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Turkish Government Censors Film about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party at the IKSV Istanbul Film Festival
On April 12th, at the IKSV ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL the Turkish government censored a documentary about kurdish guerrilla PKK (The Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The film title is “Bakur”(Director: Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu) which is the kurdish word for “North”. Kurdish people use this word as a description for the northern part of Kurdistan. The Istanbul Film festival gave out a statement on their website: “As per the statute, festival participation requires that ‘films produced within the country are registered and recorded.’ Screening of films produced in Turkey without this certificate results in legal sanctions; therefore the Istanbul Film Festival will not be able to screen films that don’t have the aforementioned certificate.” As a sign of solidarity the film team of “Until I Loose My Breath/ Nefesim Kesilene Kadar” (Director: Emine Emel Balci) refused their screening.
An announcement from the Istanbul Film Festival stated:
The Cinema General Directorate of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has sent an official letter to the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts reminding that as per Item 15 of the Regulation Pertaining to the Basis and Procedures of Evaluation and Categorisation of Film Products, films produced in Turkey need to have obtained a formal registration certificate in order to be screened at festivals.
As per the statute, festival participation requires that “films produced within the country are registered and recorded.” Screening of films produced in Turkey without this certificate results in legal sanctions, therefore Istanbul Film Festival will not be able to screen films that don’t have the aforementioned certificate.
As such, the screening of Bakur / North directed by Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, announced to be realised at 16.00 on Sunday, 12 April at Atlas Movie Theatre, will not be made. A future screening date of the film will be announced on the condition that it acquires this registration certificate.
Films produced outside Turkey are exempt from the scope of this regulation. Istanbul Film Festival believes that this exemption should apply for films made in Turkey as well. Istanbul Film Festival has been holding talks regarding the extension of this exemption to locally produced films as well and will continue these talks. However the statute that requires the registration certificate is still in effect. Therefore other films produced in Turkey that are in the festival programme also need to obtain this certificate.
Viewers who purchased tickets for this screening can apply to the relevant box office for refunds (İKSV box office for tickets purchased from there or Biletix channels for tickets purchased from Biletix or the movie theaters.)
Furthermore, on the next day of the festival, 22 film teams cancelled their screening as a sign of solidarity with the rejected film “BAKUR” (North), directed by Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu. They declared: “We do not accept the requirement of these certificates for local productions, especially as they are not required for foreign films. We consider this to be a form of oppression and censorship.” The 34th Istanbul Film Festival committee announced April 13 that the screening of a majority of films in the National Competition, National Documentary Competition, International Competition, Cinema in Human Rights Competition, Out of Competition, and New Turkish Cinema sections were canceled. The festival committee also announced that the National and International Golden Tulip Competitions, National Documentary Competition and the Closing Ceremony were cancelled.
More information here: http://film.iksv.org/en/archive/newsarchive/p/1/1120
A press conference by the professional organisations from the sector was held on Tuesday, 14 April at 15.30′ in Atlas Movie Theatre.
The Exhibition “The Beast and the Sovereign” That Should Have Opened Today at MACBA Has Been Censored (Barcelona, Spain)
UPDATE
Four days after the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA) decided to cancel the exhibition “The Beast and the Sovereign” (co-produced by the Wurttemberg Kunstverein and MACBA) on the day of the scheduled opening (March 18), on the morning of the 21st March, the exhibition was, surprisingly, opened: including the sculpture by artist Ines Doujak, which originally led to the closure of the exhibition when the curators refused to remove the work despite being pressured to do so.
Bartolomeo Marí, MACBA director stated: “The publicity given to the work and the views expressed by many different sectors of society, from the art world, culture, politics and the media, as well as international art professionals, have made me reconsider the initial decision. I never believed that my gesture was one of censorship: I perceived it as a disagreement with the inclusion of a particular work and the effects of its possible readings.”
