Archives de catégorie : Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma, Planetes, Pafos 2017

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma

ΠΑΡΟΙΚΕΩ issue N02, 2017
A journal, a discussion, a walk.
Research team: Eleana Alexandrou, Eleni Kamma, Elena Parpa, Evi Tselika
Journal with the participation of Dr Bonnie Honig
12 pages, off-set printing
42 x 29.7 cm, edition of 250

Eleni Kamma participe à l’exposition Πλάνητες [Plánetes] qui inaugure le programme d’exposition de Paphos 2017 (Chypre), l’une des capitales de la culture européenne 2017.

Under the thematic strand Travellers of the World and in the context of the inaugural events programme organized for the opening of Open Air Factory, the Cultural Capital of Europe Pafos2017 presents the group art exhibition Πλάνητες [Plánetes] curated by Elena Parpa. The exhibition is hosted in two venues, at the Old Powerhouse and at the Shelley Street Residence, proposing an alternative route in navigating through the space of the city.

With etymological origins in the word πλάνης (plánis), πλάνητες (pronounced plánetes) in Greek means “wanderers”, itinerants in constant move who never give up their right to come and go at will. In its literal sense, therefore, the word may refer to the old figure of the drifter and the vagabond, the gypsy and the nomad. As observed, however, by French anthropologist Michel Agier, the present moment of refugee crisis and forced migration draws attention to a different aspect of the experience of wandering. For Agier, the wanderers of today are the stateless, the refugees and the displaced living under precarious conditions in liminal zones. Having experienced war and violence, they flee home for a safer future, only to experience rejection and wandering as a permanent condition trapped between borders and makeshift encampments.

Responding to such observations, the exhibition negotiates the notion of the contemporary pláneta without compromising the word’s cosmic connotations or divergence to other interpretations. Πλανήτες (pronounced planétes) in its most widespread use in the Greek language denotes celestial bodies in orbit in a constantly expanding network of parallel universes, where Earth and its assumed fate as the only living planet in the cosmos, instigates questions relating to the mystery of existence. Is it possible to continue the discussion on the fate of humankind with an eye on our position as inhabitants of a wandering planet in cosmic abyss?

The exhibition seeks to retain this double vantage point – of the world from the Earth and of the world from outer space – in the hope of a more creative, wider and critical perspective of the present. It does so in connection with the history of Pafos and in close rapport with the group of twenty-three participating artists and groups. Working in a range of media including photography, film and video, painting, installation and text, these artists negotiate the notion through different perspectives giving rise to the various manifestations of the contemporary πλάνητα – as migrant, refugee, traveller, gypsy, outsider or even as a mutative architectural structure and object that comes to us from distant times.

The exhibition is accompanied by a parallel events programme and a catalogue with the participation of Esra Plumer Bardak, Michelangelo Corsaro, Peter Eramian, Alkis Hadjiandreou, Henriette Huldisch, Gabriel Koureas, Chrystalleni Loizidou, Alexandra Manglis, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Maria Petrides, Kiriakos Spirou, Elena Stylianou, Evanthia Tselika and Evagoras Vanezis.

Participating Artists

Andreas Angelidakis, Rosa Barba, Inal Bilsel, Andrea Bruno, Banu Cennetoğlu, Savvas Christodoulides, Marianna Christofides, Marianna Constanti, Elizabeth Hoak-Doering, Haris Epaminonda, Ben Evans and Alkis Hadjiandreou, Eleni Kamma, Lito Kattou, Nurtane Karagil, Lefteris Olympios, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Yorgos Petrou, Re Aphrodite, Efi Savvides, Socratis Socratous, Lefteris Tapas, Marina Xenofontos, Natalie Yiaxi

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Eleni Kamma, So close yet so far away, Petah Tikva Museum, Tel Aviv

Eleni Kamma

Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia.
a single screen film by Eleni Kamma duration: 37 min 24 sec (2015)

Eleni Kamma participe à l’exposition « So close yet so far away », une exposition qui rassemble quelques artistes tous d’origine chypriote, au Petach Tikva Museum of Art à Tel Aviv. Commissaire : Yannis Toumazis.

