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YARAT Contemporary Art Space presented 300 Words on Resistance - a group exhibition with emerging contemporary artists in conversation with modern Azerbaijani masters.

300 Words on Resistance draws from the belief that resistance is both personal and political. It is an essential social attitude in building civil society. Seven emerging Azerbaijani artists explore their perspective on resistance, introducing themes pre-occupying the youth of the country, such as gender relations, cultural stereotypes and socio-political uncertainty. The newly commissioned works explore both general and individual struggles facing the Azerbaijani society today. These artists carry the voices of their generation, through times of economic turbulence and geo-political unrest, into the new century of capitalism and social awareness.

Throughout the exhibition, the new works were marked by and put into conversation with older works of the generation of artists from the 60s. The modern works, many of which have never been exhibited before, defined resistance during the Soviet era by going against the mainstream of Socialist-Realism and subverting propaganda art. These modern masters continue to act as a solid foundation and a source of inspiration for the younger generation of artists throughout the country.

Sitara Ibrahimova and Farhad Farzaliyev subvert the prevalent gender specific stereotypes through irony and humour in their video works, Reflector (2016) andWhat a Nice Place to Eat and Drink (2016). A similar urge to break free is expressed in a Non-Conformist painting by Talat Shihaliyev, Portrait of a Young Man (1961). These works are opposed by the seeming stillness of Tahir Salahov's Homage to the Mothers (1986). The passing of time in this work continues in Habib Saher's Waiting for Godot (2016), evoking a slow decay of traditional worldviews through art historical references.

Resistance takes a phenomenological turn in Aida Mahmudova's Untitled (2016). Her new work made predominantly with gauze fabric, is a material expression of a personal struggle, which is shared with the viewer through its out of scale presence in the space. The sheer physicality of the installation finds its historical counterpart in the Expressionist work of Rasim Babayev, The Earth is Rich with Oil (1976).

The idea of a private mental space breaking through into a public political realm manifests itself in the painting of Anvar Asgarov, To those Disappearing on the horizon (1985). The relation to public space finds contemporary commentary in the photographic works of Ilkin Huseynov, We Apologise for Temporary Inconvenience (2016), reflecting on the superficial façade of a city and society in continuous transition. The identity shifts evident in the architecture of Baku are mirrored in an ideological struggle explored in the work of Zamir Suleymanov,Claim (2016).

As an end point of the exhibition, an unidentified black mountain marks a conflict that has defined the political reality of Azerbaijan as a nation-state since its independence in 1991. Further supported by a randomly generated top 20 playlist from Nagorno-Karabakh, Elturan Mammadov's Unidentified Heights(2016) are controversially juxtaposed with a call for peace in Boyukagha Mirzazade's 1945 (1976). This modern masterpiece suggests a timeless form of resistance - "НЕТ".

This exhibition was curated by Suad Garayeva-Maleki and Björn Geldhof.

The exhibition was supported by works from Azerbaijan National Picture Galler.

Artist Biographies:

Eldar Aghamalov (b. 1954) graduated from A. Azimzade State Art College in 1971 and later obtained Monumental Paintings degree at the V.I. Surikov State Art Institute, Moscow in 1974-1980. He has been widely exhibited from 1978 including Baku, Moscow, London and Paris. He is vice-president of Baku Art Center and owner of Yeni Gallery. Aghamalov is a member of Artists Union of Azerbaijan since 1981 and Journalists Union of Kazakhstan since 2005.

Anver Askerov (1940-2014) graduated from A. Azimzade State Art College in 1963 and from the Metal Faculty of St. Petersburg's V. Mukhina Industrial Institute of Arts in 1968. Although early stages of his art are related to industrial landscapes, it developed to be lyrical and elegant odes to the capital. Enver Askerov was awarded the title 'Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan' in 2000.

Rasim Babayev (1927-2007) graduated from A. Azimzade State Art College in 1949. Pursuing further education, he graduated from Moscow's Surikov State Art Institute in 1956. With a distinct style and a vast oeuvre of paintings and graphics, he is regarded as one of Azerbaijan's most influential artists. Babayev has been exhibited in established institutions and various works feature in institutionalized collections such as The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; The Museum of Oriental culture, Moscow; and in many others.

Farhad Farzaliyev (b.1989) is a multidisciplinary artist devoting his practice to investigating socio-cultural reality of Azerbaijan. He obtained his MFA at the Azerbaijan State Architecture and Construction University in Baku in 2012. Farzaliyev held his first solo show I Am Your Only Tiger at the YAY Gallery, Baku in 2016. Selected group exhibitions include 2015 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Candy Mountains, Oil Shores, PERMM museum, 2014 Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival among the others. He is a member of the Artists' Union of Azerbaijan.

Photographer Ilkin Huseynov (b.1988) predominantly works on prevailing social issues of modern Azerbaijan. He graduated from EFTI School of Photography in 2015 and is currently based in Madrid. Huseynov was a finalist of London Photography Festival, won a second place in the PowerHouse Books competition and was nominated for the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund. The artist is a co-founder of Riot Books, an independent Publishing House, specialised in Handmade Limited edition Artist's Books.

