The VIP Art Fair, opening today, will be an experiment in art and capitalism, another step on the virtualization of the art market. Organizers of the online art fair, James Cohan and Co., convinced the established galleries and other art professionals, with a hope to take the entire art fair experience, and put it online.
Lots written so far. Edward Winkleman, Magda Sawon, Paddy Johnson, Telegraph… Not an alien 3D virtual reality thing, simple slide through high res images with a reference to the works’ size and artists bios. Not an e-commerce site, no place to enter your credit card. Buying by contacting the galleries directly. Live chat with gallery reps and see price ranges for each work. Access to new globalized collectors from Middle East to China. Online haggling with a sheik or an oligarchs via chat function. Video art to benefit from the online venue. Galleries to show more of their best material even they are oversized. No shipping, no lighting, no insurance etc. etc.
What’s new compared to a physical art fair experience? Artworks on display at the booth are replaceable, like a rotating banner ad. Dealers can keep track of all their conversations with collectors. Visitors can “favorite” work or share their collections. You can follow the footsteps of a star curator or a museum director.
IM or Skype rights will run you $100 the first two days, $20 after the 2nd day. Since the entry to the fair is via registration, organizers have the most complete list of e-mails anywhere in the art world, as well as the wealth of data (from personal preferences to buying history) at their disposal from their server logs.
All roles fulfilled, all material experience virtualized. Soon all galleries and art fairs will want such a virtualized organ. Virtualization will lead to multiplication elsewhere. Online socialization and virtualized computation will aid the gallery startup in the cloud. Art market will turn into a massively multiplayer online thing. Biennales turn into continuales. Disruption happens, paradigms shift.
After all, this is romantic. I think about Alexei Shulgin’s Form Art Competition. Olia Lialina’s Will-n-Testament. Heath Bunting’s Documenta X. Ubermorgen’s Amazon Noir. Runme. Openstudio. Meta-Markets. Software artists. Hacktivists. We are now in a post-hypertext world.
My selections from Banu Cennetoğlu’s CATALOG form.
“Lapses”. Lapses/*4. The Book Series of Pavilion of Turkey in the 53rd International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennial. Ed. Basak Senova. Trans. Nusin Odelli & Funda Senova, Fourth Vol. IKSV. Istanbul.
Burak Arıkan, November 1st, 2010
Upon meeting her in Venice, I asked Banu Cennetoğlu, “Aren’t you afraid that your photographs could get copied? What if others create other CATALOGs?” Her reply was, “That’s possible, I’m curious about it myself”. The possibility of derivates of an original artwork or other variations was no problem for Cennetoğlu, she was rather embracing such possibilities and using them as part of her work.
I entered the division reserved for Cennetoğlu in the Pavilion of Turkey and sat in front of one of the CATALOGs laid out on the table. Digital copying may not be a problem, but physically carrying them away certainly is, the CATALOGs were attached to the table! I started to leaf through the CATALOG and ticked off the ones I liked on the form in front of me. I would then download these one by one from the website; I might even publish a Banu Cennetoğlu catalog based on my own liking.[1]
CATALOG is a mail order catalog simulation consisting of 451 assembled photographs taken by Cennetoğlu between 1994 and 2009. The photographs from different times and different places have been taken out of their original contexts and put into 15 subjectively formed categories, forming paths with a variety of signs and denotations that record or recount reality in a multipartite manner.
At first, the consecutively sorted full-page photographs seem to be gathered randomly, not leaving any room for the viewer. As our brain is stimulated and carried into memories, the randomness at times starts forming meaningful patterns. In this sense, the CATALOG experience is not so different from the edits of Godard’s counter-cinema movies, or amateur slide shows of holiday photographs. However, the positioning of the work and the way in which it is situated with the form in front of the viewer makes one pause, we make selections on the form and go back to the pages, therefore constantly cutting into the recondite patterns.
