INTERVIEW: TOBIAS CZUDEJ

from the top:  Magali Reus, Parking (Jogs), 2013 / Gabriele Beveridge, See through you, 2013 / Installation view Comrades Of Time / Bas Van Den Hurk, Untitled, 2013 / courtesy the artists, photos by Cell Project Space

From creepy hotel rooms to spectacular one-day-shows: London-based curator Tobias Czudej continuously re-invents strategies to present art, to experiment and to doubt traditional display concepts – until the exhibition itself turns into an art form. With his project CHEWDAY'S, which refers to the way people pronounce Tobias surname, he recently curated the show "Comrades of Time Comrades of Time", which is still on display at Cell Project Space in London Hackney. While it is not only a striking assemblage of up-and-coming artists, the show demonstrates an unconventional approach towards spatial performance. Senses are challenged, yet the visual appearance remains minimalist. I spoke to Tobias about his motivation to do exhibitions, his view on contemporary art and about Comrades of time.

ISTANBUL: EXHIBITIONS AT ARTER

MINE KAPLANGI

from the top: (1) Aslı Çavuşoğlu, "The Stones Talk", 2013, Installation view, Photo: Mustafa Nurdoğdu; (2) Aslı Çavuşoğlu "The Stones Talk", 2013, Photo: Hadiye Cangökçe; (3) Fatma Bucak, "And then God blessed them", 2013 video still; (4) Fatma Bucak, "Suggested place for you to see it", 2013, Video still; (5) Fatma Bucak, "Blessed are you who come – Solida Fundamenta", 2012 / courtesy Arter Istanbul and the artists

During a very tiring Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair it was a relief that Sakıp Sabancı Museum invited Anish Kapoor to do his first solo exhibition in Turkey at the same time. But while Kapoor’s show manages to close a few gaps in Istanbul’s contemporary art scene, three exhibitions at the institutional art space ARTER and its newly opened subsidiary BAHANE (which means ‘excuse’ in Turkish), are going for a whole new beginning – a redefinition of contemporary art in Istabul. Planned for a duration of two months for a start, BAHANE is directed by İlkay Baliç and İz Öztat as an art space that is located in an old apartment, combining exhibitions with a library, video screenings and reading sessions. ARTER currently has a different exhibition on each of its three floors, including solo shows by Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Fatma Bucak and the established artist Sarkis.

INTERVIEW: KATHARINA BAUCKHAGE

from the top: editions by Laura Paperina, Norbert Schwontowski and Elin Hansdottir, photo by Graeme Vaughan / artberlin.de; edition by Louise Bourgeois, photo by Yvonne Amankwa / artflash.de; portrait Katharina Bauckhage, photo by Julia Baier

In the market of selling art online, some have made an attempt to go big in the past years; most of them failed. Although society seems to be comfortable with buying every imaginable product via the Internet, the online art sales are still only growing slowly. This brings up the question how online art sales might develop in the future. Is it a necessary step towards a democratic distribution of art by opening up the market to any potential buyer, or is it just another way to satisfy society’s greediness for consumption – to leave the haptic, creative and creational nature of art and thus, its aura behind? I posed these questions to Katharina Bauckhage, who is the founder of artflash and a former organisation member of Documenta 11 and 12. Her Berlin-based project Artflash is an elaborately selected online shop for art editions, which, according to Bauckhage, aims to diminish barriers that young collectors might be confronted with. Every second week the site presents two limited and signed editions, usually varying in a moderate price range from 100 to 1.000 Euros and quickly selling out during the ‘flash sales’. Showcasing editions from up-and-coming artists, such as Jon Measures and Antje Dorn, to the established ones like Louise Bourgeois, Raymond Pettibon or Jörg Immendorff, artflash wants to establish a democratic approach between the art world and its consumers.

ACCUMULATION, DISPLACEMENT, DELETION, REARRANGEMENT AND INSISTENCE

from the top: (1) installation view Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry, (2)  Richard Parry, (3)  installation view Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry,  (4) Nástio Mosquito and Richard Parry // All images courtesy of narrative gallery // Photography Angus Leadley Brown

Even today, Post-Colonialism is a difficult and often a sensitive topic to discuss. But luckily the comprehension of a problem is the first step towards reconciliation. Questioning the exposure to this cultural and political debate, the group exhibition "Accumulation, Displacement, Deletion, Rearrangement and Insistence" at Narrative Gallery in London introduces works by the artists Nástio Mosquito, Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry, who propose a rather self-ironic but nonetheless very aesthetic handling of post-colonial-theory. The circuitous title is an excerpt of a quote by Edward Said from his book 'Orientalism' (1978), which reads in full length: "Far from being merely additive or cumulative, the growth of knowledge is a process of selective accumulation, displacement, deletion, rearrangement, and insistence within what has been called a research consensus." Said was a prominent figure – in fact, one of the founders – of post-colonial theory, as 'Orientalism' criticised the Western view on the Orient as an irrational, mysterious and alien depiction.