Documentary photographer Sitara Ibrahimova (b.1984) devotes her practice to examining traditions, gender norms, and social pressures within Azerbaijani society. She obtained her bachelor's degree in Psychology from the Baku State University in 2004 and then graduated from the FAMU University in Prague with a diploma in Still Photography (2010). Her work has been exhibited at the 55thand 56th Venice Biennales; 2012 Tbilisi Photo Festival; 2009 Inter Photo Festival Camp in the Czech Republic; Museum of Modern Art, Moscow among others.

Aida Mahmudova (b.1982) obtained her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins College, London. Her paintings draw inspiration from landscape and architecture of Azerbaijan. She has held solo shows at the YAY Gallery, Baku; Leila Heller Gallery, New York; Barbarian Art Gallery, Zurich among others. Group shows include in 55th and 56th Venice Biennales; Louise Blouin Foundation, London; Vienna Art Fair The New Contemporary. Mahmudova is a founder of the non-profit organization YARAT, directed at supporting Azerbaijani arts scene.

Elturan Mammadov (b.1990) is a self- taught photographer who draws inspiration from peculiarities of Azerbaijani life. He has participated in exhibitions including To Be Surprised, To Surprise, Artim, Baku; Candy Mountains, Oil Shores, PERMM museum; Moscow International Biennale for Young Art andZavod contemporary art exhibition, Baku Air-Conditioning Plant Building amongst the others.

Beyukaga Mirzazade (1921-2007) graduated from the Theatre-Scenery Department of the Baku Art School in 1939, where he was a student of the respected artist Azim Azimzade. He further pursued his education at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. Mirzazade's practice consisted predominantly of paintings, graphics, scenography and large-scale sculptures. From 1946, he began to exhibit internationally and participating in major national, all-union and international exhibitions. The set designer on 20 separate shows, Mirzazade also gained a reputation as an excellent theatre set designer. In 1960, Mirzazade was a laureate of the Azerbaijan Republic's State Prize.

Togrul Narimanbekov (1930-2013) trained at the A. Azimzade State Art College and the Vilnius Art Institute - graduating in 1950 and 1955 respectively. The same year he completed his further education, Narimanbekov became a member of the USSR's Union of Artists. Characteristic of his expressionist work was to draw inspiration from traditional Azeri folk tales, depicting them in rich, vibrant colours with an imbued rhythm. In 1980 he was granted with the USSR State Prize and in 1989 with the title of People's Artist of USSR. His monumental murals decorate the Azerbaijan Parliament Hall and Baku Puppet Theatre.

Habib Saher (b.1986) is a Baku-based artist of Iranian descendant. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in Sculpture from the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts. The artist is preoccupied with existential questions that he addresses in sculpture and installation art. In 2016 Saher held his first solo show This Too Shall Pass, ARTIM Baku. His group exhibitions include Semeni, Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku; Zavod, Baku Air-Conditioning Plant Building and Summer Group Show at the Seed Corn gallery, Berkeley, CA.

Tahir Salahov (b.1928) graduated from the A. Azimzade State Art College in 1950 and later trained as a draughtsman in Moscow's Surikov Art Institute, graduating in 1957. His diploma piece won him early recognition and he was admitted in 1957 Moscow All-Union Art Exhibition. Regardless, Salahov came to be a pivotal representative of 'Severe Style' in Socialist Realism that aimed to subvert state-imposed clichés. The artist was granted USSR State Prize in 1968. Through 1968 to 1992 he served as the first secretary of the Artists Union of the USSR. Salahov is a member of the CIS Academy of Art, San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and France Academy of Fine Arts.

Talat Shikhaliyev (1928-1987) graduated from the A. Azimzade State Art College in 1951 and pursued further education internationally at the Kiev State Art Academy, which he graduated from in 1960. Two years later, the artist began participating in numerous international exhibitions. Shikhaliyev received his first solo show in 1976 in a gallery named after V.Samadova. In 1964, he became a member of Azerbaijan's and the USSR's Artists Unions and was eventually awarded the title of Honoured Artist.

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, Baku; Sharjah Biennial of Islamic Arts, the GRID International Photography Festival, Amsterdam; IV Moscow Biennale for Young Art among others. He is a member of the Union of Photographers of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, YARAT Contemporary Art Space presented Little Lies - an exhibition with works of David Claerbout (Belgium) and Soren Thilo Funder (Denmark).

Little Lies is a journey through a network of white lies, disillusionment and fabricated histories. The exhibition confronts the two main political narratives of the 20th century, with the deception in everyday images, constructed personal stories and false metaphors. Little Lies belong to our everyday; they establish our understanding of a socio-political reality and influence our historical awareness. Through a selection of works of the two artists the exhibition considers the boundaries of our physical reality and how its representation can highlight social ambiguities.

