at Berlin Art Week

Art in Dark Times sets out to discuss some of the acute issues afflicting our contemporary societies such as misogyny, racism and historical revisionism. The video programme is a continuation of the discursive programme that has already started earlier this year at bi’bak and brings together three video works. By referring to the story of the okapi brought from Belgian colonies to Antwerp Zoo in 1919, Jelena Jureša‘s Ubundu (2019) questions the reckless exploitation of nature by modern societies and the cultural projections that accompany this arrogance. Yael Bartana‘s Inferno (2013) traces the ideas behind the construction project of the third temple of Solomon in Sao Paolo and the inherent self-destructiveness of this neo-conservative mindset. Fatoş Irwen‘s Şiryan (2012) exposes the increasing pressures placed on the freedom of artistic expression, but also alludes to the perseverance in dealing with such inflictions.
The videos are presented during Berlin Art Week on the facade of SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, the cinema experiment by bi’bak at Haus der Statistik.
UBUNDU
Director: Jelena Jureša, 2019, 17 Min.
INFERNO
Director: Yael Bartana, 2013, 22 Min.
ŞIYAN
Director: Fatoş Irwen,, 2012, 10 Min. (shortened version)
Jelena Juresa was born in Novi Sad and currently lives in Ghent. She has been extensively working with the questions of cultural identity, gender, politics of memory and oblivion through the media of photography, video and text. In her work, she relates individual stories and questions of identity to the collective processes of oblivion and remembrance.
Yael Bartana’s films, installations and photographs explore the imagery of collective identities and the politics of memory by means of ceremonies, public rituals and social diversions. Her film trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned, which discusses the relationship between Judaism and Polish identity, was shown at the Polish pavilion of the 2011 Venice Biennale. Bartana has also been expanding her work within the cinematic world by presenting projects such as Inferno (2013) True Finn (2014), and Pardes (2015). Bartana’s works have been exhibited around the world and are part of museum collections which range from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Fatoş Irwen was born and raised in the historical Sûr neighbourhood in Diyarbakır, Turkey. After graduating from the visual art department at Dicle University, she began teaching in secondary schools in Batman, Diyarbakır and then Istanbul. She has contributed to several contemporary art exhibitions and performance events. Irwin has been recently released from three years of imprisonment. She remains banned from teaching.
More Event times:
- 10.09.2020 19:30
- 11.09.2020 19:30
- 12.09.2020 19:30
- 13.09.2020 19:30