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Artists included in this exhibition: Efrén Álvarez, Angela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarría, Peggy Buth, Martin Dammann, Ines Doujak and John Barker, Juan Downey, Edgar Endress, Oier Etxeberria, León Ferrari, Eiko Grimberg, Masist Gül (presented by Banu Cennetoğlu and Philippine Hoegen), Ghasem Hajizadeh, Jan Peter Hammer, Geumhyung Jeong, Glenda León, Julia Montilla, Rabih Mroué, Ocaña, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Prabhakar Pachpute, Mary Reid Kelley, Jorge Ribalta, Hans Scheirl, Wu Tsang, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Viktor Vorobyev & Yelena Vorobyeva, and Sergio Zevallos.
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Statement of the four curators of this exhibition: Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler, Paul B. Preciado and Valentín Roma
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The Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), Bartomeu Mari, has declared yesterday, March 18, 2015, that the exhibition ‘The Beast and the Sovereign’, co-produced by the MACBA and the Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart, has been cancelled.
Working on Jacques Derrida’s seminar ‘The Beast and the Sovereign’, the exhibition deals explicitly with the notion of “sovereignty”: the logics of power related to the sacred; to sexual and gender norms; to modern disciplinary institutions and to debt economy.
The four curators of this exhibition, Iris Dressler, Hans D. Christ, Paul B. Preciado and Valentín Roma, declare:
The “irresolvable disagreements” between the curatorial team and the director of the MACBA refer to Ines Doujak’s sculpture “Not Dressed for Conquering”, from her ongoing art and research project “Loomshuttles / Warpaths”, which was shown at the last Sao Paolo Biennale.
The MACBA’s director considered that Ines Doujak’s work “Not Dressed for Conquering” was not “appropriate” and could not be exhibited within the museum. The curatorial team thinks, on the contrary, that the work inscribed itself within the tradition of parody, carnival sculptures and iconoclast caricatures. The work was not meant to insult a private person, but to reformulate critically a collective representation of sovereign power.
The curators never hid any information about the exhibition to the director of the museum: he was informed by Paul B. Preciado and Valentín Roma of the concept and the full list of works of the exhibition. The director had validated the project and not only its text and description but also the list of artists were already published in the MACBA’s internet page months ago.
Each and every work of the exhibition calls into question, on their own means, different uses of sovereignty. In the case of Ines Doujak, first and foremost white male sovereignty in regard to colonial and sexual exploitation; in the case of the artists from Kazakhstan, Viktor & Yelena Vorobyeva, the exercise of totalitarian power; in the case of Sergio Zevallos, the use of sacred and military iconography as well as normative sexuality, to name just a few.
The removal of Ines Doujak’s piece would not only have irreparably compromise the exhibition concept as a whole but also puts into question our understanding of art, freedom of expression as well as of the role of the museum within contemporary society. Under this circumstances, the act of canceling the exhibition is an act of censorship.
We believe that the meaning of artworks is open to public interpretation and cannot be fixed in advance. The exhibition is meant to construct a public sphere where debate and critical practice can take place.
The present situation forces us to rethink the relationship between critical practice, art and the museum. The decision of the director of the MACBA jeopardizes not only this particular exhibition but also reveals a non-democratic functioning of public cultural institutions. The curatorial team understands and claims the museum of contemporary art as a public institution which limits should not be defined by private interests.
The curatorial team regrets MACBA’s institutional decision and expresses its gratitude to the different teams working at the MACBA for their excellent work during the preparation and the installation of the exhibition. The directors of the Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart have decided to continue the project and open the exhibition as it was planned for the MACBA in Stuttgart as soon as possible.
Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler, Paul B. Preciado and Valentín Roma
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Edgar Endress)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Ocana)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015: Posters: Ines Doujak, John Barker, “The Eccentric Archive”, part of the project “Loomshuttles / Warpaths” (2010-ongoing)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Prabhakar Pachpute)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Ghasem Hajizadeh
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Oier Etxeberria)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Viktor Vorobyev & Yelena Vorobyeva)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015 (Eiko Grimberg)
Exhibiton shot, MACBA 2015: Sculpture: Ines Doujak, “Not Dressed for Conquering / HC 04 Transport” (2011-ongoing), part of the project “Loomshuttles / Warpaths” (2010-ongoing)
Read more: MACBA Cancels Exhibition a Day Before Opening (ArtSlant)
Julkaisutilaisuus / book launch “Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice”
//Please scroll down for English
//FI
Tervetuloa kirjan Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice julkistamiseen HIAP Projektitilassa (Galleria Augustan yhteydessä Suomenlinnassa) lauantaina 21. maaliskuuta klo 16:00. Kirjan lyhyttä esittelyä seuraa keskustelu taiteesta ja työstä paikallisessa kontekstissa. Kutsuttuna vieraana tilaisuudessa on Nora Sternfeld, Aalto-yliopiston taiteen kuratoinnin ja kommunikoinnin professori.