Organized by the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre – Associated with the Pierides Foundation [NiMAC] and the Petah Tikva Museum of Art, Israel
Cyprus is so close to Israel, yet at the same time it lies so far away. Despite their geographical proximity, the two countries know very little about each other, and art is no exception. Alongside their many differences, they share significant similarities, including a long and dominant historical past, constant geopolitical turmoil, and incessant crises – social, religious, political, and financial – which continue to affect the present and the future. Located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, in this region of osmosis between East and West, they could not avoid – each in its own way – their geopolitical « destiny » in shaping the current post-colonial realities; a destiny which, for both countries, is underlain by a narrative of “partitions.”
Indeed, today, we experience once again « partitioned times, » as Ranabir Samaddar, professor of South Asia Studies known for his critical work on justice and human rights, claims. Not only geographical and political divisions, but also social, racial, economic, and cultural ones define the international order, despite the spirit of globalization. The island-state of Cyprus could not escape this fate. Since 1974 it has also been divided, with approximately 36% of its territory under Turkish military occupation. Despite continuous efforts to reach a comprehensive, just, and viable solution to the Cyprus Issue, the buffer zone (also known as the “Green Line”) still dissects the island into a northern and a southern part. In addition, the financial collapse of the state in 2013 created an ongoing economic crisis, the results of which will haunt the island and its inhabitants for many years to come.
The exhibition “So Close Yet So Far Away” | Contemporary Artists from Cyprus presents for the first time in Israel a dynamic group of seventeen contemporary Cypriot artists, who scrutinize contemporary Cypriot culture and the many complexities of Cypriot identity. The exhibition attempts to illustrate how, in this era of globalization and increased visibility of “peripheral” artistic activity, contemporary Cypriot artists negotiate issues of history, memory, and politics, especially in the local context. It also examines how they deal with the modern history of trauma, conflict, and violence as well as with other crucial complexities, going far beyond the Cyprus Issue, which still affects the society of Cyprus.
In recent times, Cypriot art demonstrates an incessant international mobility and a sense of acute criticality. The work of many contemporary Cypriot artists has acquired an intensely socio-political dimension, capturing the complexity of the current local and global issues with great sensitivity, expressed sometimes through a neutral, dissociated gaze, sometimes through a poetic stance, and other times through keen sarcasm and subtle irony. The participating artists seek to highlight and negotiate existing positions and contradictions surrounding the apparent homogeneity of a globalized environment. Issues of multiculturalism, crossings, displacement, migration, and hybridization are given central stage in most of the works presented in this pertinent exhibition.

Andreas Kali, Andreas Sauva, Constantinos Talnotis, Eleni Kamma, Elizabeth Hoak-Doering, Klitsa Antoniou, Kyriaki Costa, Lia Lapithi, Marianna Christofides, Marina Xenofontos, Nayia Savva, Nurtane Karagil, Sholeh Zahraei & Kamil Saldun, Theodoulos Gregoriou, TWOFOURTWO ART GROUP.

http://www.petachtikvamuseum.com/en/

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Eleni Kamma, Indiscipline, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, ces 3 et 4 septembre

Eleni Kamma participe au festival Indiscipline, consacré à la scène artistique bruxelloise, au Palais de Tokyo à Paris.
Ce festival, court mais intense se déroule du 03/09/2016 au 04/09/2016, de midi à minuit.

Bruxelles, capitale multiple et interdisciplinaire, se révèle au Palais de Tokyo. Le temps d’un week-end, les 3 et 4 septembre 2016, plus de 30 artistes, plasticiens, performeurs, chorégraphes et vidéastes installés à Bruxelles sont invités au Palais de Tokyo, par l’entremise et les choix curatoriaux du WIELS – centre d’art contemporain, du Kunstenfestivaldesarts – le festival des arts de la scène – et de l’agence Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse. Issus d’une quinzaine de pays différents, ces créateurs présentent des travaux à la croisée de diverses disciplines et qui bousculent certaines de nos frontières symboliques, physiques, culturelles ou linguistiques.
En l’espace de quelques années, Bruxelles s’est imposée comme une plate-forme internationale dédiée à l’émergence artistique et à l’expérimentation. Des créateurs du monde entier y affluent pour trouver un terreau propice à l’expression de leurs singularités. Caractérisée par ses prises de risque artistique, la scène locale ne semble régie par aucun dénominateur commun, si ce n’est sa nature indisciplinée et le parti pris de l’interdisciplinarité.

