As new series of solo exhibition projects at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, “ARTISTIC DIALOGUES” bring interrelated contexts, parallel discussions, and juxtaposed ideas together through diverse artistic practices.
The first episode is composed of Sener Özmen`s first solo show at the second floor; "The Story of Sener Özmen / Die Geschicte von Sener Özmen" and a monographic exhibition from Nevin Aladag at the fourth; "Back to First Position / Alles aus Anfang" bridging different cultural climates and challenging current political representations.
Diyarbakir based Kurdish artist and writer Sener Özmen`s work is shaped within the geopolitical reality of South Anatolia of Turkey, where he lives and works -not only as an open critique of state violence and militarist regime, but also as loose diary of resistance and imagination. His video and photography works as well as his fiction including poetry and novel deal with the problematic of taking critical positions against centralization of power at the periphery. He is actively involved in political discussions, and engaged with artistic collaborations, as well as interested in the transition of Kurdish -from a restricted language in Turkey into literature and art library through writings and translations.
His collaborative video works with Erkan Özgen, "The Road to Tate" (2003) and another one with Cengiz Tekin, "“The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet”" (2004) created certain international recognition of a specific form of video language that reflects the notions of artistic research and production in that region of Turkey from a generation of conceptualist Kurdish (video) artists.
A visit to Diyarbakir, regular Skype discussions and long phone calls in time between Adnan Yildiz and Sener Özmen have directed the question of how some of his previous works that have been shown before in many group shows and screenings can be revised or reconstructed into a solo presentation regarding the context of Stuttgart and architectural reality of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.
Özmen sometimes appears in his own work like an anti-hero, and mostly plays with constructions of different genres and styles, and -at the end, turns them into his own statements. The photography series from 2003, titled as "Supermuslim" is reprinted as wallpapers being attached to the space as a regeneration of an already existing work. As a Muslim `Superman`, Özmen prays as if he is following the instructions from a "how to pray" book that teaches praying for Muslim kids. From post-9/11 perspective to Obama`s America, critical transition of political identities and post-politicization of religious conflicts are reflected on one fictional identity who is a "Super hero" and "Muslim" at the same time. The exhibition process has provided another opportunity of bringing another piece back today; an artist book from Sener Özmen, "The Story of Tracey Emin" (2000), as a reissue publication printed by Stuttgart-based collaboration Edition Taube. The book, based on a short story that is about a character, Abdülbaki Readymade who wants to kidnap Tracey Emin, includes illustrations, notes, and images forming a fictive diary. Sener´s position coming from peripheral atlas enables him to develop a humorous language about the centralization of contemporary art and its function as fame industry.
At the centre of the second floor of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, the audience is confronted with a video work in a black box construction: ‘Our Village’ (2004) that shows two young girls play-backing a Kurdish song. The song portraits a village, which is near Mountain Bingöl in South Anatolia. Like a music video with subtitled lyrics, the video invites us to join itself with a joyful start, but the emotions move through seasons at the Mountain Bingöl, spring, summer, fall and winter -leaving a hit of social reality on our face.
Surrounding this construction, there are installed recent photography works from Özmen, and each image is based on different associations and references: “Catharsis” reinterprets Heraclitus`s famous saying, "You cannot step twice into the same stream" as a mockery of GAP, the most important and multi billion dollar development project of Turkey, “The Flag” ironically shows a flag ceremony as something that causes crick, and “Seyhmus and Ilhan” creates a curiosity about the level of intimacy between two men. In each of them, Özmen manages to leave the audience with a frame that the narrations can exist as open critique.
"The Story of Sener Özmen / Die Geschicte von Sener Özmen" presents a collaborative work from Sener Özmen and Cengiz Tekin; series of videos titled as “The Original Message” in four parts: Hope; View; Bravo; and One Day a "T" and a "K” (2006-09). Dedicated to the Situationist tradition, and referring to the past, present and future the artist duo produces four videos with different effects and technical formats as autobiographical fragments of experimental narrative.
"The Story of Sener Özmen" is the first solo exhibition after twenty-one years of research, production, and display. It brings together recent works with earlier ones aiming to link his conceptual attitude and ironic language to the discussion of representation of politics today.
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