AlbumArte presents
Ferhat Özgür
AlbumArte | VideoArtForum #3
First screening and discussion on Wednesday March 9th at 7:30pm
Introduced by Vittorio Urbani
Screenings from Thursday 10th to Saturday 12th from 4pm to 9pm
AlbumArte Via Flaminia, 122 Rome
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Ferhat Özgür is the protagonist of the third appointment of the event AlbumArte | VideoArtForum on Wednesday, March 9th 2016 with the first screening and debate open to the public at 7:30pm. The video-forum will be introduced by the curator Vittorio Urbani.
Ferhat Özgür (b. 1965, lives and works in Istanbul) is an artist currently active with several international exhibitions (actually shown at the Michigan Museum of Art, USA). He has already participated in the video program conceived by AlbumArte entitled Anteprima (Istanbul, 2011), selected by the art critic and curator Beral Madra. Thanks to his first solo show in Italy titled The Compassionate Artist OR My Beauty in Green Drives Me Crazy, curated by Vittorio Urbani, AlbumArte will present Ferhat Özgür to the Roman audiences by projecting his most significant creations.
«In his first solo show in Rome (and in Italy), Ferhat Özgür presents different video works, which give a broad picture of his artistic scope and intellectual engagement. With a background in painting, Ferhat Özgür is mostly known for his photographs, video works and installations in Turkey and internationally. In his AlbumArte event entitled ‘The Compassionate Artist OR My Beauty in Green Drives Me Crazy’, which is one of the refrain in a Turkish ballad he used in his video ‘Life Is Beautiful’, will be presented nine selected videos from different periods. Özgür’s approach to art is very holistic and humanistic (…). Özgür often collects ideas from the street, from everyday life (…). The subjects of his videos can be as diverse as a group of freshmen greeting a comrade leaving for his military service (Life Is Beautiful), or lone children playing music in the streets (Street Lullaby), and so on. He is charmed by “life” and use the raw materials presented by the everyday to create his music, I mean, his art. This has been only half a mistake, since music and singing very often features in Özgür’s video works. Either traditional Turkish ballades, either Western Pop and techno music and dance are elements not only additional but structural, making his work to become “alive”». (Vittorio Urbani)
PROGRAMME
Wednesday 9th from 7:30pm
– Screenings of Remains Of The Day, 2013, 10’09’; It’s Time To Dance Now, 2008, 06′ 10’’; Metamorphosis Chat, 2009, 9’24”; I Love You 301, 2007, 10’49”.
Following, there will be a debate introduced by Vittorio Urbani
Thursday 10th – Friday 11th – Saturday 12th from 4pm to 9pm, non-stop screenings of:
– Remains Of The Day, 2013, 10’09’
– Women in Love, 2013, 11’50”; Marble Dance, 2011, 5’35”; It’s Time To Dance Now, 2008, 06′ 10’’; We Are The Builders, 2005-2013, 12’09”;
– Life Is Beautiful, 2010, 6’23”; Street Lullaby, 2010, 3’20”; I Love You 301, 2007, 10’49”; Metamorphosis Chat’ 2009, 9’24”
Ferhat Özgür | Born in Ankara in 1965, he lives and works in Istanbul. Selected Solo Exhibitions include Metamorphosis Chat, Michigan University Museum of Art, (2015-2016); I Can Sing, MoMA PS1, New York, USA (2012-13); Now and Here, Gallery Bernhard Bischoff and Partner, Bern, Switzerland, (2014); Let Everybody Come Out Today, Marabouparken, Sweeden, (2013); Curious Moments, American Hospital Operation Room-Istanbul (2013). He took part in 6th Berlin Biennale (2010) and 10th Istanbul Biennale (2007). Selected Group Exhibitions include What We Called Love, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2015); Austeria, BWA SOKOL, Novy Sacz, Poland (2015); Plurivocality, Istanbul Modern (2015); New Human: You and I in Wonderland, Moderna Musset, Malmö (2015); Culture of Ageing, St James Cavalier, Valetta, Malta (2015); Role Plays, Role Models, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, (2011); Reflecting The Fashion, Musem der Moderne Stiftung, Vienna (2012); A Geographical Expression, Fondazione Re Rebaudengo Sandretto, Turin, (2011); We Are The Artists, Kunsthalle Winterthur (2011).
Vittorio Urbani | is an independent curator, based in Venice, Italy, who has been organizing contemporary exhibitions and curating art books and catalogues since 1993 as director of the non-profit organization “Nuova Icona – associazione culturale per le arti” based in Venice, Italy, and at international venues. He has been invited as visiting curator to Vancouver (1999), Istanbul (in 2000 and several other times) and Baku, Cardiff and Rotterdam in 2004, Helsinki, Tbilisi and Yerevan in 2007, and Zagreb in 2009. He has been the Selector for the art prize “Perspectives” at Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast, 2004. He has been also invited as co-selector for the “Kyoto Prize” on 2006 and 2009. He has been invited to select the Italian participation (Elisabetta Benassi, Fabio Mauri, Antonio Riello, Paolo Ravalico Scerri) in the Second Quadrilateral Biennial, Rijeka, Croatia, 2007, the Italian participation (Flavio Favelli) in the Biennial of Caucasus “Art Caucasus”, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2007 and again the Italian participation in Sinopale, 1st and 3rd Biennial of Sinop (Turkey) with Antonio Riello and Marc Rees in 2006 and Daniele Pezzi in 2010 He has been member of IKT (International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art). Nuova Icona is dedicated to the realization of projects by contemporary visual artists. Under Urbani’s artistic direction, Nuova Icona has held about 200 shows in Italy and abroad and published more than 100catalogues. Since 1995 Nuova Icona has organized for 5 editions the national official participations of Ireland in the Venice Art Biennale. It has also collaborated as manager to the national official participations of Wales (2001, 2003, 2007, 2009), Turkey (2001, 2003 and 2005), Scotland (2003), USA (2003), India (collateral exhibition in 2005), Finland (2005), Bulgaria (2008), Azerbaijan (2007, 2009, 2011), Lebanon (2007), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, 2009), Palestine (2009), Iraq (2011). The association has a special interest in artistic projects concerning cultural exchanges with Turkey and the Middle East. With AlbumArte, Vittorio Urbani has also curated Anteprima #3 | Flavio Favelli – Grape Juice (artist-in-residence at Palazzo Venezia – the residence in Istanbul of the Ambassador of Italy in Turkey and solo show, Galata Rum Okulu, April 20 – June 14, 2014).
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