Au programme :

Conférences performatives
Danai Anesiadou, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Harald Thys & Erik Thys

Films & vidéos
Sanaz Azari, Sammy Baloji & Filip De Boeck, Manon de Boer, Les Soeurs h, Eleni Kamma, Joachim Olender, Benoît Platéus, Louise Vanneste, Emmanuel Van der Auwera

Performances & danse
Jacques André, Léa Drouet & Clément Vercelletto, Mette Edvardsen, Ben Fury & Louise Michel Jackson & Rodolphe Coster, Youness Khoukhou & Pierre Droulers, Leslie Mannès & Sitoïd & Vincent Lemaître, Steven Michel, Hana Miletić, Radouan Mriziga, Ayelen Parolin, Marnie Slater

Performances & installations numériques
Sébastien Lacomblez & l’Entreprise d’Optimisation du Réel, Julien Maire

Projets dans l’espace public
Younes Baba-Ali, Ann Veronica Janssens, Sarah Vanhee

Festival at Palais de Tokyo, Paris
03.09. – 04.09.2016
From noon until midnight
Opening Saturday, September 3rd at 11am
Brussels, the multifaceted and interdisciplinary capital, comes to light at the Palais de Tokyo.
Over the weekend of September 3 & 4, 2016, more than 30 artists, comprising visual artists, performers, choreographers and video makers based in Brussels, will be invited to the Palais de Tokyo by Indiscipline, selected by a curatorial team of WIELS (Brussels’ contemporary art centre) , Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Performing Arts Festival) and the Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse agency. Coming from around 15 different countries, these artists will present works from diverse crossover disciplines, pushing a number of our symbolic, physical, cultural and linguistic boundaries.
Within the space of a few years, Brussels has turned into an international platform dedicated to emerging artists and to artistic experimentation. Artists from all around the world gather there to find a breeding ground in which to showcase their talents. Characterized by their artistic risks, local artists don’t seem to share any common ground, other than their undisciplined nature and their interdisciplinary bias.

Elein Kamma présentera sa récente oeuvre vidéo Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia

Lors de sa résidence à Istanbul en 2013, l’artiste chypriote grecque basée à Bruxelles Eleni Kamma est témoin des protestations civiles dans le Parc Gezi. Elle est frappée par le parallélisme entre la façon dont l’espace public prend alors une nouvelle forme et le théâtre d’ombres de l’époque ottomane qui met en scène la satire politique. À mi chemin entre le film documentaire et le film d’archives, cette nouvelle œuvre tisse des liens inédits entre deux formes d’indiscipline sociale : un large soulèvement populaire et une forme de folklore ancestrale.

Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia, 2015, 37’ Réalisation : Eleni Kamma
Montage : Inneke Van Waeyenberghe
Mixage : Laszlo Umbreit
Production : Eleni Kamma
Coproduction : Jubilee et Netwerk Centre d’art contemporain

In her first cinematographic film, artist Eleni Kamma revisits the tradition of the Karagoz Theatre and its role in the creation of a political voice.
Although Karagoz is a local character symbolizing the “little man” within the limits of the Ottoman Empire, he belongs to a larger puppet theatre family. He speaks of what the people want to hear and what the people want to say.Until 1870, despite the “absolute monarchy and a totalitarian regime”, Karagoz “defied the censorship, enjoying an unlimited freedom”. Through the use of empty phrases, the illogical, the surrealistic, extreme obscenity and repetition, Karagoz theatre was often used as a political weapon to criticise local political and social abuse.
By 1923, this multi-voiced empire gave way to a Turkish-speaking republic within which the caricatures of ethnic characters no longer made sense. With the rise of new media, the popularity of Karagoz and Orta Oyunu declined even further.Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia. reflects upon the term “parrhesia”, which implies not only freedom of speech, but also the obligation to speak the truth for the common good, even at personal risk, by questioning how the notion of entertainment relates to personal expression and public participation.
This is where the artist links to the Gezi Park protests in 2013, in which humor and creativity were key elements in mocking the political regimes. Filmic fragments from National Cypriot television archive alternate with the voices of Cypriot, Greek and Turkish Karagoz masters discussing language, history, the tools and the political role of the medium.The film is a visual essay in which pressing contemporary political matters intertwine with history and abstraction; and in which meticulousness of research meets with poetics of associations. How to move forward? Can we learn something from the old masters? At times the gaze is directed back to the viewer. To speak your mind, you must first overcome fear by taking a deep breath.

