas Sakalauskas to establishing critical relations in the framework of urban transformations, social and economic exchange taking place in cities filmed by Ferhat Ozgur, Nebojsa Seric Shoba and Alban Muja, concluding with video animations by Dario Solman and architect's collective Pula group.

Program

Mihovil Pansini (CRO): Scusa signorina, 1963 (5’13”)

Marko Lulić (AUT): The Moderns (Vienna), 2005 (4’28”)

Rimas Sakalauskas (LT): Synchronization, 2009 (8’)

Damir Očko (CRO): The Boy With a Magic Horn, 2007 (15’20”)

Alban Muja (KOS): Blue Wall Red Door, White door 2009 (33’)

Ferhat Ozgur (TUR): It’s time to dance now, 2008 (5’20”)

Nebojša Šerić Shoba (BiH/USA): It’s all just little bit of history repeating, 2001 (2’)

Dario Šolman (CRO/USA): Screening , 2007 (4’13”)

Pulska grupa (CRO): Red plan, 2008 (2’)

running time: 80’

http://www.d-a-z.hr/hr/vijesti/video-_-kolaz-arhitektura,861.html

'I Can Sing': Viet Ziegelmayer in conversation with Ferhat Özgür: 10.9.2011

Noordkaap: 'EU Tour/Istanbul - 07.09-2011/ 01.10.2011

'A Decade of Commitment to Contemporary Art' / Project 4L Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum- Istanbul

"A Decade of Commitment to Contemporary Art"

Elgiz 10 Istanbul

17 September 2011 - 17 March 2012
Curator:
Dr. Necmi Sönmez

Special projects:
Burak Bedenliler, Lale Delibaş, Nejat Satı, İskender Yediler

Guest artist:
Gavin Turk (U.K.)

The first museum of contemporary art in Turkey, Proje4L/Elgiz Museum is hosting Gavin Turk with Turkish artists in its 10th anniversary exhibition “Elgiz 10 Istanbul” starting on 17 September 2011.

“Elgiz 10 Istanbul” is curated by Dr. Necmi Sönmez who lives in Dusseldorf and organizes exhibitions in Europe and United States. It will be a reinterpretation of the Elgiz Collection which includes artists:

Darren Almond, Doug Aitken, Louis Bourgeois, Adnan Çoker, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Loris Cecchini, Burhan Doğançay, Nejad Devrim, Tracey Emin, Eric Fischl, Jan Fabre, Gilbert & George, Murat Germen, Atilla Galatalı, Günter Förg, Nan Goldin, Nilbar Güreş, Gülsün Karamustafa, Barbara Kruger, Elke Krystufek, Azade Köker, Mustafa Kunt, Kurucu Koçanoğlu, Sol Lewitt, Bjarne Melgaard, Jonathan Meese, Paul Mccharty, Sarah Morris, Mateo Mate, Frank Nitsche, Abdurrahman Öztoprak, Marcus Oehlen, Ferhat Özgür, Jorge Pardo, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Lisa Ruyter, Thomas Struth, Aslı Torcu, David Tremblett, Ömer Uluç, Johannes Wohnseifer, Tim White Sobiesky, İskender Yediler, Fahr-el-Nissa Zeid.

Turk will be displaying a new 2.45M Turkish 'amulet' painting, as well a wall mounted Turkish rug, “Cave Rug”. Both these works will be hung on Turks’ turkey wallpaper depicting hundreds of roasted turkeys. This will be the second time Gavin Turk has exhibited in Istanbul after his participation in the 6th Istanbul Biennial in 1999.

Other artists doing site-specific works to accompany the collection exhibition are Burak Bedenlier, Lale Delibaş, Nejat Satı and Iskender Yediler.

She mainly supports artists from her region. These activities are in the map of Istanbul Biennial that will be inaugurated in the same dates.

Proje 4L was founded by collectors Sevda and Can Elgiz under the name of “Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art” in its former premises in Levent. The museum opened in 2001, when there were no non-profit institutions in Turkey dedicated to contemporary art.

Established with a mission to promote the development of contemporary art in Turkey, the initiave focussed on providing space, support and international visibility to projects by young Turkish artists.


Service Sponsor: Polisan Home Cosmetics
"A Decade of Commitment to Contemporary Art"

International Women Collectors

16 September 2011 (17:00 – 18:00)

Guests:
Ella Fontanals Cisneros, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,
Basma Al Sulaiman.

Moderator:
Michele Codoni

Women collectors have been active throughout the history. Today, they are continuing to support artists and sharing their collections with the public with a social vision.

Proje 4L/Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art explicated being a private collector and the changes in museum management in today’s world by inviting three women collectors in a panel as part of its 10th Anniversary activities. It also examined the language and the style women have developed with artists and public in a subject as sensitive as art.

Ella Fontanal Cisneros: As an American born in Cuba and raised in Venezuela she predominantly collects Latin American art. She has established Miami Art Central (MAC) in 2001 and Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) in Miami in 2002. Apart from exhibiting the Cisneros Collection, the foundation runs a variety of programs for contemporary Latin American artists and supports the collaboration within different fields of art.

