Deconstruction: Art and Ecology
“...obviously we can’t stand still or we shall be destroyed. Then if there is no room for us on the outside we shall, in spite of ourselves, have to go in: into the cell, the atom, the poetic line, for our discoveries.” William Carlos Williams, Leaves of Grass, 1955.
Forgetting that humans are only one of the millions of species that exist on Earth, we try to assert shape and bend nature according to our requirements and needs, asserting a prioritisation within species. While we face every day the disruptive outcomes of our way of existing and our doings, we do not question to change our accustomed systems.
Can humans change? Improving our relationship and communication with nature is tightly linked to correctly identifying our emotions, ideas and actions. Definitions such as ecocentrism and anthropocentrism can fail at creating an ideological home for us due to being two ends of a pendulum, without room for commonalities: making it even more difficult to address our relationship with nature.
Is it possible to reshape this dialogue as an organic form through art? There are many questions that are rooted in this idea: What is the focus of environmental ethics - humans or nature? What is the motivational source that creates the dilemma between nature and culture? Do we view nature as a property to use however we wish for our own benefit, or do we realise nature’s intrinsic value; free from its usefulness to humans? Is the extension - an extension of ethics to nature - individualistic or holistic? Is the extension rights-based or responsibility-based?
Realised with the collaboration of Are Projects and co-directed by Ecem Umitli, this project encourages the participating artists to question and find where they stand: above nature, with nature or within nature.
Are Projects is an interdisciplinary art space. Founded in 2019 in Antalya, Are Projects aims to discuss the functionality of art, access dialogue, and encourage collaborative projects. Supporting creative artistic production and providing space for different practices, Are Projects also houses the region's first extensive free-access art library.
This project is programmed under the expert ecological consultancy of biologist Nurbahar Usta.
Programme:
This project will take place between the dates June 7-13, 2020. Project aims to discuss existing works, and does not require production of new works.
Online seminar with Biologist Nurbahar Usta, ecological consultant of project
Question & Answer with the artist of the day
Artists studio visits
A discussion panel on the selected podcast about ecology
A conversation with Art Critic Murat Alat
A conversation with Curator Aslı Seven
A live session with performance artist duo Ebinum Brothers, questioning our relationship with nature
There will be a maximum of 3 online meetings in a day, each taking approximately an hour.
We are happy to share with you this performance by Ebinum Brothers realised as part of our collaborative programme with Are Projects, Deconstruction: Art and Ecology.
"We being in that environment, seeing the sand, the water flow, and leaves, we actually tap into that feeling of togetherness. We created our movement to tell a story of how nature brings us together, watching the communication of the wind and the water including the trees, watching them speak without actually speaking, that's what we wanted to create with our movement. We actually became the water flow, the sand, the wind, and trees. Communicating with ourselves without saying a word, even when we want to be alone, when we feel depressed, when we feel anger, it just brings us together despite the craziness of this world. So the whole piece is all about TOGETHERNESS.” - Ebinum Brothers
Deconstruction: Art and Ecology Podcasts
We aim to generate a cross-disciplinary idea-space for artists, writers, researchers, and biologists. Deconstruction: Art and Ecology Podcasts with English subtitles* featuring various discussions under the expert ecological consultancy of biologist Nurbahar Usta.
Our first Podcast by participating artist Çağlar Tahiroğlu discusses her works as part of our collaborative programme with Are Projects. To listen more, please visit our YouTube Channel.
Çağlar Tahiroğlu is an interdisciplinary artist and clinical psychologist in humanitarian organisations. Her research is mainly on the threshold between fine art, documentary photography and psychology, especially on spaces where landscape, daily life and the socio-political frames are intertwined. Having completed an MSc in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology at Lyon University in 2011, she brings this field of study to my art practice by gaining an MA in Art & Science, Department of Fine art from Central St. Martins in 2018.
”On the other hand, I did not mention enough about the work in that Congo, the war of the minerals is a problem directly related to ecology, which is the result of the war in the Congo, because there is a rich place with gold, titanium mines but the people of the rate are the poorest people in the world. 10,000 people have died from armed clashes since the beginning of 2020 and this is not a big issue. I was invited to a residency in Iceland, I found it sad that they would disappear in 50 years. I connected in my head while taking pictures of there, while in Tanzania I took pictures of mangroves, it seemed interesting to me, the very dark brown shade of tropics. Whereas my shots of Iceland are all blue, and when I brought them together, I thought, "Fragile Enclosures of Light." These are sensitive and maybe will disappear in the future, and how does that affect me. Where nature is so dominant, the relationship with nature is not a romantic relationship. Instead of being inspired by nature, there is a relationship between fear and respect. And this relationship with nature shapes the culture. I think there is a forgotten relationship with nature on the basis of individuality right now, there is an illusion that we control nature, we control climate change, we will find a scientific remedy, there is an answer to rationality and individuality. Everything is under control.” Çağlar Tahiroğlu