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma
Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia, 2015
videostills

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Eleni Kamma, Curiosity, Tinos Quarry Platform

Eleni Kamma participe à l’exposition Curiosity, organisée par le Tinos Quarry Platform en collaboration avec la Cultural Foundation of Tinos in Chora (Grèce)
02.07.2016 > 31.10.2016

Curiosity is influencing numerous processes. To name a few of them: discovery, innovation, gossiping, research, experimentation and the death of some unfortunate yet certain cats. Curiosity and the invitation by Tinos Quarry Platform arrived at the same time. Tinos is an island I had never been to before. After giving it a second thought, a third, even a forth and so on, curiosity stayed with me.
Curiosity’s effects seem unlimited and rather chaotic to narrow down. Google provides an image of it. Curiosity looks like a vehicle, a rover rolling its wheels on planet Mars. Google doesn’t lie.
Unlike its predecessors looking for specific answers, Curiosity’s mission is to produce a clearer image of Mars by collecting a broad variety of data. In a similar tone the residency and exhibition are developing around curiosity as a vehicle for broader exploration, thus providing the artists with the complete freedom to create their own methods of approach to the theme.
Tinos is to be explored by invited artists, sharing different familiarity levels with the island. Some live abroad, some are Greek, some have been in Greece, some have never visited before, some reside on the island, others visit on an annual basis. Levels of familiarity function for curiosity like different settings on a microscope or a telescope, depending on what one is planning to study.

Curator:
Alexios Papazacharias (Greece)

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma
Regarding that moment when I didn’t speak the truth (although I could).

Between 25 May and 5 June 2016, a series of confessions concerning an experience of personal insincerity took place in Tinos. The artist asked the individuals that confessed to visualize the reason of their insincerity in the manner of a self-portrait. These portraits were realized instantly at the local photographer’s studio in the typical size and format of a passport photo.
Eleven photos framed, 2016

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Eleni Kamma, Fireflies in the Night Take Wing, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma, Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia.

Fireflies in the Night Take Wing
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), Athens
June 23-26

Video Art Survey organized by curators Barbara London, Kalliopi Minioudaki, Francesca Pietropaolo with artistic director Robert Storr

This June, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation will celebrate the completion of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) – the Foundation’s largest single gift. Designed by world renowned architect, Renzo Piano, the SNFCC includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera, as well as the creation of the Stavros Niarchos Park. During the week of June 23rd through June 26th, the SNFCC will host a series of programs and events for the citizens of Athens, Greece, and the world, welcoming them to this emerging cultural destination. One of these programs includes a special four night exhibition of work in the quintessential medium of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: video.

Following last summer’s Fireflies in the Night—a three-night non-stop dusk-to-dawn video survey of some of the best art of its kind produced internationally that was projected on screens located on the “Great Lawn” of the Stavros Niarchos Park—this year’s installment, titled Fireflies in the Night Take Wing will consist of eleven separate looped video programs, including an immersive installation of two works by Shirin Neshat, screened at eleven sites scattered throughout the SNFCC buildings and grounds. Each of these hour-long loops will be composed of different works by a wide array of international artists – including Greek artists active in the cosmopolitan context of contemporary art.

(…) Hope both for true participatory democracy and art’s role in achieving it is also stirred by Eleni Kamma. Even though she laments of the decline of the tradition of Karaghiozis, her work evocatively links the freedom of speech (parrhesia) that characterizes this central figure of the Middle Eastern shadow theater as bold spokesperson of people’s problems, desires and political critique, with the creativity and outcry of the protesting occupants of the Gezi park.

