6 September 2017

“You Want Kilims, But I Do Films”. Art and Culture in Turkey Mirkan Deniz – Wir waren nur Gastgeberin
Thursday, 14 September 2017, 7 pm, Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz
Artist’s Talk with Mirkan Deniz, welcoming remarks: Eran Schaerf
Foyer exhibition until 24 Sept 2017

The political and social upheavals in Turkey have substantially altered conditions for those working in cultural fields. In the special event series “You Want Kilims, But I Do Films”, artists, writers, journalists, academics and scientists provide insights into their current practices and discuss the present situation. “You Want Kilims, But I Do Films” is a quote from Atif Yilmaz, a film director of Kurdish origin.

Mirkan Deniz was born in Istanbul and lives in Zürich. Political events in Kurdistan provide departure points for her works. She calls to mind these moments in history using conceptual art forms that ask where and how these events have taken place, and in what ways they play a role in our context. The media she uses are films, drawings, sculptures and installations. For the Berlin Art Week, Deniz’ interventions at the Akademie der Künste on Pariser Platz include her site-specific installation Masa (2015-16), a replica of the table on which the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923, as well as two video installations, Barikat (13 min., 2017) and verbunden (13 min., 2015).

In 2008 Turkey received a gift from Switzerland. Pascal Couchepin, the former president of the Swiss Federal Council, brought with him the original table on which the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923, presenting it to his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül. The Treaty of Lausanne negotiated the reorganisation of the Near East following the First World War. Talk of an independent state had been promised to the Kurds, but these hopes were dashed in Lausanne. The peace treaty signed there stipulated a division of Kurdistan to Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. The table was in the possession of the Lausanne administration until 2008 and is now on display at the Kurtulus Savası Müzesi (War of Independence Museum) in Ankara.

For Masa, Deniz had an exact replica of this table produced with which she realised a public action in Lausanne in front of the Palais de Rumine and in front of the Swiss Parliament building in Bern. The attempt she initiated, to officially give the table to Switzerland, was turned down by both the president of the Governing Council of the Canton of Vaud as well as by federal councillor Didier Burkhalter, the department head of the Swiss FDFA (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs).

The film Barikat (engl: barricade) shows a performance, inspired by the everyday lives of Kurdish people, who have been living for more than a year in sections of Turkey, where military checkpoints dominate daily life. There are many stories about what people have experienced there; this film tells one of them. The short film verbunden recalls the memories of a Kurdish woman from Turkey, who was arrested and tortured as a twelve-year-old, together with her brothers and sisters, following the military putsch in 1980. The film does not portray an individual fate: The protagonist represents an entire generation, which has grown up in a strongly politicised environment, and has experienced first-hand the violent coercive measures of the state.

The series “You Want Kilims, But I Do Films” is a cooperation with taz.gazete.
With the kind support of the Society of Friends of the Akademie der Künste.
The artist’s talk with Mirkan Deniz is part of the Berlin Art Week.

Special Event Information:
Mirkan Deniz – Wir waren nur Gastgeberin
Thursday, 14 September 2017, 7 pm, free admission
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Artist’s Talk with Mirkan Deniz, welcoming remarks: Eran Schaerf
In German
Foyer exhibition at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, until 24 Sept 2017,
Open daily, 10 am – 8 pm, free admission

>> Press tickets: presse@adk.de, Tel. +49 (0)30 20057-1514