28 February 2018

10th Academy Discussion [and ...]
Turkey of the Artists

Johannes Odenthal in discussion with Ayşe Çağlar, CANAN, Mario Levi and Azra Tüzünoğlu

8 March 2018, 8 pm (Thursday)
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Discussion in Turkish and German
Admission: €6/4, free admission up to 18 years
Ticket reservation: Tel. +49 30 200 57-1000, ticket@adk.de, www.adk.de/tickets 
Press tickets: Tel. +49 30 200 57-1514, presse@adk.de 

Over the last two decades, Turkey has experienced a dynamic development of contemporary art scenes. The positions of visual artists, writers and filmmakers are among the central contributions of international contemporary art. In a unique geopolitical situation between the Arab world, Iran, Russia and Europe, the manner in which the international conflicts are depicted in Turkish society and culture is complex. How do artists reflect the state of emergency in Turkey, and which artistic practices are called for by the current social situation? These are the questions we will be discussing with the social and cultural anthropologist Ayşe Çağlar, the artist CANAN from Urfa, the writer Mario Levi and the gallerist Azra Tüzünoğlu.
A selection of video works will be -shown in the clubroom from 6 pm (among others: Women Bathing in Moonlight, 2017 and Fountain, 2000 by CANAN as well as Homeland, 2016 by Halil Altındere).

Welcoming address:
Jeanine Meerapfel, filmmaker and pPresident of the Akademie der Künste
Participating in the discussion:
Ayşe Çağlar, social and cultural anthropologist
CANAN, artist
Mario Levi, writer
Azra Tüzünoğlu, founder and director of the PİLOT Gallery, Istanbul
Moderated by:
Johannes Odenthal, director of programming of the Akademie der Künste

Ayşe Çağlar, a professor at the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna, has been researching migration, globalisation and transnational processes since the mid-1990's. Her Cityscalers project focuses on cultural diversity, migration and urban changes. In autumn, she will publish Migrants & City-Making: Multiscalar Perspectives on Dispossession with Nina Glick Schiller. Durham: Duke University Press.

CANAN addresses socially critical themes in her work, particularly the role of women and the influence of tradition on the present. With a fine sense of humour, she breaks taboos in video works, photographs and installations, and combines provocation with aesthetic reflection. Her solo exhibition (Behind Mount QAF) was on show at the Arter Space for Art in Istanbul up until the middle of February.
CANAN, lives and works in Istanbul.
"I consider myself a feminist, but when I describe my art, I don't say that I do feminist art. I consider my art political." ... "What mostly provokes me comes from reality. Most of what we don't want to see comes from reality. I want people to face reality."

Mario Levi is a writer living in Istanbul. He tells of the coexistence of the many peoples and cultures in this city on the Bosporus. In 1990, he won the Haldun Taner Award for Short Stories for Bir Şehre Gidemek (Not being able to drive into a city) and in 2000 the prestigious Yunus Nadi Novel Award for Istanbul Bir Masaldi (Istanbul was a fairy tale). His novels and short stories have been translated into many languages.
"I was born as a stranger on the westernmost peninsula of Istanbul.
Istanbul was my fairy tale."... "I live in a city that provides me with such a flow of stories that I will never cease to write."

Azra Tüzünoğlu studied sociology at the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, worked for several years as an art critic and, in 2008, founded her first gallery (Outlet). She is a curator, founder and director of the PİLOT Gallery in Istanbul, an interdisciplinary location for the promotion of Turkish and international artists and creative projects.

The 10th Academy Discussion [and ...]: Turkey of the Artists is part of the series You Want Kilims, But I Do Films (a quote from the Kurdish film director Atif Yilmaz), a series of events in which artists, writers, journalists and researchers provide insights into their current practice.

For queries: Bettina C. Huber, presidential secretary, Tel. +49 30 200 57-1502, huber@adk.de