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Loop Festival Barcelona 2016, Eleni Kamma, Without Pause, Dialogues

La galerie Nadja Vilenne participe à Loop Fair Barcelona et montrera le dytique « The Day the Clown Cried » de Charlotte Lagro. Eleni Kamma participe à Loop Festival Barcelona. Elle y projette « Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia », dans le cadre de l’exposition Without Pause, Dialogues, un projet dont Imma Pietro est commissaire.

Curated by Imma Prieto, « Without Pause, Dialogues » is the result of a collaboration between LOOP Barcelona, Argos – Centre for art and media, Flanders Arts Institute and Flanders Image.
Without Pause, Dialogues is an exhibition project made up of a dozen perspectives that establish six common lines of research. It is built around two determining factors: a formal one, which is concerned with matters unrelated to the work itself, and a conceptual one, which emerges from the desire for dialogue between the works in the form of diptychs (two adjacent screens). The dialogue fostered by the diptychs reinforces and highlights the contents of each one of the projects, thus creating a feedback loop between them.
María Ruido (Lo que no puede ser visto debe ser mostrado) & Sarah Vanagt & Katrien Vermeire (The Wave)
Lúa Coderch (ARKADI. A guide for the perplexed) & Ria Pacquée (As long as I see birds flying I know I am alive)
Jordi Cané (Una batalla más) & Pieter Geenen (Relocation)
Raquel Friera (Space of Possibles-Istanbul) & Els Opsomer (10th of November |09:05)
Patricia Dauder (March 5th 1979) & Elias Heuninck (I’ll be late for dinner)
Jordi Colomer (Svartlamon Parade) & Eleni Kamma (Notes of Parrhesia)

Reial Cercle Artístic
Carrer Arcs, 5, 08002, Barcelona
26 May — 10 June 2016

Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia.
a single screen film by Eleni Kamma
duration: 37 min 24 sec (2015)

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma

Eleni Kamma

In her first cinematographic film, artist Eleni Kamma revisits the tradition of the Karagoz Theatre and its role in the creation of a political voice.
Although Karagoz is a local character symbolizing the “little man” within the limits of the Ottoman Empire, he belongs to a larger puppet theatre family. He speaks of what the people want to hear and what the people want to say.

Until 1870, despite the “absolute monarchy and a totalitarian regime”, Karagoz “defied the censorship, enjoying an unlimited freedom”. Through the use of empty phrases, the illogical, the surrealistic, extreme obscenity and repetition, Karagoz theatre was often used as a political weapon to criticise local political and social abuse.
By 1923, this multi-voiced empire gave way to a Turkish-speaking republic within which the caricatures of ethnic characters no longer made sense. With the rise of new media, the popularity of Karagoz and Orta Oyunu declined even further.

Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia. reflects upon the term “parrhesia”, which implies not only freedom of speech, but also the obligation to speak the truth for the common good, even at personal risk, by questioning how the notion of entertainment relates to personal expression and public participation.
This is where the artist links to the Gezi Park protests in 2013, in which humor and creativity were key elements in mocking the political regimes. Filmic fragments from National Cypriot television archive alternate with the voices of Cypriot, Greek and Turkish Karagoz masters discussing language, history, the tools and the political role of the medium.

The film is a visual essay in which pressing contemporary political matters intertwine with history and abstraction; and in which meticulousness of research meets with poetics of associations. How to move forward? Can we learn something from the old masters? At times the gaze is directed back to the viewer. To speak your mind, you must first overcome fear by taking a deep breath.

