"Show Must Go On" in YARAT
By Laman Ismayilova
Enjoy the YARAT residents exhibition “The Show Must Go On” at ARTIM Project Space from April 13 to May 5.
ARTIM project space features the group show “The Show Must Go On” with works by the YARAT residents Vusala Agaraziyeva (AZ), Erkin Alekberli (AZ), Mohamad Haryo Hutomo (Indonesia), Rona Stern (Israel) and Zamir Suleymanov (AZ).
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Queen’s song that Freddie Mercury sang in the final stages of his illness before passing away in 1991. It talks about how life is a battle but despite what comes we should carry on. On the other hand it reflects on how life is a stage, how the façade needs to be kept to make people believe and keep going. In the exhibition the artists explore the fragile boundaries between myths and realities, between illusion and truth, between dreams and disillusion.
Erkin Alekberli’s installation “Migration” touches into to the hot topic of migration flow that European countries are faced with due to wars, power changes and the widening gap between poor and rich. “This topic has turned already into a problem of the entire old world. Many refugees, leaving everything they had in the hope of reaching another country, some of them will never reach their goal and leave this world on the road. This work is dedicated to them”, explains the artist.
Vusala Agaraziyeva’s work “Adam” compares the human existence to a stage play. Through metaphors of mirrors, walls, a stage setting and dolls the artist ironically comments on how people try to define themselves trough their actions, when desperately searching for a justification of being in the world. ““If there are no words, there is no message. There is a human. I am always excited and fascinated by human reactions to everything that happens inside and around me. The spectrum and variety of emotions that we, as a small plant are capable of developing within ourselves endlessly is amazing. This work might be a beginning of new series.”
Two installations by Rona Stern occupy the viewer by kitschy romantic settings with objects and imagery that she encountered in public places in Baku. In her cheeky still-life arrangements she juxtaposes paradisiacal landscapes alongside with precisely staged commodities such as clay pots or shishas. The artist plays with the desire of the exotic unveiling the processes of how lifestyle consumerism blurred the boundaries between the real and the fake. “I aspire to find out what makes the exotic desirable and vice-versa: how the other is perceived and represented. I want to trace the origins of these default images and shapes we are so familiar with, in order to unveil their history as cultural indicators and carriers of ideology. Ultimately, I wish to explore how different public characters have evolved and why eventually they all began to resemble one another, by understanding the mechanism of the lowest common denominator.”
Mohamad Haryo Hutomo installation “From the Soil to the Ground” consists of collected objects and historical issues that he came across during his residency in Baku. These findings create the basis of his fictional story of a soldier. “History is a myth”, explains the artist “When talking about history, I understand an event that happened from the past which is then compiled by relics. Then these historical sources can be encountered in books, historical institutions and educational institutions. We study history based on sources that have been granted by institutions of power.”
Zamir Suleymanov’s work “Slippery Geography” consists of a soap in the shape of Shekerbura pastery, a restored porcelain plate and a video work. The installation attempts to formulate a complex strategy of cultural identification that allows contradictory moments based on ambivalence and multiple perspectives. The artist refers to the wounds acquired by conflicts of war investigating in a model that suggests to think beyond narratives of borders and to abandon binary structures in favor of a space that allows multilayered situations and coexistence.
Vusala Agaraziyeva was born in 1990 in Baku. She has obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fine Arts from The Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts. She has participated in “Sirga olsun” (MOMA, Baku), “Sirga olsun” (MIM gallery), “Duyme” (Kichik Qala gallery, Baku), “Khojaly Genocid” (Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin), “Germany seen by Azerbaijani artists” (Art Academy, Baku), “Half Truths” (ARTIM, Baku), “History” (Etnographical Museum, Tibilisi). She is a Young Member of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists from 2013.
Erkin Alekberli was born in 1992 in Baku. He obtained his Masters’ degree in fine arts from the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts. Alekberli has participated in the exhibitions Contract of century, R.Mustafayev National Museum of Arts, Baku, Art Festival Semeni HeydarAliyev Cultural Center, Baku, Xojaly, Berlin Gallery, Berlin, Memory/Retrospective project in frame of Aluminium Biennale of Contemporary Art, Absheron Gallery, Baku. He is the Second place winner of İnternational Art Competition ARTWEEK, Moscow. Alekberli is a Young Member of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists.
Mohamad Haryo Hutomo was born in Jakarta in 1990. He graduated from the Visual art Education State University of Jakarta, Indonesia. He lives and works in two cities, Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Haryo is a multidisciplinary artist, using performance, installation, video, photo, and drawing to convey his ideas. His works have been presented in Australia, China, Dominican Republic, England, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand. He was involved in the performance art collective PADJAK (Jakarta) and PerfomaneKlub (Yogyakarta) as a researcher and developer.
Rona Stern is a visual artist based is Tel Aviv, Israel. She holds a B.Ed. FA from Hamidrasha School of Art (2011). In 2016 she spends one semester at the Intermedia class of Prof. Alba D’Urbano in HGB, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig. Her recent solo exhibitions include Klubovna Gallery in Brno (2017) Büro für kulturelle Übersetzungen Gallery in Leipzig (2016) Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv (2015), and Sapir Academic Gallery, Sderot (2011). Stern has participated in various group exhibitions in Israel and abroad, including the Sokol gallery, Nowy Sącz (2012) MeetFactory Gallery, Prague (2016) and the Petah Tikva Museum of Art (2014).
Trained as an economist, Zamir Suleymanov (b. 1987) took up photography upon graduating from the university. His photo and video works observe the artist’s minute surroundings to offer a commentary on Azerbaijan’s socio-cultural reality. Suleymanov has participated in numerous shows both in Azerbaijan and abroad including To Be Surprised, To Surprise, ARTIM; Sharjah Biennial of Islamic Arts, the GRID International Photography Festival, Amsterdam; IV Moscow Biennale for Young Art, 300 Words on Resistance, Baku, among others. He is a member of the Union of Photographers of Azerbaijan.
ARTIM is directed at young Azerbaijani artists with an intention to support and encourage emergent talent to grow. The programme has a designated exhibition space in Icheri Sheher that was conceived as a platform for experimenting and professionally showcasing art. Artworks resulting from the program are exhibited at the ARTIM Project Space, Baku.
Finissage Party: May 5, 7 pm – 9 pm
Working hours: Thursday – Sunday, 2 pm – 8 pm
Admission is free
---
Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