People standing by a highway, official meeting rooms vacant of people, photographs about photographs, sociopolitical uncertainties, moments of seemingly ordinary situations laid bare, scenes of non-primetime places and instances, photographs aiming to capture surplus times and places were the photographs I mostly marked on the CATALOG form. The consecutively arranged photos of what occurred after traumatic events in places such as post-war Georgia, Turkey, New York questions whether there exists a relation, a chained significance between these events. In one of our conversations, Cennetoğlu called this sorting “the convening of images documenting the depression of the recorder and images depressing the world on the same plane”.[2]
By allowing parts of the CATALOG to be digitally downloaded from the website, Cennetoğlu opens the work for re-distribution. An artist’s work at a significant exhibition is to be distributed for free, and two months later –when the exhibition closes-, the work is to be withdrawn. It’s not within common norms for an artist to relinquish control over what becomes of downloaded photos, choose not to know who has possession of the photos and to what amount. On the one hand, Cennetoglu’s attitude is against the ecosystem of the traditional art market, where every art biennial is inevitabely a precursor to following art fairs. On the other hand, her critique is an absolute norm compared to our everyday digital habits, where we are so accustomed to digital copying, free distribution of digitized goods, insignificance of originals, and having continuous new versions of products. Such gaps between the “art world” and the “digital world” was best captured when Heath Bunting copied and republished the website of 10th Documenta in 1997.[3]
Cennetoğlu’s approach stands different from artists such as Hans Haacke who, even after 30 years, have kept up the conditions of Seth Siegelaub’s artist contract where there’s a requirement to consult with the artist regarding how an art work is to be shown even after its sales.[4] It is not an attitude of state supervised economy model like in Siegelaub’s contract, nor is it a complete free market economy or an anti-capital stand; Cennetoğlu’s effort is to render the relationship between her art and capital indifferent.
The stand taken by temporarily allowing the free distribution of the CATALOG -as if to mockingly say “don’t miss this opportunity”- turns into, not an anti-capital, but out-of-capital act. A restricted experiment on royalty, ownership, versions, uncontrollability. A reach to an indifferent moment, where Cennetoğlu completes an era of her thought.
[1] My computer was stolen in September 2009, so I lost all downloaded photographs from the CATALOG website. Later, the website was shut down.
[2] Düğümküme Meetings 4: Versions of Reality. May 18, 2010. Istanbul. http://dugumkume.org/dk04
[3] Organizers of Documenta X announced that they will close the website after the event. As a reaction, Heath Bunting copied the website and republished it on this address: http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/dx/english/frm_home.htm
[4] The artist’s contract written by Seth Siegelaub in 1971. http://geheimrat.com/thecontract.html
TENSION SERIES No 4, 2010 (click on the image to enlarge)
CHANCE Conference
18th of December 2010, Aix-en-Provence, France
“The network does not exist, it has to be created” *
The network inherently does not exist, one has to capture this complex event. What happens after you capture it? Network itself turns into a commodity? A power tool? A creative medium that is different than representation? I will discuss such questions in relation to my recent work: Meta-Markets (2007), MyPocket (2008), and recent network mapping projects (2008-2010).
* Quote from Jussi Parikka in “Summary from some Networkpolitics 2010-conference themes“. March 2010.
Second Exhibition
28 November 2010-27 February 2011
ARTER – sanat için alan | space for art
İstiklal Caddesi 211, Beyoğlu
Istanbul, Turkey
Curator: Emre Baykal
Artists: .-_-., Halil Altındere, Burak Arıkan, Volkan Aslan, Vahap Avşar, Banu Cennetoğlu – Yasemin Özcan Kaya, Ayşe Erkmen, Hafriyat (Murat Akagündüz, Antonio Cosentino, extramücadele, İnci Furni, Mustafa Pancar), Ali Kazma, Aydan Murtezaoğlu – Bülent Şangar, Ahmet Öğüt, İz Öztat, Cengiz Tekin, Canan Tolon
Two day workshop focusing on the design and understanding of complex networks through mapping and visual analysis. Starting from simple exercises participants gradually build complex compositions. Emphasis on network topology in the city, urban dynamics, and information design. Participants learn the most through observing, sketching, and participating in the discussions.
PART I: Graph Theory and Basic Network Properties
Nov 6th, Saturday
13:30-17:30
PART II: Centralization & Clustering
Nov 7th, Sunday
13:30-17:30
For more info please see the previous Network Mapping and Analysis Workshops.
Please apply with a short intend note to atolye@amberplatform.org
Deadline October 4th, 2010.
Network Mapping and Analysis Workshop
4th Upgrade!International Conference, São Paulo, http://softborders.art.br/eng
October 20th, 2010
UNESP sala/room: 517
One day workshop focusing on the design and understanding of complex networks through mapping and visual analysis. Starting from basic hands on mapping exercises participants gradually build complex compositions. Emphasis on network topology, centralization, and clustering. Participants learn the most through observing, sketching, and participating in the discussions.
See more at the past network mapping workshops.