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo: She has established a foundation bearing her name in Turin, Italy, in 1995 to support artists from all over the world in visual arts, music, performance art and literature. She introduces contemporary art to the community and improves international relations in art. She is part of various international boards of museums such as Tate, MoMa and New Museum. In addition to that she was honoured by the government of Italy and France for her support to contemporary art.

Basma Al Sulaiman: As a member of a prominent family in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Al-Sulaiman collects art from all around the world and exhibits her collection, which consists of Middle Eastern artists together with International artists (with a strong presence of Chinese artists), in an interactive revolutionary three dimensional cyber museum named BASMOCA. She is an active member of Arts Global; a foundation devoted to bring the European and Arabic worlds closer.

Moderator Michele Codoni: After his law education and his diplomatic career, he established a public relations and event organization company in London. Codoni has a close relationship with the contemporary art world and he serves in the board of directors of BASMOCA. .

'Kunstwerke-Werfen / Bochum-Germany / 4 September - 1 October 2011

'Role Images, Role Playing' / Museum der Moderne Salzburg

'Role Images, Role Playing'

Museum der Moderne Salzburg

23.07.2011 / 30.10.2011

curator: esther ruelfs

The exhibition will be on display at the MdM MÖNCHSBERG from 23 July until 30 October 2011 and features works dealing with various aspects of
role-playing by the following artists:

Marina Abramović, Eleanor Antin, Christian Boltanski, Candice Breitz, Claude Cahun, Martin Dammann, Fred Holland Day, Christoph Draeger, Marcel Duchamp, Yan Duyvendak, Sławomir Elsner, EVA & ADELE, Harun Farocki, Gilbert & George, Niklas Goldbach, Douglas Gordon, Francisco de Goya, Rodney Graham, G.R.A.M., Aneta Grzeszykowska, Christian Jankowski Glenn Kaino, Martin Kippenberger, David LaChapelle, An-My Lê, Ulrike Lienbacher, Urs Lüthi, Anja Manfredi, Manon, Dieter Meier, Yasumasa Morimura, Adi Nes, Suzanne Opton, Ferhat Özgür, Jack Pierson, Sascha Pohle, Man Ray, Dirk Rose, Julika Rudelius, August Sander, Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing, Hannah Wilke, Madame Yevonde and many others.

Roles, actors, stages, scripts ... a glance at the imagery of these terms reveals society as a theatre. We are all actors playing different cultural, social and biological roles. According to Erving Goffman (“The Presentation of Self in Everday Life“), life is a theatre in which we all perform different roles in order to fulfil social norms and expectations and present our own “self”. While society depends on a smooth coordination of actors and roles and “spoilsports”are marginalized, subjected to therapy, locked up or locked out, art deals with problematic areas of friction and breaking points between roles and actors. It reflects our desire to look behind the mask, where we seem to expect “authentic”persons. This is the first exhibition –featuring photographs, graphics, videos and installations - that gives acomprehensive survey of the phenomenon of role playing as a theme of art, from paraphrased Tableaux vivants of the 19th century to role-playing games in internetbased social networks. In order to do justice to the historicity and heterogeneity of role-playing, the exhibition subdivides this phenomenon into thematic fields.

Problems and concepts of identity were central themes of contemporary art of the 1990s and were addressed in various exhibitions, which frequently focused on concepts of female identity. What has happened since the debate of the 1990s? In which way has our role understanding been influenced by the media? In the 1998 movie The Truman Show the protagonist is completely unaware that he is monitored by 5,000 cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while “everyday life”is simulated with gigantic effort. At that time filmmakers were still able to present this as a dark vision of the future. The reality show Big Brother, which was first broadcast in 2000, has radically changed the distinction between private
and public role.

Since the 1968 generation’s demand for spontaneity and authenticity has been unmasked as paradox, we can find a playful approach to roles and an
effortless switching between them today. People assume virtual identities in their “Second Life”and in internet forums.

Repetitions and duplication are of central importance for role-playing. In the field of art this results in a special punchline, as the role is emphasized by the repetition of an iconographic model or a specific work of art and self-presentation is unmasked as re-enactment. The exhibition presents a survey on the subject of role models and role-playing, according to specific thematic guidelines:

19th century role-playing, religious role-playing (Passion of Christ, the Last Supper, other biblical scenes), paraphrases of works of art, concepts ofidentity (reflections on the role of artists, artists as works of art, gender roles and stereotypes, travesty, multiplication and repetition, ethnic identity, I is another) Theatricality, Fiction and Fantasy, private and public roles (socialisation, social class and profession), serious games (re-enactment, role-playing as therapy and political instrument)

A comprehensive, richly illustrated catalogue with texts by Mark
Butler, Susanne Holschbach, Birgit Jooss, Sabine Kampmann, Doris
Krystof, Richard David Precht, Esther Ruelfs and Veit Ziegelmaier has
been published by Hirmer Verlag in conjunction with the exhibition.
Edited by Toni Stooss, Esther Ruelfs, Hirmer Verlag, München, 2011
352 pages with 350 pictures, paperback, German, € 39.90.

