The Pavilion of Turkey

56th International Art Exhibition,

Sale d’Armi, Arsenale

9 May

“In Respiro, I will be reaching out beyond geopolitics, to a more expansive context of a million plus years,

going back to the creation of the universe and the beginning of time, back to the first

very first magical breaking point of light

histories of politics, religion, philosophy, and the arts, we will be embracing contemporaneity of both the

present and the distant past in our continued attempt to defy stagnation.

Sarkis, 10 February 2015

Exhibition

“Few artists have combined artistic ingenuity with such a subtle critique of history as deftly as Sarkis

This undertaking opens up a spa

landscape of deep uncertainties, our intention is to unfurl a proposition that reveals Sarkis’s profound

concern for humanity. With and through his intense and perfectionist oeuvre

magnum opus of his—and thanks to his rich arsenal of visual, architectural, and musical apparatus, we

are able to tune into hidden signals and frames encrypted in mediated images and visions; dig deeper into

our contemporary lived experience;

transformative power of his art, and both the timelessness and the timeliness of his oeuvre.

Defne Ayas, 10 February 2015 Through the arrangements of objects, images, thoughts, and codes that apersonal and collective memories, Sarkis will use the site of the pavilion as a theatrical stage for the cast of his works to investigate the ideas of infinite dialogue and transformation that lie at the core of his practice. The exhibition titled mirrors, stained-glass panes, and site

The Pavilion of Turkey

56th International Art Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia

Sale d’Armi, Arsenale

9 May - 22 November 2015

Curator : Defne Ayas

beyond geopolitics, to a more expansive context of a million plus years,

going back to the creation of the universe and the beginning of time, back to the first

very first magical breaking point of light. Instead of binding ourselves to specific instances within the

histories of politics, religion, philosophy, and the arts, we will be embracing contemporaneity of both the

present and the distant past in our continued attempt to defy stagnation.”

Few artists have combined artistic ingenuity with such a subtle critique of history as deftly as Sarkis

This undertaking opens up a space in which the potential of art is reanimated. Against the current

landscape of deep uncertainties, our intention is to unfurl a proposition that reveals Sarkis’s profound

concern for humanity. With and through his intense and perfectionist oeuvre

and thanks to his rich arsenal of visual, architectural, and musical apparatus, we

are able to tune into hidden signals and frames encrypted in mediated images and visions; dig deeper into

our contemporary lived experience; most likely hurt but also hopefully heal. The focus is the

transformative power of his art, and both the timelessness and the timeliness of his oeuvre.

Through the arrangements of objects, images, thoughts, and codes that are released from both personal and collective memories, Sarkis will use the site of the pavilion as a theatrical stage for the cast of his works to investigate the ideas of infinite dialogue and transformation that lie at the core of

bition titled Respiro, meaning breath in Italian, will present an installation of glass panes, and site-specific neon works, and will be complemented by a

la Biennale di Venezia

beyond geopolitics, to a more expansive context of a million plus years,

going back to the creation of the universe and the beginning of time, back to the first-ever rainbow—the

ecific instances within the

histories of politics, religion, philosophy, and the arts, we will be embracing contemporaneity of both the

Few artists have combined artistic ingenuity with such a subtle critique of history as deftly as Sarkis. ce in which the potential of art is reanimated. Against the current

landscape of deep uncertainties, our intention is to unfurl a proposition that reveals Sarkis’s profound

concern for humanity. With and through his intense and perfectionist oeuvre—especially with this

and thanks to his rich arsenal of visual, architectural, and musical apparatus, we

are able to tune into hidden signals and frames encrypted in mediated images and visions; dig deeper into

most likely hurt but also hopefully heal. The focus is the

transformative power of his art, and both the timelessness and the timeliness of his oeuvre.”

re released from both personal and collective memories, Sarkis will use the site of the pavilion as a theatrical stage for the cast of his works to investigate the ideas of infinite dialogue and transformation that lie at the core of

