ÇIN, a new work by Cevdet Erek, will be presented in the Pavilion of Turkey at the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia to be held from 13 May through 26 November 2017. Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the Pavilion of Turkey is located at Sale d'Armi, Arsenale, in the main venue of the biennale.
The project frameworks of the Pavilion of Turkey at the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia were announced at a press conference on Monday, 27 February 2017 at Salon İKSV with the participation of artist Cevdet Erek, İKSV General Director Görgün Taner and Corporate Communication Director of Tofaş Arzu Çolakoğlu on behalf of Fiat.
In his opening speech, İKSV General Director Görgün Taner said, "As the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, we have been organising events abroad since 2004, and coordinating the Pavilion of Turkey at the Venice Biennale since 2007. Since their inception, our aim with our international projects has been to create permanent and continuous interaction between Turkey and the global cultural and artistic universe. From this angle, our achievement of the allocation of a permanent venue at the Venice Biennale with the contributions of 21 supporters in 2014 has been of tremendous importance. We believe that our regular participation in the biennale provides a crucial platform for Turkey's production and success in the field of culture and arts to have a repercussion abroad."
On behalf of Fiat, Tofaş Corporate Communication Director Arzu Çolakoğlu said, "We keep on supporting the Pavilion of Turkey with our main brand Fiat in 2017 just like we had in 2011, 2013 and 2015. We are pleased to have been the supporter of the works presented at the Pavilion of Turkey at the Venice Biennale and contributing to the representation of our country abroad."
At the press conference, Cevdet Erek illustrated some methods and concepts that he has experimented with in his series of works since the end of the 2000's, such as Room of Rhythms, Rulers and Rhythms Studies and Sound Ornamentations among others, with sounds, images and drawings he made during his presentation.
About ÇIN
ÇIN, which is created as a site-specific work for the Pavilion of Turkey at the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, will be developed during the process and be shaped together with the venue. Cevdet Erek gave examples of the studies conducted for the preparation of the work ÇIN, shared through various media.
"Instead of trying to describe a project that is meant to be experienced on-site, and is still in the phase of formation, I propose to imagine a scene together as an exercise: There is a fenced ruin in the distance with a guard inside of it who should not leave during the day. The guard, while walking in silence, notices a visitor who carefully peeks around and the concert of thousands of crickets thanks to the visitor. This duo, who try to talk to each other at a distance, briefly cry out at the same time from the ear pain caused by a violent noise that occurs out of the blue. Then, at night, in another place as the officer tries to suppress the ringing in her ears by opening the window two fingerbreadths and the noise a notch, enters an alarm sound: 'viyuviyuviyuviyu'. Then she tries to imagine again in the same order by going back to the beginning."
Cevdet Erek, who told various anecdotes about the working process in Istanbul and accompanying short trips, introduced the core project team and stated that the project would allow for new participants and collaborations. The project team includes project coordinator and memory Yelin Bilgin, architect and a soft tone Gürden Gür, architect and smiling face Elif Tunçel, art historian and sibling Ayşe Erek and visual identity designer Yetkin Başarır. A new publication accompanies the exhibition and will be available at the launch of the Pavilion of Turkey at the biennale.
The Pavilion of Turkey will be located in the Arsenale at Sale d'Armi where the exhibition takes place. The long-term venue was secured by İKSV for the duration of 20 years from 2014 to 2034 and supported by generous contributions of 21 supporters. The exhibition in the Pavilion of Turkey at La Biennale di Venezia is sponsored by Fiat, and realised with the contribution of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and the production support of SAHA Association.
Cevdet Erek
Born in Istanbul in 1974. During and after studying architecture at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Erek worked at various architectural practices as well as in the music band Nekropsi. Upon finishing masters in Sound Engineering & Design at İTÜ MIAM Center for Advanced Studies in Music, he was an artist in residence at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2005-2006. Erek's installations and performances were shown in dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); Istanbul Biennial (2003, 2013 and 2015), Sydney Biennial (2016), Sharjah Biennial (2013), Stedelijk Museum (2014), MAXXI (2014 and 2015), Istanbul Modern (2014, 2015 and 2016), Arter (2011), SALT (2012 ve 2015) and others. Major solo exhibitions of his work were organized by Spike Island in Bristol, titled "Alt Üst" (2014), and "Week" at Kunsthalle Basel (2012). His published books are: ''SSS - Shore Scene Soundtrack" (2008, BAS), "Room of Rhythms 1" (2012, Walther König) and "Less Empty Maybe" (2015, Revolver/Artist). "SSS - Shore Scene Soundtrack" was the recipient of Nam June June Paik Media Art Prize given by Kunststiftung NRW (2012). Among his most recent sound/music work are; sound and music direction for Kaan Müjdeci's feature length film "Sivas" (71st Venice Film Festival - Special Jury Prize, 2014), music and sound co-design for Emin Alper's feature length film "Frenzy" (72nd Venice Film Festival - Special Jury Prize, 2015). Since 2011 Cevdet Erek teaches at ITU and lives in Istanbul.