NILBAR GÜREŞ Overhead 15 June to 10 September 2018, Overhead from the series TrabZONE, 2010
NILBAR GÜREŞ Overhead 15 June to 10 September 2018 The Front Balcony aus der Serie Çirçir, 2010 How I Met Your Mom, 2017 What is fascinating about s art is the unique poetic and humorous inventiveness that always also has a critical and political underside. The retrospective at the LENTOS curated by Silvia Eiblmayr is comprised of roughly 40 works, dating from between 2006 and today. It includes four productions created especially for this exhibition. In her photographs, collages, objects and videos, Güreş explores clichés of the social visibility of women in different cultural fields, whether in Turkey, her country of origin, or in Brazil. The artist frequently incorporates personal references in her work. Often the protagonists in her staged photographs are family members, friends or acquaintances, as in the photo series Çirçir (2010) and TrabZONE (2010). The titles refer to places Güreş feels linked to by childhood memories. At first glance the images could stem from the familiar and conventional context of women s lives. Although under Güreş subversive dramaturgy the familiar transforms into strangely enigmatic, sometimes dream-like scenarios, as curator Silvia Eiblmayr notes. The title of this retrospective is taken from Güreş piece Overhead (2010) from the TrabZONE series. The location is a bedroom in a conservative rural context: An older barefooted woman apparently effortlessly supports a gigantic pile of bedclothes, blankets and pillows on her hands, also covering her face a metaphor for the balancing act between happiness in the home and the burden of obligations. She sketches out and stages humorously challenging counter-images and - figures, in which she subverts conventional role attributions. At the same time, she subtly brings into play the defensive attitude of western society toward the dress codes of cultures influenced by religion.. Located in the LENTOS lobby, one of the works by the Otto-Mauer prize winner can be seen from outside. In her video Undressing (2006), one of her earliest performances to be filmed, the artist covers her entire head with layer upon layer of scarves. As she then removes one after another, she accompanies the removal of each layer with a female first name. Finally Güreş herself reappears from under all these textile layers. Her pictures and objects evince a high degree of sensuous materiality, are strangely puzzling, often charged with eroticism, and lead into a multifaceted, contradictory reality that prompts reflection. What makes oeuvre so special, and what has been so special about her work from the outset, is the extraordinary wealth of her imagery, notes LENTOS Director Hemma Schmutz. With, the LENTOS provides a stage for an internationally renowned, multi-award-winning artist, whose poetical works are absolutely convincing not least because of their subtle touch of humour, as Linz s City Councillor for Cultural Affairs Doris Lang-Mayerhofer points out. 2
Headstanding Totem, 2014 Wildness, 2014 Aus der Series Open Phone Booth, 2011 Pride of place in the exhibit goes to Headstanding Totem (2014), a work created in São Paulo. Larger than lifesize, it is displayed on the exhibition hall s hindmost wall in wallpaper style. Man is a totem figure: his body is the tree, says Güreş, and alludes with this statement to the fact that many people lead superficial lives in a capitalist environment that is making them ill. They flee the world through meditation and optimise their bodies with yoga exercises. In 2014 Güreş was invited to participate in the São Paulo Biennale. Several of the works in the exhibition were produced in this context and among them is this sculpture, which looks like a pillar dressed in skirts at first glance. Originally this drag alluded to the previous exhibition space in the pavilion by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Other works created in São Paulo include photographs of queer sex workers, such as Flower Face, Wildness and Non-Sex- Belt, which are all on display at the LENTOS. In Güreş' collages, drawings, fabric and needlework are combined that tell of an engagement with Bolivian culture, for example with the Aymara, an indigenous people in Bolivia with a matriarchal society. The series La Paz was completed for the 9th SIART Biennale in La Paz. In Open Phone Booth, Güreş focuses on the demands of a world with ever more rapid communications and the unwanted deceleration of an entire region in East Turkey. Residents have to climb the mountain to have any reception on their phones. Since the fighting between the PKK and the Turkish military in the 1980s there is hardly any infrastructure anymore and too few relay masts to guarantee a functioning telephone network in this unconnected region. In the video Unknown Sports (2006 2011), which can be watched in the foyer of the LENTOS, presents her female protagonists as they perform a number of gender specific gestures and actions, which she then debunks with irony and urbane wit. Household objects, such as an ironing board or various items of kitchenware, are put to counterintuitive, acrobatic uses. For the show at the LENTOS, the artist has created four new works. The collage Referring reduces societal expectations of femininity to such objects as an ironing board or high heels. The sculptural work Shut consists in a potted plant with three rose flowers. One of the flowers has already faded and is wrapped in a piece of fabric, symbolising religion, which, according to the artist, stifles women s capacity to develop and express themselves. In the two-part work Torn the artist makes reference to her queer friend Didem, who was nearly killed when an attacker set upon her, slashing her throat, in her home town Izmir. 3