Antakya Biennial Artist Network, 2010.
digital print, 220cmx110cm (View large)
The work processes the outcome of the survey on recent group exhibitions of the Antakya Biennial artists (listed below). This data reveals the entire list of the artists who were presented together in the group exhibitions throughout 2009 and 2010. The map presents relational situations of the 2,263 artists through their personal, conceptual and historical connections.
A77, ADALET AKBAŞ, MUHAMMAD ALİ, GÜNAY ALKAN, BURAK ARIKAN, UFUK ATİLLA, VARTAN AVAKIAN, PIERRE BISMUTH, HAKAN BİTMEZ, NISRINE BOUKHARI, LUCHEZAR BOYADJIEV, RANA ÇUHADAROĞLU, DERMAN DAĞLI, BURAK DELİER, HÜLYA DOLAŞ, HÜLYA DÖNMEZ, NATALYA DYU, IŞIL EĞRİKAVUK, VOLKAN ERAY, MEHMET FAHRAC, CYPRIEN GAILLARD, EMEL SIKAR GENÇ, EMRAH GÖKDEMIR, NADİ GÜLER & M. HASAN DEMİRCİ, ÖZLEM GÜNYOL & MUSTAFA KUNT, SANJA IVEKOVIC, NEZİHE KARAKAYA, SIMON KENTGENS, İLKER KOCADAĞ, FEVZİYE KOKU, DANIELA KOSTOVA, CÜNEYT KURT, GHASSAN MAASRI, RENZO MARTENS, IVAN MOUDOV, VESSELINA NIKOLAEVA, BORA PETKOVA , FERHAT ÖZGÜR, LARISSA SANSOUR, BASTIAAN SCHEVERS, AYGÜL SEZER, MARY HYUNHEE SONG, EMEL SÖKMEN, FATİH TAN, KEZBAN TATLI, SEVGİ TATLI, GÜNEŞ TERKOL, VAROL TOPAC, ISSA TOUM, GÖNÜL TÜRKER, TUGAY UĞURLU, MACİDE YALÇINKAYA & ZEHRA GÜZEL, FADI YAZIGI, MEDİHA YENİOCAK, EDİZ YENMİŞ, ELA YILMAZ, SEVCAN YILMAZ, NALAN YIRTMAÇ
Antakya Bienali Sanatçı Ağı, 2010
detail view
Contracted and Expanded (Tension Series, No. 3) 2007-2010
3 archival ink prints
Contracted and Expanded will be shown in the 2nd International Antakya Biennial 2010. http://www.antakyabienali.org
Contracted and Expanded is the 3rd piece of the Tension Series. It is a software that combines drawing with generative processes to explore the expansion and contraction in the behavior of a network.
Tension Series (2007-2010) is a set of simulations and installations exploring the dynamics of complex networks. How one can develop awareness about the “personality of a network”? Intuitive explorations in this series include the parallel passing of time, the relational movement of elements, the aggregation of interactivities, the reminisces of growth, the ambiguity of centralization and clustering, the intensification and de-intensification of complexity.
Digital Networks and the Politics of Urban Governmentality
DataCity Seminar Series
Saturday, October 9 · 4:00pm – 7:00pm
Amber Platform
Necatibey Cad. No: 66 Karakoy
Istanbul, Turkey
Speakers:
Özgür Uçkan (Dr., Bilgi Üniversitesi),
Burak Arıkan (Artist),
Ahmet Misbah Demircan (Mayor, Beyoğlu),
Silvia Cazacu (Journalist, Romain),
Prokop Istvanek (ZTOHOVEN, Czech Republic)
Technological networks and digital data flow feed both the city government and the urban living in modern cities. Rapidly digitalized urban infrastructure can collect and distribute data about the citizens, property, and any superstructure living on top of it. While this privately developed digital urban infrastructure can help governors to do their work better, it can also let them violate citizens’ privacy. Individuals get transparent for the government and their stake holders, but neither the government nor the infrastructure processes get transparent for the citizens.
How can the data generated by the city can put into commons? How can such open data enable participation in the urban governance? Can participatory urban governance help us solve the complex problems generated gentrification? Are we going to live in a private-public partnership, or are we going to claim our own space with all its variety and richness and live in an open public sphere?
A preliminary network map of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa) International (partial view).
The map depicts the international hCA network, which has been emerging as a political civil movement beyond national borders. The complete map will be presented today at the 20th Anniversary of hCa gathering in Istanbul at Cezayir 16:00-19:00.
The gathering program has rich discussions including the dynamics of globalism, the civil European Union, tensions between social government and the cemaat charity, as well as the tension between consumerism and citizenship.
