Projects of co-workers
Neighbours – Contemporary Narratives from Turkey and Beyond
Exhibition

January 9 – May 8, 2014
Istanbul Modern, Istanbul

Vesna Bukovec, SCCA-Ljubljana's webmaster is participating at the international exhibition in Istanbul Modern.

Within the scope of its 10th year anniversary celebrations, Istanbul Modern presents Neighbours – Contemporary Narratives from Turkey and Beyond, an exhibition that investigates contemporary art practices in Turkey and the surrounding region. The exhibition brings together artists from neighboring geographies that have historical, political, and cultural ties with Turkey including the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, etc.

Neighbours explores practices that relate to social life in the public space, such as spectacles and ceremonies, and the way these have seeped into today’s visual arts. The exhibition focuses on two aspects that are ingrained in the region’s cultural weave: narratives and travel. These dovetail into a number of works tangent to themes such as mobility, nomadism, odysseys, language, and translation, and cultural transmission, etc.

Neighbours features visual artworks, as well as performance and spectacles, including extensions of disciplines that have developed outside the academic circles of art, such as political cartoons and folk art. Paradigms of this wide region’s layered narrative traditions are shadow theater, the aşıks (travelling bards), and the meddahs (public storytellers) of old, whose voice, in a new form, still echoes in the work of artists today.

Istanbul Modern hosts 35 artists from 17 countries and a program of special events– screenings, performances, workshops, talks and panel discussions – dedicated to the region’s art and culture. Come Again? video program is on view in a dedicated room in the exhibition hall as part of Neighbours.

More info: http://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/exhibition/upcoming-exhibitions/neighbours_1290.html

Participants from Slovenia are Vesna Bukovec and Ana Čigon (Come Again? video program) and trio Živadinov::Zupančič::Turšič.
Zdenka Badovinac, the director of Moderna galerija Ljubljana has participated as advisor to curators.

Vesna Bukovec participates with the video It Will Be OK, 2009.
Ana Čigon participates with the video One More Kick, 2009.
Both videos are also part of the DIVA Station archive.

Vesna Bukovec, It Will Be OK, 2009

Ana Čigon, One More Kick, 2009

Artists: Abdülcanbaz (Turhan Selçuk), Furat al Jamil, Mounira Al Solh, Maja Bajevic, Sonia Balassanian, Vesna Bukovec, CANAN, Eteri Chkadua, Ana Čigon, Rena Effendi, Nezaket Ekici, Cevdet Erek, Adib Fattal (Installation by: The Museum of Everything), Mona Hatoum, Hamlet Hovsepyan, Gül Ilgaz, Babak Jalali, Lamia Joreige, Hayv Kahraman, Hatice Karadağ, Sevdalina Kochevska, Pavlos Nikolakopoulos, One Square Meter (A Festival by ACCEA), Fahrettin Örenli, Adrian Paci, Michail Pirgelis, Younès Rahmoun, Yehudit Sasportas, Wael Shawky, Slavs and Tatars, Aslı Sungu, Nasra Şimmes, Burcu Yağcıoğlu, Nil Yalter, Živadinov::Zupančič::Turšič

Curators: Çelenk Bafra, Paolo Colombo
Assistant Curator and Come Again? Program: Birnur Temel

www.istanbulmodern.org

Vesna Bukovec (1977) graduated and completed her MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She works independently and in the art group KOLEKTIVA (with Metka Zupanič and Lada Cerar). Her artistic work finds its expression in a variety of media (video, photography, drawing, installation) and approaches (research, appropriation, participation, etc.).
She presented her work in several solo (Centre and Gallery P74, Ljubljana, 2003 and 2005; Simulaker Gallery, Novo mesto, 2006; Miklova hiša Gallery, Ribnica, 2009; KAPSULA, Ljubljana, 2010; A+A Gallery, Venice, EX-garage, Maribor, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana 2011; Mihelič Gallery, Ptuj, Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana, 2012) and group exhibitions (25th International Biennial of Graphic Arts, MGLC, Ljubljana, 2003; Territories, Identities, Networks: Slovenian Art 1995–2005, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, 2005; Kunsthaus, Graz, 2006; Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec, 2008; U3 - 6th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; Where do we go from here?, Secession, Vienna; Minimal Differences, White Box, New York, 2010; OHO Award Finalists 2012, Vžigalica Gallery, 16th Slovene sculpture exhibition, Town Hall, Ljubljana, 13th Admission Free Festival, Celje, 2012 etc.).

[Published January 6, 2014]