So Near Yet So Far -2020
Review of our ‘So Near Yet So Far’ exhibition in February 2020
An exhibition with three international artist collectives from Istanbul, Diyarbakır, and Munich
Curated by Ezgi Bakçay, Bariş Seyitvan, and Sophie-Charlotte Bombeck
Globalization has created a new world map of art, and its borders are subject to change. A polycentric world is evolving, a world that is articulated in supranational “art regions.” Transport technologies and communication technologies are continuously bringing cultures and people closer and closer together, so that the focus is shifted onto conceptual discussions. These possibilities create new artists’ networks and lead to new collective art methods. Therefore, contemporary art projects have the virtue of internationality,
multidisciplinarity, plurality, participation, and collectivity. The plurality of approaches to reality inspires us to make further contemplations. We would like to pose the question as to what extent there are still global relationships and answers that are organized differently, which occur in the form of emotions, feelings, and also pathos, and likewise possess potential. To what extent does the global aesthetics of contemporary art contain timelessness, differentiation, and diversity?
What connects artists who are united in all of these conceptual basic parameters in the area of international contemporary art, in regards to theory and aesthetics? The exhibition “So Near Yet So Far” invites artists from three different collectives ([1] Karşı Sanat from Istanbul; [2] Merkezkaç from Diyarbakır; and [3] Rhythm Section from Munich), to deal with form and language. Based on a drawing of a triangle and the three words desire, faith, and knowledge, the exhibition focuses on the communicative and aesthetic experience that strives for a deeper communication and powerful relationships between artists from different cultures and with different mother tongues, in order to formulate new, common meanings during the process of collective production.
(1)The Sanat collective (with headquarters in Istanbul) is an artist collective and independent art space in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. This collective has been organizing international exhibitions and educational programs since 2010. Karşı Sanat is a non-profit organization that supports artists and intellectuals in expressing themselves without political and aesthetic limitations, and which attempts to provide space for distinctions in the contemporary art world and among the artists and curators in Turkey’s neighboring countries.
(2)Merkezkaç Art Collective (with headquarters in Diyarbakır) is a non-profit organization that is active in Diyarbakır, Batman, and Mardin. As an independent art collective its goal is to make visible the potential contemporary art has in the region, and to integrate it into international production processes. Another goal is to remedy the lack of an insufficient level of education in the art departments at fine arts universities and colleges in the context of contemporary art.
(3)Rhythm Section (with headquarters in Munich) is made up of contemporary artists from different fields who explicitly deal with “rhythm.” The exchange and dynamics that are created from the interplay of different actions and media provide new approaches for art. The project is designed to encourage an intensive cultural exchange between artists of various nationalities, and to help form an international network between these countries.
Participating Artists:
BERAT IŞIK, DANIEL GEIGER, FEYYAZ YAMAN, MARKUS KRUG, MEHMET ALi BORAN, MURAT GÖK, OLEKSIY KOVAL, ORHAN CEM ÇETiN, REMZi SEVER, REZZAN GÜMGÜM, EDA YIĞiT, ŞEFiK ÖZCAN, SELiM SÜME, UĞUR ORHAN, VERONIKA WENGER, YAĞMUR ÇALIŞ