With friendly assistance from
prohelvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung

http://www.museumdermoderne.at/en/exhibitions/preview/

'video capitale 2011'

Vidéo Capitale

Du 2 au 11 juillet à Ronchamp / France

Soirée de clôture lundi 11 juillet à 20h sur la Place de l’église.


Dans les vitrines de la rue Le Corbusier.
Chaque soir, à partir de 22h, les vitrines de la boulangerie Simonin, de l’Office de Tourisme et de la salle d’attente du médecin, dans le centre de la ville de Ronchamp, s’animeront avec des projections grand format, et feront vivre en lumières les espaces extérieurs de la rue principale. Ce sera une fête des regards qui sera proposée chaque soir, multipliant notre approche du quotidien, au croisement des différentes disciplines, de l’architecture à la danse, du documentaire aux arts plastiques. Les vidéos ont été réalisées par de très jeunes artistes ou des créateurs confirmés, tous engagés dans la création contemporaine internationale, travaillant les images du monde, de notre humanité.

In the shopping windows of the rue Le Corbusier.
Each evening, from 10 pm, the windows of Simonin bakery, of the Tourist Office and that of the doctor’s waiting room will be animated in the centre of Ronchamp town with huge projections and will make the outdoors of the main street live with light. Every evening, this will be a festival for the eye, hence multiplying our approach to the daily life, at the crossroad of several disciplines such as architecture, dancing, documenting or plastic arts. Videos have been produced by very young artists or more confirmed creators ; they all are implied to international contemporary creation and work the world and mankind images. Translation by Freddy Galand.



Avec les vidéos de / artists : Pierre Alferi, Lucie Boucek, Maurice Braun, Ben Braun & Felix Koziol, Antonin Buchwalter, Thananasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani, Michel Collet, Hervé Constant, Julien Daubigny, Anne Durez, Michael Esser, Collectif Fact, Christian Frentzen, Matthieu Gauthier, Marc Gerenton, Masha Godovannaya, Masahiro Handa, Nina Juric, Justin Kruse, Lello Lopez, Ket Mayer et Nina Juric, Jean-Paul Mignot, Hannes Marget, Christophe Monterlos, Ferhat Ozgur, Cristina Pavesi, Jeff Perkins, Pedro Puertas, Simone Reineck, Renaud Ruhlmann, Rebekka Schaufelberger, Cécile Sigonney, Pierre Soignon, Gruppo Sinestetico, Vassily Teriakidis, Valentine Verhaeghe, Lukas Vogel, Isabelle Vorle, Chi-Hun Whang, Frédérique Weigel.


Vidéo Capitale 2011 est un événement de Montagne Froide en hommage à l’architecte Le Corbusier, à Ronchamp, dans le cadre de La Fête Radieuse.

Nous remercions : la Communauté de Communes de Rahin et Chérimont, la Commune de Ronchamp, le Comité des fêtes et de Jumelage de Ronchamp, l’Office du Tourisme, L’association Œuvre Notre-Dame du Haut, le Pays des Vosges Saônoises, le Programme LEADER-FEADER du Groupe d’Action Locale du Pays des Vosges Saônoises, Montagne Froide, La Maison de l’Architecture de Franche-Comté, Ecran Mobile, Le Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, DRAC de Franche-Comté, Le Conseil Régional de Franche-Comté, Le Conseil Général de la Haute-Saône, Le Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Franche-Comté, l’Espace Multimédia Gantner de Bourogne et le Conseil Général du Territoire de Belfort, l’École Régionale des Beaux-arts de Besançon, l’Association Allégorie Réelle, Éléonore Bak & A.R.S, Atelier de Recherche Sonore, Ecole Supérieure d’Art Metz Métropole, la Boulangerie Simonin, Monsieur Gérard Cornillac, l’Institut Fur Musik und Medien - Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf, La Filmakademie Baden Württemberg de Ludwigsburg. Création graphique welcome design.


www.montagnefroide.org

'Slightly Different', July 2011, installation view-Pittsburgh

Ferhat Özgür, 'Slightly Different', 2011, site-specific installation

Waffle Shop, Pittsburgh-USA

Ferhat Özgür's videos enter George Pompidou - Hurriyet-Daily News

Hurriyet-Daily News- 25 June 2011

'Les Rencontres Internationale -

Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid
In Berlin, June 28 - July 4, 2011


OPENING IN BERLIN
Tuesday June 28, from 7PM
@ Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
FREE ENTRANCE


To read the detailed programme >>> click here

From June 28 to July 3, 2011 the "Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid" will create a space of discovery and reflection between new cinema and contemporary art in Berlin, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt

In the presence of artists and filmmakers from all over the world, this rare event will propose an international programme of film, video, multimedia. It includes 26 screenings, a looped video program, a cycle of debates and panel discussions.