Tilaisuuden keskeisiä kysymyksiä ovat: Mitkä ovat nykytaiteen tuotannon aineelliset ehdot? Miksi näyttelytoiminta perustuu taiteilijoiden ilmaistyöhön? Miksi taiteilijat maksavat näyttelyn pitämisestä sen sijaan että heille maksettaisiin? Miten taistella prekaaria työtä vastaan? Millaisia malleja on taidetyöntekijöiden järjestäytymiseen? Miten voimme uudelleenpohtia taiteilijaliittojen ja -järjestöjen toimintaa?
Kirja Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice esittää tapaustutkimuksia Virosta, Suomesta ja Ruotsista, kerää taiteilijoiden kokemuksia, keskustelee aktivistisista käytännöistä ja kartoittaa nykyisiä ja historiallisia järjestäytymisen malleja kansainvälisesti taidekentällä.
Kirjan ovat editoineet Erik Krikortz, Airi Triisberg ja Minna Henriksson, ja se sisältää kontribuutioita myös taiteilijoilta ja kirjoittajilta Corina L. Apostol (ArtLeaks), Michael Baers, Fokus Grupa, Minna Heikinaho, Vladan Jeremić (ArtLeaks), Elina Juopperi, Jussi Kivi, Barbora Kleinhamplová, Jussi Koitela, Raakel Kuukka, Marge Monko, Zoran Popović, Precarious Workers Brigade, Taaniel Raudsepp, Krisdy Shindler, Tereza Stejskalová, Lotta Tenhunen.
Graafinen suunnittelu: Summer Studio
Julkaistu englanniksi, 2015
232 sivua
ISBN 978–91–637–7946–6
Kirjan julkaisua ovat tukeneet Pohjoismainen kulttuuripiste, Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse, Taiteen Edistämiskeskus ja Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
//EN
Welcome to the book launch of Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice at the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP) in the HIAP Project Space (adjacent to the Gallery Augusta in Suomenlinna, Helsinki) on March 21 at 16:00. A short book presentation is followed by a discussion addressing the issues of art and labour from a local perspective with guest speaker Nora Sternfeld, professor for curating and mediating art at the Aalto University.
The questions to be discussed in the event are: What are the material conditions of contemporary art production? Why is exhibition practice based on the unpaid labour of artists? Why do artists pay to make an exhibition instead of getting paid? How to struggle against precarious labour? What are the models of art workers’ organising? How to rethink the agency of artists’ unions and associations?
The book Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice presents case studies from the local art contexts of Estonia, Finland and Sweden, collects artist-testimonies, discusses activist practices and maps out contemporary and historical forms of organising within the international art field.
The book is edited and co-written by Erik Krikortz, Airi Triisberg and Minna Henriksson, and includes further contributions by Corina L. Apostol(ArtLeaks), Michael Baers, Fokus Grupa, Minna Heikinaho, Vladan Jeremić(ArtLeaks), Elina Juopperi, Jussi Kivi, Barbora Kleinhamplová, Jussi Koitela, Raakel Kuukka, Marge Monko, Zoran Popović, Precarious Workers Brigade, Taaniel Raudsepp, Krisdy Shindler, Tereza Stejskalová, Lotta Tenhunen.
Graphic design by Summer Studio
Published in English, 2015
232 pages
ISBN 978–91–637–7946–6
The book has been published with the financial support of Nordic Culture Point, Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
You can find the book at the Lugemik bookshop in Tallinn: http://www.lugemik.ee/en or order it directly from the publishers.
The book launch of “Art Workers – Material Conditions and Labour Struggles in Contemporary Art Practice” at the Project Space of Gallery Augusta.
More about the book: www.art-workers.org
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