Ahmet Ogut
dal 18/6/2012 al 20/7/2012
Segnalato da
18/6/2012
Ahmet Ogut
Delfina Foundation, London
Or whistle spontaneously. Working across a variety of media, Ogut references to complex topics including religion, social and rural customs, and the spectre of war, often offset by an edge of humour.
Delfina Foundation is delighted to announce the first solo UK show of the
Kurdish/Turkish artist Ahmet Ögüt, in residence at Delfina Foundation in
partnership with Tate Learning’s community programme.
Working across a variety of media, Ögüt has gained international acclaim for
his subtle references to complex topics including religion, social and rural
customs, and the spectre of war, often offset by an edge of humour.
He co-
represented Turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009) and has exhibited widely
including the 9th and 12th Istanbul Biennials, the 4th Moscow Biennial and 5th
Berlin Biennial – among many others.
At Delfina Foundation, Ögüt will exhibit the videos Light Armoured (2006) and
Things We Count (2008), alongside his latest work Oscar William Sam (2012),
shot in Zuccotti Park days before the NYPD violently removed the Occupy Wall
Street camp. Together, the videos unpick the social and political realities of
everyday life, while also blurring the lines between fact and fiction. The
works also explore the notion of resistance within varying types of
relationships, through the simple acts of repetition and continuity.
Oscar William Sam (2012), single channel video, 4:00 min, courtesy of the
artist.
The title is suggestive of the acronyms often used by law enforcement services
and military forces to identify and single-out individuals.
In the video, a
hand points out across the Occupy Wall Street camp, identifying individuals by
one, calling out the most popular first names in US. The identity and goal of
the video’s main protagonist remains unclear. Oscar William Sam alludes to the
supposed anonymity of those involved in protest movements and the shifting
terrain between power and impotence, perpetrator and victim.
Things We Count (2008), single channel video, 6:20 min, courtesy of the artist.
In this video, the camera slowly pans across an airplane graveyard in the
Arizona desert where hundreds of discarded or defunct American Air Force planes
are stored. A male voice methodically counts, alternating between English,
Turkish and Kurdish. Through repetition, we come to imagine the numbers of the
dead and injured or levels of destruction without a need for a single personal
story.
Light Armoured (2006), Animation 1:07 min, courtesy of the artist.
In this short animation, a camouflaged Land Rover is hit by small stones thrown
by an unknown source. The vehicle’s design designates it as belonging to the
military. As stones bounce off its armour without causing damage the futility
and impotence of the attack is obvious. Played on a constant loop, it is both
an anti-war gesture, against all camouflaged and normalised tools that harm
humanity, as well as a comment on the futility of combat.
Notes to editors:
Ahmet Ögüt received his BA from the Fine Arts Faculty of Hacettepe University,
and his MFA from the Art and Design Faculty of Yildiz Technical University.
Ögüt was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2007-2008.
Recent solo exhibitions were held at SALT, Istanbul (2011); Fondazione
Giuliani, Rome, Italy (2011); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2011); and Van
Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2010), among others.
Recent group exhibitions: 12th
Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2011); 4th Moscow Biennial, Moscow (2011); Garage
Projects, Venice (2011); and Asian Art Biennial, Taichung (2011), among others.
In 2009 Ahmet Öğüt co-represented Turkey at 53rd Venice Biennale. Recent awards
include the 2011 De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs (Netherlands) and the 2010
Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Contemporary Art (Germany).
Delfina Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to
facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through
residencies, partnerships and public programming, with a special focus on
international collaborations with the greater Middle East & North Africa. To
date, Delfina Foundation has hosted nearly 100 artists, curators and writers
from 18 different countries. In 2013, Delfina Foundation will expand into an
adjacent property in Catherine Place SW1, doubling the number of residencies as
well as the size of its exhibition space.
Ahmet Ögüt is on the second stage of his year-long residency with Delfina
Foundation and Tate Learning’s communities programme. His residency will
culminate in December 2012 with a participatory new work provisionally titled
The Silent University. The project involves refugees and asylum seekers unable
to practice their previous profession or use their qualifications due to a
variety of reasons. Working collaboratively, the artist and participants are
developing a knowledge exchange platform, akin to an academic programme, that
will be publicly accessible. The project will culminate in a public performance
at Tate Modern in December 2012, around themes developed in the workshops.
Press Contact:
Miranda Sharp, miranda@delfinafoundation.com
+ 44 (0)207 233 5344
Ana Vukadin, ana@suttonpr.com
+44 (0)207 183 3577
Opening Tuesday 19 June 18:30 – 20:30
Address: Delfina Foundation
29 Catherine Place, London SW1E 6DY
Mon – Sat, 11:00 – 18:00