This year's programme has been selected from 6000 submissions as well as by invitations made to some artists and filmmakers. It is the result of an elaborate international search for works: 150 works from Germany, France, Spain and 40 other countries, gathering internationally-known artists and filmmakers with young artists and filmmakers presented for the first time.

FILMS AND VIDEO SCREENINGS
(new fiction, documentaries, video, experimental)
• Carte blanche given to Pedro Costa - Pedro Costa "O nosso homem" (23’, Portugal, 2010), Jean-Marie Straub: "O Soma Luce" (17’, France, 2009), Manoel de Oliveira : "A Caça" (22’, Portugal, 1963).
• EVENT. Ange Leccia - "Nuit bleue" (86’, France, 2009).
• EVENT. Mark Lewis (CA) - "Backstory" (39', Canada/USA, 2009).
• The newest work by Hans Op de Beeck - "Sea of Tranquillity" (30’, Belgique, 2010).
• New film by Ken Jacobs (USA), ‘A Loft’.
• Two new films by Knut Asdam (NO), ‘Abyss’ et ‘Triplo’.

Among the artists screened:Almagul Menlibayeva (KZ), Ben Rivers (UK), Matthias Müller (DE), Eli Cortiñas Hidalgo (ES), Ferhat Özgür (TR), Jaan Toomik (EE), Liu Wei (CN), Vincent Meessen (BE), Erwin Olaf (NL), Neil Beloufa (FR), Michel Francois (BE), Jordan Crandall (USA), Peter Downsbrough (USA), Txuspo Poyo (ES), Teresa Solar Abboud (ES), Libia Castro/Olafur Olafsson (IT,IS), Francis Naranjo (ES).

Each screening is built around a transversal theme, creating a questioning that stretches across different forms and audiovisual practices.
A selection of screenings:
•LANDSCAPE : The exploration of deserted or inhabited landscapes, the experiment of a secret relation between nature and men.
•SETBACK : A questioning about the first part of the 20th Century, how war, Fascism and resistance passed over Italy and Europe.
• HYPERCINEMA : Cinematic quotation as a building block for narrative reconstruction, both a meditation on cinema and a research ground for visual arts.
•RE-ENACTMENT : The re-enactment of words and images : scenes of Buñuel and Pasolini films, a Fassbinder censured theatre play, a speech by Jane Fonda against the Vietnam War, and a remake of the film by Sam Peckinpah, "Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García".
• FICTIONS : to reinvent the fiction, to explore narrative form: with a futuristic adaptation of the "Devine Comedy", an existential interrogation of a couple, the loss of the best friend, the anxiety of a flight attendant at the time of takeoff.

LOOPED VIDEO PROGRAM
Detailed program from June 15.

DEBATES / FORUM
The Rencontres Internationales invites filmmakers, curators, artistic directors and programmers from European and extra-European national museums, contemporary art centres and biennales in contemporary cinema, video and new media. The debates aim to further analyze the concerns and leads in each country, in order to discuss this creation and accompany it, as much from a critical point of view, than from the point of view of the public and the artists.
Detailed program from June 15.

* * * * * * * *

Paris/Berlin/Madrid
In 2007, the Rencontres Internationales, which initially took place in Paris and Berlin, opened up to a third city: Madrid. This event now constitutes a unique artistic and cultural platform in Europe for artists, professional networks and various audiences. The venues in the three cities are in particular the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, the Reina Sofia National museum and the Spanish Cinematheque in Madrid.

The 'Rencontres Internationales' offers more than just a simple presentation of the works. It introduces an intercultural forum gathering various guests from all over the world - artists and filmmakers, institutions and emerging organizations - to testify of their reflections and their experiences, but also of artistic and cultural contexts that are often undergoing deep changes.

The 'Rencontres Internationales' reflects specificities and convergences of artistic practices between new cinema and contemporary art, explores emerging media art practices and their critical purposes, and makes possible a necessary time where points of view meet and are exchanged.

The event aims at presenting works to a broad audience, at creating circulations between different art practices and between different audiences, as well as creating new exchanges between artists, filmmakers and professionals.

It seeks to contribute to a reflection on our contemporary culture of image via a compelling program opened to everyone.

OpenArt Biennale 2011: Örebro-Sweeden

OpenART 2011

11 June- 11 September

Örebro Konsthall

Olaigatan 17 B

019-21 49 00 - SWEEDEN

For further info: www.orebro.se/konsthallen

After two successfully completed OpenART exhibitions, in the summers of 2008 and 2009, we’re now conducting a third. Örebro OpenART is an outdoor exhibition that changes the cityscape, allowing Örebro to really live up to the epithet “Sweden’s ART:iest city”.

The city centre will be filled with exhibits from the summer’s biggest art event from 11 June until 11 September. Some 50 or more artists from all around the world will show their works for 100 days. The city’s summer visitors will experience art where they least expect it; right in the middle of one of Sweden’s most beautiful city centres.

