VAHAP AVŞAR

Opening Reception: Sunday, November 8, 6–8pm
Exhibition Dates: November 8 – December 13, 2015
Open: Thu–Sun, 12–6pm
P!, 334 Broome Street, New York

P! and Protocinema collaborate to present Vahap Avşar, Lost Shadows, [AND Museum], 2015, a selection of republished and distributable photographs from the found image archive of the Turkish company, AND, in the form of postcards.

In the late 1970s, AND Postcard Company dispatched individual photographers around Turkey to photograph the country in order to make postcards for national distribution. AND postcards were intended for domestic use, for family members to stay in touch with loved ones who had moved from rural areas to urban centers, or who were serving their required military service. The work of these photographers was unearthed by Avşar in 2010; Lost Shadows, [AND Museum], is a set of twelve postcards created out of an archive of over 15,000 images. 

Avşar’s selection, possessing the perspective of distance and time, reveal the codes of conduct between the existing powers and constituencies of the period. Evidence of the tensions of late 1970s and the oppression following the September 12, 1980 military coup are exposed in images of public military marches, controlled water sources, and organized mass-athletics. More subtle signifiers such as the white Renault 12 (the car most commonly used by the undercover government agencies of that period) show these conflicts permeating daily life. Re-contextualizing and distributing these images to new audiences, Avşar makes visible repression and the contestation of civic space as timely topics of concern.

Special Thanks to Rampa Gallery, Istanbul, Vahit Tuna, Asli Seven, Mas Matbaası Aş.

Vahap Avşar, (1965, Malatya, Turkey), has one-person exhibitions including “AND Museum”, SALT, Istanbul, 2015; “Black Album”, Rampa, Istanbul, 2013; “iBerlin”, TANAS, Berlin, 2012; “Noneisafe”, Charles Bank Gallery, New York, 2011; “Come Who Ever You Are”, W139, Amsterdam,1993 and “Myths”, Galeri Zon, Ankara,1991. Group exhibitions include “Artists’ Film International”, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2015;  “Artists’ Film International”, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 2015; “Too Early, Too Late”, Pinacoteca, Bologna, 2015; “Zwölf im Zwölften”, TANAS, Berlin, 2011; Second Exhibition, ARTER, Istanbul, 2010; 5th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, 1997 and “Gar”, TCDD Art Gallery and Ankara Central Train Station, Ankara, 1995; 5th Havana Biennial Art Exhibition, 1994; “Elli Numara – Anı Bellek II”, Akaretler 50, Istanbul, 1993 and “An Another Art: For the Memory of Joseph Beuys”, German Cultural Centre, İzmir, 1986. Avşar attended Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1989 and Bilkent University Fine Arts Department from 1989 to 1995 where he earned a Master’s degree and completed the coursework for a Ph.D.

Protocinema is a mission driven, 501(c)3, art organization realizing Site-Aware exhibitions around the world. The organization is itinerant and free of 'brick and mortar'. Protocinema seeks to open up dialogue and improve mutual understanding between individuals through art. Founded in 2011 by Mari Spirito, Protocinema launched Proto5533, series at 5533: One-year of exhibitions by emerging artists and curators with a mentor system and public programing. Protocinema.org

P! is a multidisciplinary exhibition space located in New York’s Chinatown that proposes an experimental space of display in which the radical possibilities of disparate disciplines, historical periods, and modes of production rub elbows. A free-wheeling combination of project space, commercial gallery, and Mom-and-Pop-Kunsthalle, P! engages with presentation strategies and models to emphasize rupture over tranquility, interference over mere coexistence, transparency over obfuscation, and passion over cool remove.

PRESS

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