PRESS RELEASE
SOS MEDİTERRANEE FROM SICILY ITALY AND EUROPE
MOKHTAR AZIZI
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
ASLI KUTLUAY
INSTALLATION
CURATORS:BERAL MADRA AND VITTORIO URBANI
OPENING: 2nd MAY 2018-18.30 EXHIBITION: 2-14 MAY 2018
PANEL DISCUSSION: “Admittedly, a philosophy of emigration has yet to be written” (Villem Flusser).
2nd MAY 2018, 16.00-18.00
ÇANKAYA MUNICIPALITY CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER
Mokhtar Azizi, who started a new life in Italy as a refugee in the 1980s and began working as a photographer in the 1990s, documented how the system of refugee flows that can reach the Italian coast from the East Mediterranean and Africa went through the EU legislation. Azizi approached this humanitarian crisis in Sicily with a realistic trail, with the sincerity and responsibility created by his own experiences, without touching nostalgia and romanticism. However, it is evident that this photographic series is reminiscent of Edward Said’s statement that “… It’s essential sadness can never be surmounted.”
The photographs show various stages of the rescue system; tragic moments of the victims of these migrations are followed in the process of being transported safely to the shore, approaching to health care and, if necessary, being treated if they reach to the shore without being drowned in the sea. What is interesting is that these victims have given Azizi the opportunity to show these moments; which proves that Azizi’s approach to them is correct.
In his approach to the truth, Azizi is trying to make visible the methods of using the technology of the political-economic system, the post-modern war regime, neo-colonialism and the authority administrations as the basis of the current refugee crisis.
Aslı Kutluay’s installation is accompanied by carrying these photographs to another dimension. The installation shows the existence of a fact seen in photographs that stay outside the system which is unquestionable in functioning, or which is pushed outside and which is unlikely to be seen. The most basic lost of a refugee the house – the most basic right of the person is being symbolized at the settlement of Kutluay. She intends to make the viewer aware of the essential conflict behind the photographs of Mokhtar Azizi a home metaphor created with construction materials assembled from construction and waste areas.
With the intention to question today’s political, economic and social truth behind the visually presented truth of the exhibition a forum is organized under the title “Admittedly, a philosophy of emigration has yet to be written” by Villem Flusser, an exile, and refugee, in his book The Freedom of The Emigrant.
The photographs previously exhibited in 44A Gallery in Istanbul will be presented to the Ankara audience at the Çankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Center.
BASIN BÜLTENİ
SOS MEDİTERRANEE
SİCİLYA’DAN İTALYA VE AVRUPA’YA
MOKHTAR AZIZI
FOTOGRAF SERGİSİ
ASLI KUTLUAY
YERLEŞTİRME
KÜRATÖRLER: BERAL MADRA VE VITTORIO URBANI
AÇILIŞ 2 MAYIS 2018- 18.30
SERGİ: 2-14 MAYIS 2018
AÇIK OTURUM: 2 MAYIS 2018, 16.00-18.00
“Kabul edelim ki, bir göç felsefesi henüz yazılmamıştır” (Villem Flusser).
ÇANKAYA BELEDİYESİ ÇAĞDAŞ SANATLAR MERKEZİ
1980’lerde bir mülteci olarak İtalya’da kendisine yeni bir hayat kurabilen ve 1990’larda fotografçı olarak çalışmaya başlayan Mokhtar Azizi, Doğu Akdeniz ve Afrika’dan İtalya kıyılarına ulaşabilen mülteci akınının AB yasaları bağlamında nasıl bir sistemin içinden geçtiğini belgeledi. Azizi, Sicilya’da gözlemlediği bu insanlık krizine nostalji ve romantizme kaçmadan, kendi deneyimlerinin yarattığı içtenlik ve sorumlulukla, gerçekçi bir izlekle yaklaşıyor. Ancak, bu fotoğraf dizisinin Edward Said’in “…bu durumun yarattığı asıl kederin üstesinden hiçbir zaman gelinemez.” sözünü çağrıştıran bir yönü de belirgindir.
Fotoğraflar kurtarma sisteminin çeşitli aşamalarını gösteriyor; denizde boğulmadan kıyılara yaklaşanların gemilerle güvenli bir biçimde kıyıya taşınması, sağlık denetiminden geçirilmesi ve gerekirse tedavi edilmesi sürecinde bu göç kurbanlarının yaşadıkları trajik anlar izleniyor. İlginç olan bu kurbanların Azizi’ye bu anları gösterme izni vermiş olmalarıdır; bu da Azizi’nin onlara yaklaşımının doğruluğunu kanıtlıyor. Azizi, gerçeğe yaklaşımında günümüzdeki mülteci krizinin temelindeki siyasal-ekonomik sistem, post-modern savas düzeni, yeni-sömürgecilik ve yetkeci yönetimlerin teknolojiyi kullanma yöntemlerini görünür kılmaya çalışıyor.