The goal of OpenART is to stage unconventional and creative encounters with art that has taken a step outside into the public arena in order to meet a wider audience. Just by daring to break those ingrained beliefs about how art should be experienced, we are creating a whole new arena for art - Örebro OpenART. Our beautiful city centre is in the process of developing into one of the most exciting temporary art venues in the country. Familiar environments will suddenly offer surprising experiences, ones that can affect your emotions, arouse your curiosity, and give you food for thought.

OpenART would like to:

- Put Örebro on the Swedish culture map with one of the hottest contemporary art events in the country.
- Offer encounters with art that are both different and exciting.
- Develop a unique cultural event, recognised both nationally and internationally, that enhances Örebro in terms of hospitality and amenities.

OpenART is run for the Municipality of Örebro by the art gallery Örebro Konsthall, and is put into practice in collaboration with the Regional Development Council in Örebro, the Adolf Lindgren Foundation, and several local businesses.

Artists invited and venues

Örebro Konsthall

Multitude: Contemporary Art From Mexico

Pilar Villela / Katya Brailowsky / Marcela Armas / Franciso Taka Fernandez / Edgar Orlaineta / Raul Ortega Ayala / Ricardo Alzati / Claudia Perez Pavon / Ana Roldan / Jesus Leon / Karima Muyaes

Runt Slottet:

Juan Milanes Benito – Fefe Talavera / Göran Hägg / Peter Johansson-Barbo Wrestling / Terhi Kaakinen / Florentijn Hofman / Jonas Livröd / Pekka Kauhanen

Köpmangatan-Skuptugata

Gesine Grundmann / Göran Hägg / Johan Paalzow / Armalia Årfelt / David Lozano / Pasi Karjula / Hana Beling / Gesine Grundman / Marco Cueva / Mats Åberg

Oscar C-Galleria:

Natalie Sutinen / Kristina Müntzing /

Krämaren-Galleria:

Maria Bajt / Roland Persson / Radoslaw Gryta / Juan Milanes Benito

Krämaren-VideoRUM:

Liv Pennington / Kale Brolin-Rita Winde / Frerdik Västergård / Ferhat Özgür / Jonas Nilsson / Eva Olsson / Radmila Knesevic / Lemeh42 / Dan-Dryer / Johan Svensson /

Fasader:

Peter Zacsko / Ulf Lernhammar / Esperanza Gallindo / Susana Hesselberg-Anna Strand / Glimpse / Fefe Talavera / Marja Kanervo / Maria Bajt

Un'Espressione Geografica

Curated by Francesco Bonami

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (Italy)

19 May - 27 November 2011

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Artists and the Italian Regions they cover:

ABRUZZO: Michael Stevenson and Cornelia Schmidt-Bleek (New Zealand, 1964; USA, 1964; live and work in Berlin)
BASILICATA: Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (collaboration started inSwitzerland in 2003; they live and work in Berlin)
CALABRIA: Roman Ondak (Slovakia, 1966; lives and works in Bratislava)
CAMPANIA: Gabriel Kuri (Mexico, 1970; lives and works in Brussels)
EMILIA ROMAGNA: Andro Wekua (Georgia, 1977; lives and works inBerlin)
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA: Hugo Markl (California, 1964; lives and worksin New York)
LAZIO: Johanna Billing (Sweden, 1973; lives and works in Stockholm)
LIGURIA: Hilary Lloyd (UK, 1964; lives and works in London)
LOMBARDY: Ibon Aranberri (Spain, 1969; lives and works in Bilbao)
MARCHE: Markus Schinwald (Austria, 1973; lives and works in Vienna)
MOLISE: Ferhat Özgür (Turkey, 1965; lives and works in Istanbul)
PIEDMONT: Victor Man (Romania, 1974; lives and works in Cluj)
APULIA: Isabelle Cornaro (France, 1974; lives and works in Paris)
SARDINIA: Ulla von Brandenburg (Germany, 1974; lives and works inParis)
SICILY: Katerina Seda (Czech Republic, 1977; lives and works in Pragueand Brno)
TRENTINO ALTO ADIGE: Tobias Putrih (Slovenia, 1972; lives and worksin Boston)
TUSCANY: Gintaras Didziapetris (Lithuania, 1985; lives and works inVilnius)
UMBRIA: Ruti Sela & Maayan Amir (Ruti Sela: Israel, 1974; lives andworks in Tel Aviv \ Mayaan Amir: Israel, 1978; lives and works in Tel Aviv)
VALLE D’AOSTA: Sunah Choi (South Korea, 1968; lives and works inBerlin)
VENETO: Nathaniel Mellors (UK, 1974; lives and works in Amsterdam)