BIOGRAPHY was born in 1977 in Istanbul, studied at the Department of Fine Arts at the Marmara University in Istanbul and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She lives in Vienna and Istanbul. Güreş paid extensive study visits to Auckland, São Paulo and New York. For her work she has already received the BC21 Art Arward (2015), the Otto-Mauer- Preis (2014) and the Professor-Hilde-Goldschmidt-Preis (2013). Solo and Group Exhibitions 2018 Jumping Bed and Female Lovers, Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin (DE) 2017 Heartache of a Stone, Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna (AT) 2016 Open Phone Booth, The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon (IL); Double Headed Snake, Rampa, Istanbul (TR); The Future Is Already Here It s Just Not Evenly Distributed, 20th Biennale of Sidney, Sidney (AU); Poesie der Veränderung, Museum der Moderne Salzburg (AT); VERCON LOSOIDOS, Poéticas de las Temporalidades, SIART 9, Bienal Internacional de Arte Bolivia, La Paz (BO) 2015 Rainbow in the Dark, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö (SE); BC 21 BostonConsulting & BelvedereContemporary Art Award, 21er Haus, Vienna (AT); Fair Play, MAXXI, Rome (IT) 2014 How to ( ) things that don t exist, 31st Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (BR) 2013 Nouvelles Vagues/A History of Inspiration, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (FR); hetero q.b., Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (PT); Zeichen, gefangen im Wunder. Auf der Suche nach Istanbul heute, MAK, Vienna (AT) 2012 Istanbul Modern, Museum Boijmans Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NL) 2011 Self-Defloration, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart (DE);, Undressing, EIKON SchAUfenster: quartier21/museumsquartier, Wien (AT);, Rampa, Istanbul 2010 6. Biennale, Berlin (DE); Where do we go from here?, Secession, Vienna(AT) 2009 Unknown Sports, Indoor Exercises, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (AT); What Keeps Mankind Alive?, 11th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (TR) More http://www.martinjanda.at/de/kuenstler/nilbar-gueres/biografie/ 4
PROGRAMM EVENTS MY BUDDYHOOD ATELIER FROM 0 99 Saturday, 4 August, 2 4 pm Every first Saturday of the month is the LENTOS Buddyhood-Afternoon. Our Donauatelier offers enough room for all generations to express themselves creatively. We invite all people interested in the arts to a mutual exchange of ideas and collaboration, thereby giving insight into the respective current exhibitions. In cooperation with the RegionalCaritas Registration: Teleservice Center of the City of Linz 0732/7070 (limited number of participants) admission free, fee for materials: 2 per person, families: 5 (2 adults plus children) PUBLIC GUIDED TOURS tour through the exhibition duration 1 hour, costs 3, exclusive admission, German only Tuesday, 19 June, 4 pm Tuesday, 26 June, 4 pm Tuesday, 3 July, 4 pm 10 July to 9 September every Tuesday, 4 pm every Sunday, 4 pm GUIDED TOUR WITH THE CURATORS Thursday, 21 July, 7 pm Thursday, 19 July, 7 pm with Silvia Eiblmayr duration 1 hour, costs 3, exclusive admission, German only FLASHLIGHT GUIDED TOUR IN TURKISH Saturday, 7 July, 4 pm duration 30 Min, 2, no admission fee In cooperation with the Integrationsbüro 5
FLASHLIGHT GUIDED TOUR IN ENGLISH Saturday, 7 July, 4 pm Saturday, 4 August, 4 pm Saturday, 1 September, 4 pm duration 30 Min, 2, no admission fee REGISTRATION Teleservice Center of the City of Linz 0732/7070 or info@mag.linz.at 6
PRESS IMAGES Press Images are available for download at www.lentos.at/presse. Free use of press images only in conjunction with the relevant exhibition. Overhead from the series TrabZONE, 2010 Headstanding Totem, 2014 Double Headed Snake: Queer Desire is Wild, 2015 Seele und Stoff, 2017 7
Non-Sex-Belt, 2014 Alişan is Calling from the series Open Phone Booth, 2011 Pink & Fur, Pattern & Carpet, Pattern & Necklace, Orange & Earrings, Navy Blue & Messy Hair, Green & Tears, Dark Purple & Pearls, 2014 Photo: Marco Gorgatti, Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna Wildness, 2014 Volcano from the series La Paz, 2016 Junction from the series TrabZONE, 2010 8
How I met your Mom, 2017 Belvedere, Wien, Foto: Johannes Stoll Escaped, 2005 Courtesy Galerie Martin Janda, Wien Beekeeper from the series TrabZONE, 2010 The Front Balcony from the series Çirçir, 2010 LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz Untitled, 2016 9
Exhibtion view, LENTOS Exhibtion view, LENTOS Exhibtion view, LENTOS Exhibtion view, LENTOS Exhibtion view, LENTOS 10
Exhibtion view, LENTOS Exhibtion view, LENTOS 11
Exhibition Title NILBAR GÜREŞ Overhead Exhibition Period 15 June to 10 September 2018 Opening Thursday, 14 June, 7 pm, Press Conference Thursday, 14 June, 10 am Exhibition Venue First Floor, Foyer, Facade Curator Silvia Eiblmayr Exhibits around 40 works including photographs, collages, installations, sculptures, videos and a showcase with fabric objects Exhibition Architektur Thomas Ehringer Opening Hours Tue Sun 10 am to 6 pm, Thur 10 am to 9 pm, Mon closed (except 10 September) Closed on 15.8.2018 Admission 8, concessions 6 Press Contact Clarissa Ujvari +43(0)732/7070-3603 clarissa.ujvari@lentos.at Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1 4020 Linz Web & Social Media lentos.at facebook.com/lentoslinz twitter.com/lentoslinz instagram.com/lentoslinz #lentosnilbargüres #lentoskunstmuseumlinz 12