An exhibition project by
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna,
ARTER, Istanbul, and TANAS, Berlin

Opening: Thursday, 15 April, 2010

With Nevin Aladag, Kutlug Ataman, Cevdet Erek,
Ayse Erkmen, Esra Ersen, Inci Eviner, Nilbar Güres,
Hafriyat, Ali Kazma, Ahmet Ögüt, Füsun Onur, Sarkis,
Hale Tenger, Nasan Tur, xurban_collective

Tactics of Invisibility is a collaborative project developed by the Vienna-based foundationThyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, ARTER in Istanbul, and TANAS in Berlin curated by Emre Baykal and Daniela Zyman. The exhibition follows the traces of the invisible within contemporary artistic production from Turkey and its diaspora. It discusses invisibility as the presence of an absence; as being under the surface; as a tactic of withdrawal and obstruction; as a means of dissolving, camouflaging, and mirroring; and as ghostly matter and uncanny specter. Emphasizing the potentialities of invisibility, the project also draws attention to the implications of exclusion from the regime of the visible.

Tactics of Invisibility brings together a variety of artistic positions from almost three decades, including works by pioneering figures such as Sarkis, Füsun Onur, and Ay?e Erkmen, who have influenced the minimalist and conceptual practices of the younger generation and paved the way for contemporary art from Turkey to receive international attention. In particular, the politically and socially engaged artistic practices of the 1990s – a critical period in which discourses such as multiculturalism, identity politics, migration, and minority politics came to the fore – were intensively discussed within the “Western” art world and also focused attention on the sociopolitical context of Turkish art.

Even though the artistic practices of ?nci Eviner, Kutlu? Ataman, and Hale Tenger have been nourished within this energetic and vibrant context, their work addresses these questions in very specific ways. The exhibition follows this line of postconceptual or minimalist artistic practice, looking at the recent production of the younger generation, represented by Cevdet Erek, Ali Kazma, Esra Ersen, Nilbar Güre?, Nasan Tur, Nevin Alada?, Ahmet Ö?üt, xurban_collective, and the artist initiative Hafriyat.

Tactics of Invisibility focuses on the ability of artworks to occupy or cross the liminal zones between the visible and the invisible; to draw attention to the silenced, repressed, inconspicuous, or symptomatic, thereby indicating an absence, a disorder, but also resistance or marginalization. To invoke the unseen beneath the surface – or to rest on often-conflictual moves toward dissemblance, disguise, and displacement – potentially offers a strategy to engage with processes of transformation and to create new or imaginary relationships. Invisibility then might become a tactical tool of subversion, a détournement within an aesthetic tradition that has problematized the representational potential of art. It thus can be discussed as a potential move toward a new distribution of the sensible.

Esra Ersen at KlausEngelhorn Depot

Esra Ersen's installation I am Turkish, I am Honest, I am Diligent... presented at KlausEngelhorn Depot in Ottakring consists of 21 Turkish school uniforms worn by children in Linz for over a week. Their experiences are contextualized in a video, which shows them in their daily routine at school and on a field trip. Their diary notes have been printed directly onto the uniforms.
This project has been realized in collaboration with SOHO in Ottakring 2010 and with the generous support of KlausEngelhorn Depot and the Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien - MA 7.

Exhibition information
Tactics of Invisibility

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
Himmelpfortgasse 13, 1010 Vienna, www.tba21.org

Opening: Thursday, 15 April, 2010
3:00 pm Artists' Talk with Nevin Aladag, Cevdet Erek, Ayse Erkmen, Esra Ersen, Nilbar Güres, Hafriyat, Ali Kazma, Ahmet Ögüt, Hale Tenger, Nasan Tur, xurban_collective. In conversation with Emre Baykal, Gülsen Bal, Gudrun Ankele and Daniela Zyman.
6:00 pm Performance: Nasan Tur, Vienna says..., 2010
6:30 pm Performance: Nevin Alada?, Nevin Alada? interviews Nevin Alada?, 2010
8:00 pm Opening of the installation by Esra Ersen at the KlausEngelhorn Depot in Ottakring

A Shuttle bus between T-B A21 and KlausEngelhorn Depot is available on April 15 from 7:30 pm till 10:00 pm.

Friday, 16 April, 2010
5:30 Performance: Nevin Alada?, Nevin Aladag interviews Nevin Aladag, 2010

Duration of the exhibition: 16 April - 15 August 2010
Opening hours at T-B A21: Tuesday to Sunday, 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm
Opening hours for Esra Ersen: I am Turkish, I am Honest, I am Diligent..., at KlausEngelhorn Depot in Ottakring: Wien 16, Abelegasse 10: Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm
(Different opening hours during Soho in Ottakring, 8 May - 22 May 2010 )

Free Admission

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with contributions by Meltem Ahiska, Gudrun Ankele, Gülsen Bal, Emre Baykal, Aysegül Baykan, Margrit Brehm, Dieter Buchhart, Levent Çalikoglu, Hafriyat, Natasa Ilic, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Nermin Saybasli, Basak Senova, Necmi Sönmez, Pelin Tan, Jalal Toufic, xurban_collective and Daniela Zyman. Published and distributed by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne. Price: €19.00

Further Exhibition Venues
Tactics of Invisibility

TANAS from September 2010
Heidestraße 50, 10557 Berlin, www.tanasberlin.de
TANAS is a project space to present contemporary art from Turkey in close cooperation with Turkish artists, curators and other art professionals engaged in the cultural sector and independent from representative duties. It aims to function as a platform for a steady discussion and interaction on contemporary Turkish art involving Turkish, German and international audience in Berlin. TANAS is an initiative of the Vehbi Koç Foundation in Istanbul, which supports educational, social and cultural projects since 1969.

ARTER from January 2011
Istiklal Caddesi No: 211, 34433 Beyoglu, Istanbul,
Initiated and supported by the Vehbi Koç Foundation, ARTER is a new ‘space for art’ which will open in Istanbul, in May 2010, with the aim of contributing to the development of contemporary art in Turkey through a close collaboration with artists and art professionals within the framework of a programme which will encourage and facilitate artistic production both in Turkey and on an international level.

Information
Thyssen-Bornmisza Art Contemporary
Himmelpfortgasse 13, 1010 Vienna
T +43 1 513 98 56 12
F +43 1 513 98 56 22
press@tba21.org / www.tba21.org

Press / Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
Christina Werner
w.hoch.zwei. Kulturelles Projektmanagement
Breite Gasse 17/4, 1070 Wien
T +43 1 524 96 46 22
F +43 1 524 96 32
werner@kunstnet.at

New Exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York
THE SEEN AND THE HIDDEN: (DIS)COVERING THE VEIL

MAY 22 – AUG 29, 2009

ARTISTS
Negar Ahkami (USA), Ayad Alkadhi (Iraq/USA), Zoulikha Bouabdellah (Algeria/France),
Adriana Czernin (Bulgaria/Austria), Katrina Daschner (Germany/Austria), Shadi Ghadirian (Iran),
Nilbar Güres (Turkey/Austria), Marlene Haring (Austria), Farheen HAQ (Canada), Princess Hijab (France), Hannah Menne (Austria), Sara Rahbar (Iran), Marjane Satrapi (France),
Asma Ahmed Shikoh (Pakistan/USA), Esin Turan (Turkey/Austria)

more information: www.acfny.org