2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo intends to celebrate this historical event withan exhibition realised in collaboration with Banca Fideuram (Gruppo IntesaSanpaolo). Un’Espressione Geografica [A Geographical Expression], curated by Francesco Bonami, will run at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo centre for contemporary art from 19 May until 27 November 2011. The works of twenty international artists will present the multi-faceted identity of Italy from an unusual point of view, highlighting the vast heritage and the peculiarities of each Italian Region. An unprecedented portrait of the social, political and cultural panorama of modern-day Italy will emerge,relating the marvels and the contradictions that characterise a country still today in constant conflict between tradition and innovation, history and contemporaneity.On August 2nd, 1847 the Austrian statesman Klemens Von Metternichwrote in a note addressed to Count Dietrichstein a famous and controversial sentence: “Italy is a geographical expression”. The sentence reappeared the following year in the Neapolitan daily newspaper Il Nazionale, this time with a markedly negative connotation: “Italy is nothing but a geographical expression”. As the revolutionary wave raged in 1948, Italian liberals provocatively embraced this definition and used it with a patriotic flair to stir up anti-Austrian sentiments among the Italian population. Historians mostly agreed in acknowledging that Metternich’s words were originally intendedas a mere statement or fact, rather than as political criticism: the Austrian statesman noted that, on the political front, Italy was “made up of mutually independent Sovereign States”.This definition, “A Geographical Expression”, inspired the FondazioneSandretto Re Rebaudengo to reflect on the fact that today, in a globalised world where cultural and economic exchanges have erased the ancient concept of borders and boundaries, the geographical dimension of a country is once again gaining momentum.

Un’Espressione Geografica will present the works of twenty international artists from different European Countries following their journey through Italy, each in one of the twenty Italian Regions. Each artist will be escorted by a local who will accompany the artist in the discovery of the regional territory, its identity and peculiarities. Like a modern-day Goethe, each artist will be called to investigate and to interpret, in his or her own personal language, Italy as it is today through the eyes of someone living elsewhere. Their journey will take them to the most representative sites of each Region and will allow the artists to get in touch with the rich heritage and the varietyof Italy. The peculiarities of each Region will provide inspiration for new art works, intimately related to the places visited by the artists. After completing their exploration, the artists will be commissioned to create a new work of art that will be presented as part of the group exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Torino. The works will become like pages of a journal, turning the visitors to the exhibition Un’Espressione Geografica into contemporary voyagers. All the experiences, the stories, the sensations evoked by each Region will give the visitors a chance to look at Italy from new and unexpected points of view. “With this project, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo builds on its tradition to promote innovative contemporary arts, while consolidating its institutional role in supporting the new generations of artists and the production of theirwork. I wish to thank Banca Fideurum for believing in this arts project and for making it possible.” Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, President, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.“Banca Fideuram’s aim was to contribute towards the celebrations marking the anniversary of the Unification of Italy by lending their support to an event which values the resources of our Country. The exhibition ‘Espressione Geografica’, featuring young international artists whose focus is on the Italian regions, has presented us with the right occasion to be able to confirm the importance of the values concerning our territory that have always been at the core of the activities of our Group.” Matteo Colafrancesco, CEO Banca Fideuram
Un’Espressione Geografica is under the patronage of Comitato Italia 150.

image below:

ferhat özgür, 'memorable things', installation view

fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo-turin, italy, june 2011

'We Are The Artists': Kunsthalle Winterthur-Switzerland

Irina Botea feat. WeAreTheArtists: Ferhat Özgür / Ruti Sela-Mayaan Amir
May 29 - July 10 2011
Kunsthalle Winterthur-Switzerland
and K3 Zurich

The exhibition is a combination of solo and group show, with the main accent on Irina Botea’s work. The inclusion of Ruti Sela, Mayaan Amir and Ferhat Özgür is the result of extensive research into positions of contemporary art that share a crucial aspect of Botea’s artistic production. In her videos, Botea very often refers to modes of re-enactment and role-play; but her main target is not to create a fiction that is taken for reality. Her interest lies in the reality of the performance and the authentic individuality of the performers. The presentation at Kunsthalle shows six works by Botea: two projected works, Before a National Anthem (2009) and Picturesque (2011), and the rest, Ladybug (2007), MeNoMe (2005), Pinocchio (2009) and Laura (2010), are presented on monitors. The interest in the human being is also key to works by Ferhat Özgür and Ruti Sela. Thus, one work by each artist complements the exhibition: Metamorphosis Chat (2009) by Özgür and Ruti Sela’s Beyond Guilt # 2 (2004), a film that she made together with Mayaan Amir. The artists’ network WeAreTheArtists presents a series of portraits; members of the network were asked to send a photo of themselves which they considered to reveal most about who they are. Another highlight is the new issue of the beloved free newspaper WeAreTheArtists, including the brand new photo story Natural Born Curators.


