Ali Kazma
dal 10/9/2013 al 25/10/2013
Segnalato da
10/9/2013
Ali Kazma
Galeri Nev, Istanbul
The works in the exhibition were compiled from the archive of Kazma comprised of more than eight thousand photographs taken in libraries, bookshops, print houses, bookbinderies and many other places related to books.
“Books resist and channel out the noise of the world. When I read, the constant, oppressive murmuring of the world is replaced by a clear voice coming from a substantial source.”
Ali Kazma
The first photograph exhibition by Ali Kazma in Turkey: “Book” opens at Galeri Nev Istanbul on September 11. The works in the exhibition were compiled from the archive of Ali Kazma comprised of more than eight thousand photographs taken in libraries, bookshops, print houses, bookbinderies and many other places related to books by curator Régis Durand. Alongside the exhibition, a book with Régis Durand’s text on Ali Kazma’s work will also be presented to the audience.
Photographs organized around thematic categories by Régis Durand invite the audience to reconsider the production processes of books and the nature of places at which readers and books meet.
According to Régis Durand, Ali Kazma whose art is about work as such only in appearance aims to make the activity of reading visible through photography. His focus on the materiality of the book is of course a way of reducing the strangeness and alterity rooted in the nature of books. But it is also a way of bringing the work into a world with which Kazma is familiar, that of production, know-how and precision. The book photographed by Kazma is not an empty or anonymous shell, it is a flesh-and-blood object that lives in the particular biotope that is the library, where it has its assigned place, a place that makes sense in this ensemble, and does not consist in simply occupying a certain space. Ali Kazma’s materialist vision of the world of the book dialectically refers to what grounds it, that is to say, the inner life of books and the energy of knowledge.
The presentation of the book project “Recto-Verso” published by édition Take 5 and realized in collaboration with Ali Kazma, Alberto Manguel, Philippe Apeloig and Jean-Luc Honegger took place during Paris Photo 2012. “Recto-Verso” included a compilation of photographs from Ali Kazma’s archive on which the artist had been working more than three years at that time. The artist has been continuing to add to his archive since then. A copy of the limited edition book is included in Prints & Illustrated Books Collection at MoMA in New York beside many other international collections.
Born in 1971 in İstanbul, Ali Kazma received his master’s degree from New School in New York. After his return in 2000, Kazma still lives and works in İstanbul. The videos in Kazma’s Obstructions series are concerned with fundamental questions related to human labor and activities. The artist has shown his works in İstanbul Biennial (2001, 2007, 2011), Havana Biennial (2006), Lyon Biennial (2007) and Sao Paulo Biennial (2012) as well as contemporary art institutions like Tokyo Opera City (2001), Platform Garanti, Istanbul (2004), Istanbul Modern (2004) and San Francisco Art Institute (2006). With his new video series prepared for the 55th Venice Biennial “Resistance”, Kazma directed his artistic interest to exploring the body as a potential platform for resistance.
With an extensive history of curating and organizing exhibitions on photography, Régis Durand has also written many essays and articles on contemporary art and photography for numerous publications including Art Press Magazine and L’Architecture d’Aujourdhui. Régis Durand directed contemporary art institutions like Centre National de la Photographie and Jeu de Paume in Paris between 1996-2006. He now works as an independent curator and critic.
Galeri Nev İstanbul
Istiklal Caddesi Misir Apt. No: 163 Kat 4 D:23 Beyoglu Istanbul
Open Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00-18:30