[sociallinkz]

Eleni Kamma, Sound of Silence, Festival des Flandres, Kortrijk

Eleni Kamma participe à l’exposition « Sound of silence » organisée à Kortrijk dans le cadre du Festival des Flandres, section courtraisienne.
Sound of Silence est une exposition annuelle autour de l’art sonore, à la croisée des arts plastiques, du son et de la musique, trois disciplines réunies dans les installations. Un son palpable. Des images audibles.
Sound of Silence s’intéresse à des œuvres d’artistes sonores silencieuses ou à peine audibles. L’attention portée au silence ne fait que croître dans notre société. Dans le tumulte actuel, on a plus que jamais besoin de calme. Mais le silence est aussi la référence à l’aune de laquelle on peut mesurer le bruit. Aussi contradictoire que cela puisse paraître, le silence et le bruit ne sont rien l’un sans l’autre. De nombreux artistes sonores partagent cette fascination et réalisent des installations à la limite de l’audible. Réflexion sur le bruit, ou stimulation à une écoute plus intense, Sound of Silence mêle des œuvres d’artistes flamands ou internationalement reconnus.
Programme: Christoph De Boeck (BE), Stijn Demeulenaere (BE), Aernoudt Jacobs (BE), Rolf Julius (DE), Eleni Kamma (GR), Christina Kubisch (DE), Hans Peter Kuhn (DE), Steve Roden (VS), Stefaan Quix (BE), Akio Suzuki (JP), Esther Venrooy & Hans Demeulenaere (BE) en Bram Vreven (NL)

Sounding City is an annual exhibition that explores sound art and the boundaries between art, sound and music. The various installations bring together the three different disciplines. Tangible sound. Audible image. Sound of Silence focuses on quiet or barely audible sound work by sound artists. There is increased attention for silence in our society. In the bustle of today’s city, there is more than ever a need for quietude. Yet silence is also the benchmark against which sound is measured. No matter how paradoxical it may sound: silence and sound cannot exist without one another. Many sound artists share this fascination and create installations on the fringes of the audible. As a reflection on sound or as an invitation to more intense listening. Sound of Silence mixes works of both Flemish and internationally renowned artists, and starts with an opening performance and a concert on the same theme.

Eleni Kamma

It Takes Courage and Breath to Speak Up
Eleni Kamma filme le silence qui précède la parole. L’instant où rien n’est encore dit, où tout est encore possible. La caméra décrit des mouvements circulaires, chorégraphie et enregistre trois personnes autour d’un micro. Formant un groupe muet, elles se séparent progressivement pour suivre chacune sa trajectoire. Kamma a travaillé autour du thème « parrhésie », un terme qui signifiait pour les Grecs anciens non seulement « tout dire avec franchise », mais surtout le devoir de dire la vérité en fonction du bien-être général, même au péril du risque individuel. Pour dire ce que l’on pense, il faut respirer profondément et surmonter sa peur.

It Takes Courage and Breath to Speak Up
Eleni Kamma films the silence before words are spoken. The moment when everything is still unspoken, when everything is still possible. The camera makes circular movements, choreographs and records three people around a microphone. They are a silent group, but gradually they break free to follow their own course. Kamma worked on the theme of ‘parrhesia’. For the ancient Greeks this not only meant ‘ to speak out frankly’, but especially the obligation to speak the truth in function of the common good, even at the risk of personal jeopardy. To say what one thinks, one has to take a deep breath and overcome one’s fear.

Ven 15 Avr 2016 à Dim 1 Mai 2016
Broelkaai 6
L’exposition est ouverte durant les week-ends de 14h00 à 18h00.
Gratuit.

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Eleni Kamma, Breaking Crisis, Transmediale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Breaking Crisis
Works by: Norman Cowie, Elisabeth Marjanović Cronvall & Marta Dauliute, Beatrice Gibson, Jean Herman, Eleni Kamma
with: Eleni Kamma Elisabeth Marjanović Cronvall & Marta Dauliute
Screening
Sat, 06.02.2016
12:00 – 14:00
Theatersaal

Actua Tilt, Jean Herman, FR 1960, 12′
The Third Wave, Norman Cowie, US 1995, 3′
Crisis Document. A Survival Guide, Elisabeth Marjanovic Cronvall & Marta Dauliute, SE 2015, 15′
F for Fibonacci, Beatrice Gibson, UK 2014, 16′
Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia, Eleni Kamma, BE/NL 2015, 37′

The transformation of Western industrial society into a service and information economy is coupled with the unrestricted subjugation of the environment to market imperatives. Financial transactions are executed by computer programs in milliseconds: money makes money. The unequal distribution of wealth and security, evidenced in global refugee movements, produces a sense of permanent crisis. Conversely, new forms of solidarity, resistance, and struggles for democratic rights and economic participation are emerging. Against the background of these volatile developments, this film selection presents an impressive range of artistic and critical analyses of the present.