Aslı Kutluay’ın yerleştirmesi bu fotoğrafları başka bir boyuta taşıyarak eşlik ediyor. Yerleştirme fotoğraflarda görülen ve işlerliği tartışılmaz olan sistemin dışında kalan ya da dışına itilmiş olan ve görülmesi de istenmeyen bir gerçeğin varlığını gösteriyor. Mülteciliğin en temel yitimi olan evin – insanın en temel hakkı olan evin- yitimi Kutluay’ın yerleştirmesinde simgeleşiyor. Kutluay, inşaatlardan ve atıklardan topladığı yapı malzemeleriyle oluşturduğu bir ev metaforuyla, Azizi’nin gösterdiği fotoğrafların arkasındaki temel sorunu işaret ediyor.
Serginin görsel olarak sunduğu hakikatin günümüzdeki siyasal, ekonomik toplumsal hakikatini sorgulamak üzere düzenlenen forum bir mülteci/göçmen olan Villem Flusser’in “Göçmen’in Özgürlüğü” kitabından bir alıntıyla konuyu tartışmaya açıyor: “Kabul edelim ki, bir göç felsefesi henüz yazılmamıştır”.
Istanbul’da 44A Galeri’de sergilenen fotoğraflar Çankaya Belediyesi Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezinde Ankara izleyicisi ile buluşuyor.
SOS MEDITERRANEA, FORUM OPENING SPEECH
I am opening the forum organized on the occasion of the exhibition Mokhtar Azizi and Aslı Kutluay. The title of the forum is a quotation from Villem Flusser, who was a refugee and migrant himself and author of the book “The Freedom of the Migrant”.
Vilém Flusser (1920–1991) https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/vila-c-m-flusser
“Admittedly, a philosophy of emigration has yet to be written” (Villem Flusser).
I am honored to be the moderator of this forum and I would like to thank the participants for their trust and motivation to our small team of artists Mokhtar Azizi and Aslı Kutluay and curators Vittoiro Urbani and me.
The photographs of Mokhtar Azizi, a distinguished photographer living and working in Italy, were previously exhibited in 44A Gallery in Istanbul it is being presented to the Ankara audience at the Çankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Center.
Aslı Kutluay, a renown contemporary artist, has kindly contributed to this project with her inspiring installation about the pursuit of the refugee or immigrant for a “home”.
Çankaya Art and Culture Center is hosting our exhibition; we highly appreciate their generous approach and we are grateful.
We are also honored to be sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Ankara.
I will briefly introduce the well known personalities:
Aylin Nazlıaka
Independent Member of Parliament
Education: B.A. METU, Economics
Dott. Fabrizio Paolilli
First Secretary, EU Politics Counsellor Italian Embassy
Representatives from IOM (International Organization of Migration)
Dr. Besim Can Zırh
Assistant Professor, Vice Chair – Dept. of Sociology, METU
Education: B.A., M.S.: METU, PhD: University College London
Dott. Vittorio Urbani
Curator and Art Critic – Nuova Icona Cultural Association for the Arts, Venice
Texts about the content and significance of this exhibition written by Vittorio Urbani and me is published in the catalogue.
Italy and Turkey are the most exposed countries to this forced exodus; the march of the people towards Europe, where they hope to find a real democracy and economic justice. We, the organizers think that in the age of post-truth we are obliged to seek and reveal the truth behind this unprecedented tragedy. Post-truth, which roughly means truth manufactured through media-edited facts by political powers or neo-capitalist interest groups, is, in fact, the new name of old, polluted ideologies. Documentary photography and contemporary art productions have a basic commitment to truth. Through these visual art activities, artists and art experts are trying to revive societal awareness, to shake off the dust of false convictions and phantasms. It is a responsibility to inform a democratic society–even if it may not be perfect—to new forms of positive and truthful thinking. This exhibition and forum have the intention to fulfill this responsibility.
I would like to invite the participants to enlighten us about the following issues:
-The impact oft he refugee crisis and migration process on Turkey’s and Italy’s as well as EU’s politics, economy, and cultural life.
-The prospective solutions and projects for the refugees and emigrants for a relative normalization of their lives.
-The essential conflicts between the evading and restorative systems and causing and triggering systems.
-Last but not least their precious opinions about this global socio-political-economic-cultural dilemma.