Ferhat Özgür, 'Metamorphosis Chat',
exhibition view, Kuntshalle Winterthur Switzerland, 2011


Ferhat Özgür, 'I Can Sing',
exhibition view, K3 Zurich, Switzerland, 2011

Review about the exhibition:

Kunst Bulletin: 10.07.2011

By: Lucia Angela Cavegn

Winterthur : Irina Botea feat. WeAreTheArtists

links: Irina Botea · Before a National Anthem, 2009 rechts: WeAreTheArtists · This is me, 2011, Porträtsammlung. Courtesy WeAretheArtists

Im Jahr 2004 initiierte Oliver Kielmayer, damals Programmverantwortlicher der Stiftung Künstlerhaus Boswil, das Künstlernetzwerk ‹WeAreTheArtists› und die gleichnamige Zeitung als unabhängige Plattform für radikal subjektive Meinungsäusserung. Irina Botea weilte damals als Artist-in-Residence in Boswil und war von Anfang an Mitglied dieses losen Zusammenschlusses von Kunstschaffenden. Die rumänische Künstlerin (*1970, Ploiesti) studierte zunächst Geologie und Geophysik, bevor sie ihre Kunstausbildung in Bukarest und später in Chicago absolvierte. Sieben Jahre nach der Gründung von ‹WeAreTheArtists› organsiert Oliver Kielmayer, heute Kurator der Kunsthalle Winterthur, eine Ausstellung mit Arbeiten von Botea und Beiträgen von weiteren ‹WeAreTheArtists›-Mitgliedern. Das Schaffen von Botea dreht sich um die Frage, was die Individualität eines Menschen ausmacht. Oft lässt die Künstlerin Freunde und Bekannte ein vor ihr verfasstes Skript darstellen. Die von den Laiendarstellern ausgeführten Inszenierungen lassen stets den Charakter der Inszenierung und der Protagonisten durchscheinen. Die auferlegte Rolle funktioniert als Kontrastmittel zur Authentizität. Im Video ‹Before a National Anthem›, 2009, studiert ein Chor Vorschläge für eine neue rumänische Nationalhymne ein - ein schönes Bild für das Ringen um eine neue nationale Identität. Wie Botea so setzen sich auch Ruti Sela (*1974, Tel Aviv), Mayaan Amir (*1978, Tel Aviv) und Ferhat Özgür (*1965, Ankara) mit Fragen der Identität auseinander. Ferhat Özgür lässt in ‹Metamorphosis Chat›, 2009, zwei ältere muslimische Frauen - die eine modern, die andere traditionell gekleidet - die Kleider tauschen. Nach anfänglichem Zögern wirkt das Rollenspiel für die beiden Frauen befreiend; sie lachen. «Kleider machen Leute» (so Gottfried Keller) - und doch sind sie nur Äusserlichkeiten. Um nackte Tatsachen geht es im Video von Ruti Sela und Mayaan Amir. ‹Beyond Guilt # 2›, 2004, zeigt, wie die beiden Künstlerinnen Männer zu einem im Chatroom vereinbarten Sexdate treffen und sie im Hotelzimmer über ihr Leben ausfragen. Die Callboys geben erstaunlich viel (Männlichkeit) von sich preis. Die körperliche Blösse ist hier jedoch nur Anlass für eine seelische Entblössung. Die Entstehung der Ausstellung ist als E-Mail-Dialog mit den beteiligten Künstlern dokumentiert und in der aktuellen Ausgabe von ‹WeAreTheArtists› (Nr.15) publiziert. Ebenfalls Teil des Projektes sind die Porträts, welche die Mitglieder aufgrund einer Ausschreibung einreichten. Gebeten wurde um eine Aufnahme, welche die eigene Persönlichkeit am treffendsten wiedergebe. Die Ansammlung an Selbst-Bildern reicht von Kindheitserinnerungen bis zu inszenierten Arrangements. Bis: 10.07.2011

'time and memory', 3812 contemporary art projects, hong kong

The Mattres Factory Art Museum: 'Neighbo(r)hood'

ferhat özgür, 'metamorphosis chat', installation view
mattress factory art museum / pittsburgh-2011

Neighbo(u)rhood

May 13, 2011 - August 21, 2011

Mattress Factory 500 Sampsonia Way Pittsburgh, PA 15212 USA

Neighbo(u)rhood is the title of this summer's large group exhibition at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The exhibition includes events, installations and video-based works, which present differing points of departure and reflections upon the idea of neighborhood. The participating artists are Glenn Loughran, Ferhat Özgür, Seamus Nolan, Sarah Pierce/The Metropolitan Complex, Diane Samuels, John Smith, Elisabeth Subrin and Dawn Weleski. The title refers to a difference of translation but also an assertion of the role of oneself in the existence of neighborhood.

In the popular imagination the term neighborhood conjures up ideas of home, community and even common identity, but is this really so? How often do such images capture the complexity and conflictual nature of living together, of sharing space, of negotiating difference and of creating consensus? This exhibition re-considers neighborhood, the figure of the neighbor, and the deliberation of how we live together. Can the figure of the neighbor propose an alternative to the dichotomy of friend or enemy? Can the classical concept of neighborhood be used to reconsider social and political formation as complex and incomplete, universal and particular, representative and invisible.

