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YARAT Contemporary Art Space presents a major solo exhibition DIS PLACE by Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo and NƏ VAR, ODUR (IT IS WHAT IT IS) solo exhibition of Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed, Trend Life reports.

The Azerbaijani artist’s NƏ VAR, ODUR (IT IS WHAT IT IS) solo exhibition presents six new monumental works exploring gender relations and social structures within traditional Azerbaijani communities.

Known for his textile works that build upon and transform the traditional Azerbaijani craft of carpet making, Ahmed started a new body of work drawn from his research into the social habitat of Azeri people living outside the capital Baku.

The title of the exhibition NƏ VAR, ODUR is an old Azeri saying emphasizing a sense of imperturbability, an attitude of accepting things how they are and have been for many years in the past. It is a state of mind both content and reconciling with life how it is.

A series of interviews and conversations he made throughout his travels in Azerbaijan, comment on his new productions that play upon symbolic gestures, rituals and objects specific to traditional Azeri communities. His works urge towards an understanding of a disappearing cultural practice. They are stripped of any kind of melancholy and register traditions as Eastern Practices taking place on the border between Asia and Europe, between East and West. It results in a new body of sculptures, films, drawings and textile works investigating traditional relations with sexuality and death, addressing social taboos and individual trauma.

Oscar Murillo’s exhibition, which includes a newly commissioned series of works alongside textiles, paintings, sculptures and videos, continues the artist's engagement with materials as a means of exploring wider conceptual dialogues surrounding structures of production within a specific geographic context. Most of the elements which make up the exhibition are sourced in Azerbaijan as the result of the artist's encounters with individuals and communities in the lead up to the exhibition.

A core aspect of the show is the artist's collaboration with a community of skilled workers at a factory which manufactures silk textiles in Sheki, a historic town in Azerbaijan. Located at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, it was an important post on the ancient Silk Route.

Murillo collaborated with local artisans to create a series of large-scale works based on a medieval stained glass technique still practiced in the region and found in Sheki's famous Khan's Palace. The artist replaces the delicate material of glass with scraps of discarded metal from the factory yard, thereby playing with the original aesthetic and adding a political dimension to the poetic oriental design.

Murillo frequently explores issues of community and migration drawing upon his own cultural heritage and that of others. Through a meaningful collaboration with the Sheki silk factory and the town's community, these discourses manifest themselves through both the materials he chooses to use and a revival of the factory as a site of production.

Location: YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, National Flag Square, Bayil, AZ1003

Dates: 11 November - 29 January 2017

Exhibition open: Tuesday through Sunday, from 11:00 until 20:00. Admission is free

Faig Ahmed (Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, 1982) graduated from the Sculpture Department of Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Art in 2004. He represented Azerbaijan at the nation's inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and participated in the show "Love Me, Love Me Not" in 2013.

Ahmed has exhibited his works worldwide including group and solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Dubai, Moscow and the UAE. In 2013, the artist was nominated for the Jameel Prize 3 at Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His works are in public collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum, Palm Springs Museum of Art and in private collections such as West Collection, Philadelphia, the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York City, Galila's Collection, Brussels, Ranza collection, Rome, Jameel Foundation, London and H.H. Sh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, UAE. Just this year Ahmed's works have been exhibited in several museum group shows including Museum of Fine Art Boston, Bellevue Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Sydney) and Mona - Museum of Old and New Art (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia). Ahmed lives and works in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Born in 1986 in Colombia, Oscar Murillo received his B.F.A. in 2007 from the University of Westminster, London, followed by his M.F.A in 2012 from the Royal College of Art, London. His paintings, video works, and performances are tied to a notion of community stemming from the artist's cross-cultural ties to London and La Paila, Colombia, where he currently lives and works. Murillo has exhibited widely at prominent institutions worldwide. In 2015, solo presentations were held at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York (part of Performa 15); Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota; and Centro Cultural Daofz y Velarde, Madrid (part of ArcoColombia 2015). Earlier this year, Murillo's work was featured in the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2016 in China and the 3rd Aichi Triennial. Homo Faber: A Rainbow Caravan in Japan. The artist is currently participating in the 5th Anyang Public Art Project (APAP) in Korea.

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 Contemporary 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.

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