A Future of Archive

With: Berkay Tuncay, Rustan Söderling and Helena Grande
Exhibition: 4 May – 31 May 2018
Open: Thu – Fri – Sat 14.00 – 18.00
For the 5th exhibition of Corridor’s year programme Teotwawki we focus on archiving. In recent years technology has radically altered how we perceive the reality and the archivization of it. What it means to differentiate between what is real or fiction or virtual, therefore the determination of what goes in an archive are crucial. These questions then become relevant to the artistic discourse in an era where major decision-makers in the world are rendering the reality blurrier rather than more clear. Works mix far future to ancient past while questioning how we forge our relationship to current states through media.

Visual artist Berkay Tuncay contributes to A Future of Archive with his work Untitled (Study for Kanye’s Tweets no.2), 2017. He researched the tweets of Kanye West that in particularly focused on the definition of art and being an artist. He then transformed and translated a total of 997 tweets into clay tablets written in Sumerian cuneiform language which then have been carved by hand. Each tablet takes its shape from a contemporary technological object.

Rustan Söderling’s work Tannhäuser Gate (not really now not anymore), 2017. takes the viewer to a devastated FamilyMart in the aftermath of a fictitious catastrophe. In the video work you see a present haunted by the past, a sense of time as being somehow synchronous and indivisible, with past and future moving away from each other while still haunted by the threads which weave them together.

Helena Grande is contributing to A Future of Archive with a text on time, narrative and hauntology.

Berkay studied at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul. Recent residencies he concluded are: Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris and Gastatelier des Landes Nordrhein Westfalen, Düsseldorf. He took part in exhibitions at Aksanat in Istanbul, Mindscape Universe – Berlin, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and CENTQUATRE – Paris.

Rustan is a current resident at de Ateliers in Amsterdam. Previously he studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie. He participated with his work in exhibitions in W139 Amsterdam, the fifth Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, and other shows at Tenderpixel and ICA London.

Helena Grande is an independent curator and writer, currently working on her PhD thesis. She studied an MA in Contemporary Art History and Cultural Studies at Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. Her work and research focuses on digital culture, philosophy of technology, and the use of fantasy in contemporary video and performance.

Teotwawki: [ti.ɑt.wɑk.i] is an acronym for “The End of the World as We Know It”. It stands for the potential of a new and unexpected occurrence where daily life might suddenly be upended. Civilisation, urban life, spoken and unspoken rules of society may change and people may need to develop new
skills in order to survive. Let us think about predictions, forecasts and prophecies on various themes in the future. We will use the Teotwawki as a tool to dive into the intentions, hopes, expectations and plans of each individual and community.

Corridor Project Space is an independent and interdisciplinary contemporary art initiative in Amsterdam with indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces. They believe in the importance of experimental art practices that focuses on the creation of new content that is off the grid from the institutional and commercial circles. Corridor Project Space is run by Suzan Kalle & Suat Öğüt.

Berkay Tuncay is kindly supported for this exhibition by SAHA Association.
This year Corridor Project Space is supported by Het Mondriaan Fonds, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsdeel Oost.