, meaning breath in Italian, will present an installation of specific neon works, and will be complemented by a

composition by Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi, based on the artist’s drawing of the rainbow’s seven colors as a system of partitions. A new publication will accompany Sarkis’s Respiro. Conceived as a cross-referencing of Sarkis’s installation through key essays and short image readings, the book will include contributions by Ruben Arevshatyan, Tûba Çandar, Rakel Dink, Uwe Fleckner, Karin Karakaşlı, David Kazanjian, Wendy Meryem Kural Shaw, Aaron Schuster, and Jalal Toufic, amongst others. The volume edited by Defne Ayas, published by İKSV and designed by A Practice for Every Day Life, London is available at the launch of the Pavilion of Turkey at the biennale and sold at select bookstores. Simultaneous installations by Sarkis will be opening on 7 May, in Hrant Dink Foundation, Istanbul; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Mamco, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva; Château d’Angers, Angers; Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chaumont-sur-Loire and in Musée du Château des ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard, as to create a continuous dialogue with wider audiences. Biographies

Sarkis (b. 1938), a graduate of Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, had his first exhibition at the Istanbul Art Gallery in 1960. A prominent figure of the global art scene, whose career spans more than five decades, Sarkis has worked with various mediums, and has been, since the end of the 1960s, an icon of installation art in particular. His works have been exhibited worldwide in established institutions, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Kunst-und-Ausstellungshalle, Bonn; The Louvre, Paris; Bode Museum, Berlin; and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Sarkis was part of When Attitudes Become Form, Kunsthalle Bern, 1969; documenta VI and VII, Kassel, 1977 and 1982; and the biennials of Sydney, Shanghai, São Paulo, Moscow, and Istanbul. Most recently, Sarkis has had solo shows at Galeri Manâ, Istanbul, 2013; ARTER, Istanbul, 2013; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2013; Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, 2014 and 2011; Mamco, Museum of Contemporary Art, Geneva, 2011; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2010; and Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 2009. He has been living and working in Paris since 1964. Sarkis is represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels. Defne Ayas (b. 1976) is the director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and publisher of its online journal WdWReview. Since 2005, she has been a curator at Performa, the biennial of performance art in New York, where she remains a curator-at-large. Ayas co-founded Arthub Asia, an Asia-wide production and research initiative (2007–present), and Blind Dates Project, an artistic platform that “match-made" artists and scholars to tackle what remains of the rupture of the Ottoman Empire. In 2012, Ayas co-curated the 11th edition of the Baltic Triennial of International Art. Mother of Elâ Tara, Ayas is the co-curator of the 6th Moscow Biennale. Colophon

Curator : Defne Ayas Assistant Curator : Özge Ersoy

Sound Composition : Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi Commissioner : Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Pavilion of Turkey Advisory Committee : Zerrin İren Boynudelik, Lewis Johnsson, Ali Kazma, Burcu Pelvanoğlu, Cristiana Perrella Consultant : Bige Örer Project Coordinator : Tuna Ortaylı Kazıcı Project Assistant : Selen Erkal Media Relations : Ayşe Bulutgil, Elif Obdan Gürkan, Özlem Bekiroğlu, Özge Özgüleryüz, Zeynep Seyhun Corporate Identity and Publications : Didem Ermiş, Cüneyt Tabanoğlu, Merve Evirgen, Selin Pervan, Sezen Özgür Marketing and Business Development : Tuba Tortop, Dilan Beyhan, Yıldız Lale Yıldırım, Lara Eram, Gülce Şahin, Sezer Kari, Bahar Helvacıoğlu, Özge Genç Sponsorship Program : Yasemin Keretli Çavuşoğlu, Pelin Davidyan Finance and Administration : Ahmet Balta, Ahmet Buruk, Hasan Alkaya, Başak Sucu Yıldız, Kadir Altoprak, Deniz Yılmaz Communication Material Design : A Practice for Everyday Life, London Production : Eidotech GmbH, Neonlauro International Press Agency : Pickles PR Acknowledgements : Berge Arabian, Sibel Asna, Maimiti Cazalis, Haro Cümbüşyan & Bilge Öğüt-Cümbüşyan, Waner (Claudia) Chen, Cengiz Çandar, Aren Demirci, Karla Demirci, Delal Dink, Bülent Erkmen, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Annavaleria Guazzieri, Hrant Dink Vakfı, IIS Marco Polo – Liceo Artistico, Ali Kazma, Arusyak Koç, Narod Veronik Kuruğoğlu, Helin Menteşe, Eden Morfaux, André Morin, Linda Negro, Anna Orlandini, Özel Karagözyan Ermeni Ortaokulu, Cristina Pasqualotti, Raimondo Piaia, Luca Racchini, Stefano Rossi, Timothy Stroud, Abay Tekkol, Zeynep Taşkın, Aurélie Wacquant, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Kevork Yanar, Işıl Zabunyan Contacts

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