17 mai 2024 [séance en anglais et en visioconférence]

Expanded Provincialism: The Case of Turkey

Vasif Kortun, curateur et auteur indépendant

We live in the dictatorship of the present, decoupled from the future and the past, as if history is over. The global interest in contemporary international practices, unanchored from possible horizons and histories, also blindsides us. Power has never been as centralized because institutions shape themselves after the center. Our local philanthropists, under the deception that their artists should have representation at the centers, support the centers more than work on the ground and enjoy their admittance to the “Story” as they rub shoulders with their lookalikes abroad. Money has always steered the museums. Their claim on the reassessment of world art history has always been dubious. There are exhibitions, but without a structural transformation of institutions, revisionist modern histories are written only by academia or university museums. Our need for horizontality, “margin speaking to margin,” has gained ground but not adequately. The discourse of decoloniality is horizontal, and we need to speak from outside the linear modernity. Otherwise, we will not get far with the creolization of artistic languages, the unwieldy monotony of talking to a center or producing art for export. I plan to outline the saga of Turkey’s modernity as a particular case in the context of the transformation since the 1990s with reference to the Balkans and the MENA region. 

Vasif Kortun is a curator, writer, and teacher of visual art, its institutions, and spatial practices. He has co-curated the Taipei Biennale (2008) and the Istanbul Biennial (2005) and was one of the co-curators of the 24. São Paulo Biennial (1998). Kortun was the founding director of Research and Programs of SALT, an intradisciplinary cultural institution based in Turkey. Kortun has written extensively on contemporary art and the cultural situation for books and other publications. In 2023, he co-edited Özer Kabaş: Sentez ve Montaj and Gürel Yontan Serseri Mayın. He is a research and curatorial advisor to Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha and serves on the board of the Foundation for Art Initiatives, SALT, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp.

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Infos pratiques (English text below)

Pour permettre au plus grand nombre de suivre le séminaire, celui-ci se déroulera cette année en mode hybride.

• Périodicité : 1er et 3e vendredi du mois, du 17 novembre 2023 au 7 juin 2024
• Horaires : 15:00-17:00
• Lieu : Salle B03_18, 54 bd Raspail 75006 Paris
• Visioconférence : Zoom

Attention : Vous ne pourrez pas accéder à ce séminaire sans avoir préalablement déposé une demande via le lien suivant : https://participations.ehess.fr/demandes/__nouvelle__?seminaire=679.

Merci de déposer la demande au plus tard 72 heures avant la première séance. Une seule demande suffit pour l’année et elle peut être effectuée à n’importe quel moment de l’année.

Avant chaque séance, nous enverrons un message de confirmation pour ceux qui seront en présentiel et le lien vers la salle de visioconférence pour ceux qui seront en distanciel.

Pour toute information, contactez-nous à l’adresse suivante : arvimm.groupe(at)gmail.com

Practical info

The seminar will be held in hybrid mode to allow as many people as possible to attend.

Frequency: 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, from November 17, 2023 to June 7, 2024
Schedule: 3 to 5pm
Location: Room B03_18, 54 bd Raspail 75006 Paris (capacity: 12 seats)
Videoconference: Zoom

Please note: You will not be able to attend this seminar without first submitting a request via the following link: https://participations.ehess.fr/demandes/__nouvelle__?seminaire=679.

Please submit the application no later than 72 hours before the first session. The application is valid for the whole year and it can be made at any time.

Before each session, we will send a confirmation message to those who will be onsite, and the link to the videoconference room for those who will be online.

For more information, please contact us at the following address: arvimm.groupe(at)gmail.com

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