The video In Diverse Estimations Little Moscow deals with the participatory democracy experiment that was carried out in the town of Fatsa in Turkey during 8.5 months and was forcefully brought to an end with a military intervention in July 1980. Afterwards, the mere mention of the event was forbidden and the memory of participatory democracy was almost forgotten. Her work A Small Mix-up shows how easy it is to manipulate the memory and relationship with the past through their modification. On the other hand, the work The Destruction of the Russian Monument at Ayestefanos speaks about the ingrained narrative lacking proof – it is widely believed that on the occasion of monuments demolition, the first Turkish film was made; however, the recording has never been found. The act of demolition is documented only in the two preserved photographs (before and after the demolition), and Çavuşoğlu construes that process in her work, filling the archival gaps of her own accord. The work 191/205, similarly to In Diverse Estimations Little Moscow, speaks about an attempt at forced amnesia – the General Directorate of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s decision to ban certain words under the excuse that they do not comply with the nature of the Turkish language, and that they are substandard. Among 205 forbidden words, we find: memory, remembrance, nature, movement, revolution, dream, theory, possibility, history, freedom, whole, life etc.
More about the artist: http://aslicavusoglu.info/
The exhibition is opened till the 4th of July 2015.
The exhibition is supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb – City Office for Education, culture and sport.
Gallery Miroslav Kraljević is supported by Zaklada Kultura nova.