This exhibition is a conversation of six works, three of which are continuously looped. Breathing Bird (2012), by David Claerbout, is a poetic and treacherous image that misleads and confuses the viewer. Its small scale is opposed to the monumentality of Oil Workers (from the Shell company of Nigeria) returning home from work, caught in torrential rain (2013). This work subjects the viewer to a soulless gaze, trapped in a constructed mise-en-scène. It questions an economic reality based largely on oil and its social impact on a population in-wait. The lifelessness of the Oil Workers is opposed by effortless vitality in In This Very Moment (Antoine) (2014), by Soren Thilo Funder. Here a young boy obliviously dances on rollerblades on a field in Verdun, a place known as a brutal battlefield of WWI. These works raise a political awareness, while evoking the endlessness and inescapability of time and memory.

Sequentially presented throughout the space, the three other works evoke a sense of history through make-belief. The works of Soren Thilo Funder employ cinematic tricks to suggest historical narratives. The Cosmonaut (I don't see any God up here) (2013) uses signifiers from the collective imaginary and deliberately subverts them through false constructions. The same tactics are further complicated in Swerve (You're Gonna Die Up There) (2016) by adding an element of popular associations, through the history of cinema, while exposing the technical mechanisms behind his own storytelling. Funder's works thereby force the viewer to recognise the white lies, which are continuously denied in favour of constructed images and stories.

Opposed to Funder, in Travel-1996-2013, David Claerbout allows the illusion to further expand and engulf the viewer. Made over a period of ten years, the work is a digital construction of an ever deepening and elusive forest. The full submersion of the senses is violently broken down as the camera pans out to reveal a plain sub-urban landscape. It voices a critique of a singular perspective, manifested through the inevitability of betrayal.

Little Lies enchants and disappoints. It draws from our need for confirmation and exposes our human vulnerability. In a society of false constructs it calls out to our senses and urges us to recognize the white lies embedded in our daily reality.

This exhibition was curated by Suad Garayeva-Maleki and Björn Geldhof.

Produced with the support of Vidi-Square, Belgium.

Artist Biographies:

David Claerbout (B. 1969) currently lives and works in Antwerp and Berlin. Having developed a technique of pictorial 3D, he is at the forefront of the discourse exploring confluences in representation, photography, film and digital technology. Recent years have seen his work honoured with prizes and numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and North America. Recent shows include a retrospective at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Belgium, and the touring exhibition 'The Shape of Time', which travelled between 2007 and 2009 to the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts; the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland; the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; and the De Pont Museum for Contemporary Art, Netherlands.

Soren Thilo Funder (B. 1979) lives and works in Copenhagen. His works are formal investigations of the power relations of modern day society. He graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and The School of Art and Architecture at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Previous exhibitions include solo presentations at Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Tranen Contemporary Art Center and Overgaden - Institute for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen. He was represented at the 19th Biennale of Sydney, 1st Copenhagen Art Festival, International Biennial of Visual Art - "After The Future", 12th Istanbul Biennial, 2nd International Moscow Biennial for Young Art, Manifesta 8 - Parallel Events and 6th International Liverpool Biennial.

YARAT is an artist-founded, not-for-profit art organisation based in Baku, Azerbaijan, established by Aida Mahmudova in 2011. YARAT (which means 'create' in Azerbaijani) is dedicated to contemporary art with a long-term commitment to creating a hub for artistic practice, research, thinking and education in the Caucasus, Central Asia and surrounding region.

YARAT comprises the YARAT Art Centre, ARTIM project space, YARAT Studios, YAY Gallery and an extended educational programme.

YARAT Art Centre, a 2000m² converted Soviet-era naval building, opened in March 2015 and is the organisation's main exhibition space. The exhibition programme features new commissions by artists responding to the region. It supports and provides access to artists from the Caucasus, Central Asia and surrounding region, while engaging and introducing established, international artists. The Centre is also home to YARAT's collection, which is exhibited in the space once a year.

In October 2015, YARAT opened ARTIM, a central, accessible and dynamic space in Baku's Old City. ARTIM (meaning 'progress' in Azerbaijani) shows experimental practices and new work by emerging Azeri art professionals (selected through open call) and the international artists from the residency programme. It features 12 small-scale projects each year.

YAY Gallery is a commercial gallery that opened in 2012 in order to further support arts infrastructure in Azerbaijan. The gallery shows mid-career and established Azerbaijani artists both locally and abroad. Yay (meaning "share" in Azerbaijani) shares all proceeds from sales of work between the artists and YARAT.

In 2016 YARAT launched a renewed residency programme. Aimed at developing young Azerbaijani voices and emerging international artists, the focus is on new, innovative practices and artists with an interest in the region. The residency programme is based at YARAT Studios, which has 11 spaces for artists.

Education has been at the heart of YARAT's activities since its creation. With a dedicated public programme, including workshops, lectures, screenings and a specific programme for artist residencies, YARAT aims to give access to broad audiences of all ages. The public programme invests proactively in building communities and nurturing a wider understanding of, and participation in, contemporary art.

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