Eleni Kamma

YAR BANA BIR EĞLENCE. NOTES ON PARRHESIA
by: Eleni Kamma
BE/NL
2015
37′
In her first cinematographic work, artist Eleni Kamma revisits the Ottoman tradition of the Karagöz theatre and its role in the creation of a political voice that defied censorship for a long time. Karagöz symbolizes the « little man » who, through the use of empty phrases, the illogical, the surrealistic, extreme obscenity and repetition, speaks of what people want to hear and need to say. Against this background, Yar bana bir eğlence. Notes on Parrhesia reflects upon the term « parrhesia », which implies not only the freedom of speech, but also the obligation to speak the truth for the sake of the common good, even at personal risk. This is where Kamma links to the Gezi Park protests in 2013, in which humour and creativity were key elements of resistence. Archival footage and staged scenes alternate with Cypriot, Greek and Turkish Karagöz masters discussing language, history and the political message of their art today.

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Eleni Kamma, L’intru (invaders), Rich Mix, London

Eleni Kamma participe à l’exposition L’Intru (Invaders) organisée à Londres par Rich Mix. Vernissage le 12 décembre.

L’INTRU (INVADERS) is a multidisciplinary exhibition and performance program that deals with issues of post-colonialism, memory, identity and narration.
Gathering together artists originally from Portugal, England, Rwanda, Greece, Germany, Argentine, Hungary, Spain, Serbia, Poland and Taiwan, who work in performance, object, photography, video and installation, L’INTRU aims to question these potent issues: postcolonialism, personal and collective memory, narration and identity. It not only asks who the invaders are, it also speaks of the personal narratives that these forces provoke within the individual. After a successful run in Vienna, the exhibition is being brought to London with the intention of engaging with local issues: capitalism, gentrification and the cuts. Join us for a packed performance program, on the front row will be some of the most prominent London artists.

Curated by Ana Mendes

ARTISTS
Anamaria Kardos, Ana Mendes, Carla Cruz, Antonio Contador, Eleni Kamma, Franziska Becher, Justyna Scheuring, Mario Asef, Ishimwa Muhimanyi, Rosana Antoli, Hsinyen Wei and Sandra Djukic.

Info

Eleni Kamma

It takes courage and breath to speak up
HD video, color, stereo sound, 16:9, NL, 2014, 5 min 59 sec

The work It takes courage and breath to speak up features autonomously as a possible prologue of the exhibition, encouraging a thoughtful approach from the start. In this video work, Kamma reflects on the Greek ‘parrhesia’ or freedom of speech, a notion that stands for the expression of opinion while also alluding to an obligation to speak out in service of the greater good — in spite of the vulnerability that the individual may experience as a consequence. The choreographic movement of the camera captures three performers who occupy a theatre space representing a typical public agora. They come together as a community and together summon the courage to voice their thoughts freely, ultimately disbanding to forge their own paths.
Yar bana bir eğlence’ is the customary opening sentence in traditional Turkish shadow theatre, Karagöz. The central theme in this form of street theatre, which remained immensely popular until the late 18th Century, is the amusing interaction between the two protagonists. Hacivat embodies the better- educated well-to-do in society, while Karagöz is the outspoken representative of the man on the street, venting his opinions through ‘parrhesia’. This projected image stokes the imagination, but it is the voice of the narrator that assumes the more dominant role. The narrator utters what the people dare not speak but still wish to hear. He airs their grievances regarding social injustices. He freely criticises from the shadows of local politics, commanding an almost preposterous level of expressive freedom in a totalitarian regime such as the Ottoman Empire. During her residency in Istanbul in 2013, Kamma witnessed the civil protests in Taksim Gezi Park. It struck her that a clear link could be made between the way in which the public space is currently taking a new shape and how it did so in the Ottoman era: through ‘parrhesia’ and political satire, public participation and humour. A keenly relevant observation of current affairs that she has translated into her most recent work.

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