Projects of co-workers
International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Izmir, Turkey:
Port Izmir 3: It’s Enough!, chief curator: Saša Nabergoj.
October 2013–June 2014
We would like to inform you about the project of our co-worker Saša Nabergoj, head of the World of Art, School for curators and critics and the Studio 6 program.
The third Triennial of Contemporary Art Port Izmir titled IT’S ENOUGH, curated by Saša Nabergoj and organised by K2, Contemporary Art Association from Izmir edition focuses on engaged artistic practices that operate on the fringe of the art world and that deal with subjects and apply methodology from the outside world, from outside the ‘ivory tower of art’. Port Izmir 3 creates a platform that shows the potential of these practices, places them within a broader international art-historical and contemporary context, as well as shows the different ways in which they can engage. This seems especially important in a city with an almost non-existent contemporary art scene and vocabulary that would help decipher it.
Therefore, the triennial consists of a variety of formats, so that it looks more like a process rather than a single exhibition. In order to achieve this a crossover of spaces that are used in-between production, research, representation and education have been constructed. These diverse manifestations were joined into two main formats: Field Works with a Visualized Archive and the Triennial Exhibition.
Field Works (since October 2013) bring together local and international artists (among them Slovenian design collective OLOOP and new media artist Robertina Šebjanič) and other specialists from specific disciplines (urban historians, oceanographers, philosophers, curators, critics, sociologists, fashion and industrial designers, landscape architects,…) who share similar affinities, are engaged in similar topics, but approach them from different angles.
The Visualized Archive represents all five Field Works in a single space, with which it attempts to present the complexity of the various strategies, tactics and formats that the participants used in their work. This is performed with the aid of audio and video documentation, finished and unfinished works/products, books, artworks, videos – anything that can help visualize the working process, i.e. help visualize the research and collaboration as well as the public outcomes of each group.
Exhibition (Austro-Turk Tobacco Warehouse, 21. 3.–21. 6. 2014) is bringing together the works by 23 international and local artists – among them also Slovenian artists Tomaž Furlan, Damijan Kracina and Ulay – who base their art practice on research and often produce site specific works for specific locations (and contexts). Some created a tailor-made project for Izmir, others participated with previous works, but all of them share a sensitivity for the local (yet global in its universality) issues found within the general PORTIZMIR3concept.
Third edition of Port Izmir will serve as a contextual frame for diverse participative practices and will try to provide a new perspective on the themes, working methods, tactics and strategies developed in the realm of contemporary art.
More: portizmir.org
Saša Nabergoj
Art historian, curator and critic. Assistant director at SCCA−Ljubljana, Center for Contemporary Arts (Slovenia). A member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) and IKT (International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam). Writer, editor, curator and lecturer on contemporary art, focusing on curatorial and critical practices.