During the late nineteenth century, Pittsburgh was a central destination for generations of immigrants who carved out a living while working in the steel mills, iron, glass, and other factories along the three famous rivers. The city, often called ‘The City of Immigrants’, offered the promise of economic prosperity in the land of the free and the land of opportunity. While this massive influx has not been repeated during the late twentieth or twenty-first centuries, neighborhoods such as Squirrel Hill and Polish Hill acknowledge the historical formations of communities to a site, city or nation according to ethnic, cultural and religious affinities.

Today in Pittsburgh, it is common for people to define their home not by city limits but by neighborhood boundaries. Thus the idea of neighborhood informs a sense of belonging, but an identity beyond that of the cultural, ethnic, religious or social. In this sense neighborhood operates as a space in which there is a juxtaposition of difference but also a potential for alternative forms of community not based on identity but on the common.

Neighbo(u)rhood will reflect upon and open discussion on areas including the neighbor, participation, community, the common, democracy, socio-political shifts and immigration. The exhibition will be presented both at the Mattress Factory and in different sites in Pittsburgh. A related series of public talks and events will also take place throughout the exhibition period with their starting points being some of the exhibition's many underlying subjects.

Georgina Jackson
Curator-in-Residence


Artists in the Exhibition:

Glenn Loughran (b. Northern Ireland 1973, lives in Dublin, Ireland) creates interventionist art works that disrupt public spaces. In 2006, he began developing a series of context schools under the name of hedgeschoolproject. Hedgeschools were hidden schools that developed as a response to the Penal laws in Ireland that restricted citizens’ participation in education and other areas of social life.

Ferhat Özgür (b. Turkey 1965, lives in Ankara, Turkey) uses a number of mediums, including video, photography, painting, and installation. His works are a direct reflection of his subjective reality—the social, political, and cultural characteristics of the time and place in which he lives. Taking part in 6th Berlin Biennale, 10th Istanbul Biennale, Örebro Biennale-Sweeden and 1st Tirana Biennale, the works of Ferhat Ozgur have been shown in numerous venues including Centre George Pompidou, Reina Sofia National Museum, Magazin 4, Casino Luxembourg, Salzburg Modern Art Museum, Fondazione Sandretto Torino and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt.

Seamus Nolan (b. Ireland 1978, lives in Dublin, Ireland) investigates the relative value of objects and social processes as they appear within different economies and contexts. He strives to unravel the commonplace, to recognize the inherent structure or code from which we construct and de-construct the world around us. In Hotel Ballymun, 2007, Nolan enlisted the help and support of Ballymun’s network of community groups to convert the flats of a high-rise housing project into short-stay hotel rooms.

Sarah Pierce (b. USA 1968, lives in Dublin, Ireland) uses the umbrella term “The Metropolitan Complex” to describe her art practice. Central to her activity is a consideration of forms of gathering, both historical examples and those she initiates. The processes of research and presentation that Pierce undertakes highlight a continual renegotiation of the terms for making art: the potential for dissent and self-determination, the slippages between individual work and institutional context, and the proximity of past artworks. In 2005, Pierce represented Ireland at the 51st Venice Biennale.

Diane Samuels (lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), co-founder of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, is a well-known Pittsburgh artist whose work examines history, place, and dialogue. In her installation entitled Mapping Sampsonia Way, Samuels explores relationships between residents and visitors, image and text, spectators and events, and experience and memory. Samuels has lived on the North Side’s Sampsonia Way since 1980, and her installation uses the voices and experiences of the area’s residents to create a visual recollection of the artist’s neighborhood.

John Smith (b. 1952, lives in London, England) is fascinated by the immersive power of narrative and the spoken word, he has developed a body of work which deftly subverts the perceived boundaries between documentary and fiction, representation and abstraction. Drawing upon the raw material of everyday life, Smith's meticulously crafted films rework and transform reality, playfully exploring and exposing the language of cinema.

Elisabeth Subrin (b. 1965, lives in New York, New York) is an artist and filmmaker who engages a wide range of genres, forms and contexts to create conceptually driven projects in film, video, photography and installation. Her work seeks intersections between history and subjectivity, investigating the nature and poetics of psychological "disorder," the legacy of feminism, and the impact of recent social and political history on contemporary life and consciousness.

Dawn Weleski (lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a Pittsburgh artist whose community-based work re-purposes local newspapers, public transportation commutes, and meals with family as transformative social stages to reveal their own social wellness and cultural renewal and to provide a forum for awareness. Her work often acts as a political and social stress test, measuring the health of routine within shared cultural behavior.

This exhibition is the third and final program in a series curated by Mark Garry and Georgina Jackson as part of the Mattress Factory’s Curator-in-Residence Program made possible by generous support from The Fine Foundation. Funding from Culture Ireland, Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has made Neighbo(u)rhood possible.

ferhat özgür, 'metamorphosis chat', 2009,
installation view, the mattress factory museum of art, pittsburgh, 2011