[spectre] (fwd) 'It isn’t over, you are still scared' Beyoğlu Salt / Istanbul Biennial 2013 (16 March 2013)

Thu Mar 21 08:42:03 CET 2013

Datum:     Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:00:32 +0000
Von:     serhat koksal <serhatkoksal at hotmail.com>

To the press and the public;
A group of activists protested against the “Scared of Murals” exhibition 
held at Beyoğlu Salt,

with stencils featuring portraits of Vehbi Koç, Sakıp Sabancı and Şarık 
Tara and the slogans “It isn’t over! They are still scared…
”, “We are still here” and “Waiting for the barbarians".
The activists placed their stencils on the floor of the gallery’s foyer 
and gave a press statement.

They completed their protest by using their stencils to paint on the 
building’s façade.

16 March 2013

  http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still 
<http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still>

*It isn’t over, you are still scared. *
The biennial was launched with parallel events featuring the art of the 
capitalists, along with the opening of debates on "publicness", the 
biennial’s main theme. They try to tame every artistic rebellion, 
bringing protest art down to their own level. There has been an attempt 
to remove all meaning from the artistic images, figures and methods used 
throughout the history of this country's political uprisings, and to use 
them in art performances directed by capitalists. These barbarians are 
barbarically killing each of these images; images that are the 
expression of the dreams, carved into public memory, of a “livable 
world, rights and equality”. In the past, so many young people with a 
brush and paint in their hands paid the price for the slogans they 
painted on walls with years in prison or even with their life. At that 
time these “murals” were capitalists’ nightmare, their biggest fear; now 
they announce that they are no longer afraid of those young hands and 
hearts who used their dreams to paint those images on the walls. Even 
though nothing has changed, see how the capitalists have developed 
compassion. Today, instead of beatings they have chosen love. And they 
declare this love to the world through the artistic events of which they 
are so proud. Saying “How wonderful for us, for our democracy” is naïve 
and turns a blind eye to their hypocrisy. Presented as nostalgic works 
of art, these “murals” are now no more than the memories of naughty 
children who have been brought to heel by Doğuş Holding. The underlying 
message that the capitalists who have brought the economy to the most 
brutal level of capitalism are trying to give is that they are no longer 
afraid of murals. As though embracing the philosophy of Rumi, they say 
"we may drink your blood but our arms are open to your love, whoever you 
may be". They say that important artists give their names to these 
paintings and they are now mere works of art with no political meaning 
left. Time and again they say that the people who then made these 
murals, now love money even more than they do. But what they have 
forgotten is that although the people who, in another time, made these 
paintings became the money-loving artists who are today slaves to 
capitalism, the dreams that they abandoned still colour our nights. They 
are a legacy; the belief in the idea that it is possible to live 
humanely still remains on those walls. It is these dreams that have 
brought us here. It is the fighting spirit that is carved on those walls 
that has brought us here. These murals that speak of equality in the 
world, that say that equality is possible, are now being presented as 
"nostalgia” under the sponsorship of a bank that once supported the coup 
d'état. We are here because a living thing, a song that is still sung, 
can never be nostalgia. It lives on here, in us! That song is still sung 
by the youth of today. The spirit that is carved into those walls is not 
that of the once naughty, now well-behaved children of the capitalists 
but that of the artists who value disobedience.
If a bank that supported the military coup can open tactless exhibitions 
that say that they are scared of murals, the reason for this is the 
politics of art that has been taken from our control. In this 
exhibition, the best example of the idea that “there can be no art 
without money”, those who supported the military coup try to downplay 
their responsibility. We will not stand for this! We are still ruled by 
the patched-up constitution of the coup. Our protest is against the 
capitalists who ensured that this constitution would destroy the 
country's unions, an act for which they now deny any responsibility. Our 
protest is against the fact that Garanti Bank is using art to turn the 
political legacy of the struggle of so many artists who created these 
murals into nostalgia. The capitalists are those who are really afraid 
of these murals and who hold the political power; yet today they have 
announced that they are no longer scared of murals. In light of the 
parallel events and today's event
on the theme of “We were once organised”, we say to all the artists 
involved that we are still organised, we are still here. And we say that 
they are still scared of murals. Today’s curators, these children of the 
neo-liberal system, try to pay their debts to their creators by 
devaluing the past of those who have suffered in the unconfronted 
history of this country. We want you to know that we will not remain 
silent.

ArtHack
Emek Gençliği
Gündoğusu Sanat Ve Düşün Topluluğu
Öğrenci Kolektifleri

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W735uhGMT5Q ( 16.3.2013 )*
---------------------
http://www.evrensel.net/news.php?id=51820

http://www.sendika.org/2013/03/saltta-protesto-biz-hala-orgutluyuz/

http://www.kizilyildiz.org/2013/03/saltanat-yklyor-bitmedi-hala-korkuyorlar.html

https://www.facebook.com/AnneBenBarbarMiyim

------------------! ---------

http://2-5bz.tumblr.com/post/42398186787/2-5bz-hostmodern

*bu bir dönemeçtir*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOdPx90bQpY 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOdPx90bQpY%20> *ViDEO (2009)*
http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/19042452309/begenal-logolu-amade-bienali
*--------------------------------------------------------
*
  http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still 
<http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still>
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