Art acts as an activist in times of war – an international art project
questions image-reality.
Ella Spector (Israel) and Belit Sağ (Turkey)
together with students of Gymnasium Blankenese:
Julia Anders • Melusine Balke • Alva Bücking • Viviane Ebert
Pilar Erviti • Amina Gaede • Lena Harder • Julika Kohler
Selina Köhler • Lisa Lippmann • Ann-Cathrin Schürholz
Carla Rosenbohn • Chiara Tesch • Anja Tillmann • Alina Weigand
Stella Wein • Clara Wiechmann • Nele Winter
Exhibition period July 15. – 26. 2015
War rules. Around the world, people become victims of attacks,
kidnapping, massacres, destruction, hunger, thirst, and epidemics. Some
try to escape to Europe, and those who manage to survive might cross
the German borders. The subject of war and faith engages. Most of what we have come to know about war, we experience through media; it is
unclear how much of the chosen repertoire, adaptation, and
contextualization of imagery, film, and text actually create a warped reality
or a reasonable documentation. Real exposure with refugees is utterly
overcharged with xenophobic imagery, which arouses resentment and fuels
prejudice. What would be an adequate reaction, a reasonable
documentation? What are the alternatives for imagery frenzy? How do
media and reality relate? What role does art play?
FRISE – Künstlerhaus Hamburg e.V. and Kulturbehörde Hamburg asked
themselves these exact questions and are initiating an Artist-in-
Residence-Program together this summer. As a reaction to the
current and ongoing strife in this world. The project is titled „A Story
Behind a Story Behind a Story“.
Invited are the two media-artists, Ella Spector from Israel, and Belit Sağ
from Turkey, to work together for the whole month of July on questions of
geopolitical conflict, intercultural communications, and artistic subversion
in times of strife. Together with students of the Gymnasium Blankenese, a one-week workshop will be held, where the issue of war is approached
from an artistic viewpoint.
These artistic viewpoints from students and artists will be showcased at
Künstlerhaus FRISE vom 15. Juli 2015. „A Story Behind a Story Behind a
Story“ Ella Spector (Israel), Belit Sağ (Turkey), Students of Gymnasium
Blankenese
Concept and conduct: Michael Kress
Project-coordination: Chrisdian Wittenburg,
Project-technics: Torsten Bruch
Translation: Evelyn Nossol
Media-text: Dr. Heidi Salaverria
Artist-contact: Haran Mendel, Dirck Möllmann, and Christoph Schäfer
Cooperation-partner Gymnasium Blankenese: Janna Volland and
Antoneta Berisha.
A special thank you goes to: Ruth Bässler and Dr. Bilinc Ercan
WITH A FRIENDLY SUPPORT OF KULTURBEHÖRDE HAMBURG
Information about the Artists:
Belit Sag works and lives in Amsterdam
http://bit.contrast.org & vimeo.com
Sag analyzes news, media, and entertainment images, creating new
narratives from her findings. The video work and the image gaze back
question the role of images in current and historical events. For example
Sa? ponders the similarities between one of the shots in ISIS’s execution
video of James Foley and a shot in the final scene of the movie Seven,
both of which feature a decapitation. She discusses the re- and premediation
of images—the way they appear and reappear either
deliberately or accidentally. Her findings are an artistic investigation into
what it means to live in a world where fiction and non-fiction influence
each other in ways we can’t even imagine. …“ ArtSlant, 2014
Ella Spector, born in 1979 in Israel
Site: http://ellaspector.tumblr.com
The practice of Ella Spector (1979, Tel Aviv) exists in the space between
cinematic representations and private emotions. Deeply existential,
Spector’s works employ props from cinema and TV sets – such as
cameras, spotlights, and lighting gear – in order to conceive immersive
installations and conceptual sculptures that question the notion of beauty,
A STORY BEHIND A STORY BEHIND A STORY – A.i.R. BLOG 25.03.22, 13:34
https://airblog.frise.de/?p=245 Seite 4 von 4
magic, alchemy, truth, and deception. Technological and at the same time
poetical, Spector’s modus operandi embraces all the aforementioned
notions as a whole, attempting to erase any possible distinction dictated
by language or any other cultural convention.