Loading Events
  • This event has passed.

« All Events

Tanja Ostojić – Mis(s)placed Women? (2009-2022)

15/09/2022 @ 18:00 - 28/10/2022 @ 18:00

Tanja Ostojić ARtwork

A Collaborative Art Project

Opening: Thursday, September 15, 18:00

Curated by: Arzu Yayıntaş and Tanja Ostojić

Live Events: September 20–22

Mis(s)placed Women? Community Gathering: September 15–22

Exhibition Participants: Teresa Albor, Lidija Antonović, Marta Nitecka Barche, Gaby Bila-Günther aka LADY GABY, Dagmara Bilon, Ines Borovac, Mia Bradić, Amy Bryzgel, David Caines, Nati Canto, Hiuwai Chan, Anaïs Clercx, Azad Colemêrg, Camilla Conocchi, Luciana Damiani, Nazlı Durak, Kathryn Fischer aka Mad Kate, Li Fu, Mahlet Ogbe Habte, Hieu Hanh Hoang Tran, Selma Hekim, Monika Janulevičiūtė, Karen Kipphoff, Ashley McNaughton, Valentina Medda, Susan Merrick, Branko Milisković, Persefoni Myrtsou, Roberta Weissman Nagy, Tanja Ostojić, Sigrid Pawelke, Vanessa Ponte, Darija S. Radaković, Rhea Ramjohn, Bahar Seki, Sabbi Senior, Alejandra Robles Sosa, Evdoxia Stafylaraki, Tan Tan, Mare Tralla, Tanya Ury, Katja Vaghi, Bojana Videkanić, Anastasio William, Hyla Willis, Jiachen Xu, Arzu Yayıntaş, Gülhatun Yıldırım, Gizem Yılmaz aka Epifani, and Suzy van Zehlendorf, among others.

Depo Istanbul presents Mis(s)placed Women? by Tanja Ostojić, an exhibition that reflects upon a collaborative art project initiated by the artist in 2009. Consisting of performances, workshops, and an online platform, Mis(s)placed Women? includes contributions by over 170 individuals from six continents—individuals who largely identify as women from diverse backgrounds.

The project’s participants embody and enact some of everyday life’s activities that thematise displacement, and deal with issues of migration, gender equality, climate change, feminism, queerness, gentrification, inclusion, accessibility, power relations, and vulnerability, particularly as it relates to female and transgender bodies. All these issues have figured prominently in the past three decades of Ostojić’s art practice. While investigating privilege by distinguishing between working mobility, forced or desired migration, and how arbitrary laws apply to moving bodies, Mis(s)placed Women? also explores diverse public spaces and the invisibility of certain groups within them, using feminist emancipatory methodologies and artistic and community-building practices.

From the rich project archive, some of the most relevant contributions were selected by Arzu Yayıntaş and Tanja Ostojić to be displayed at Depo, as a two-floor multimedia installation consisting of photos, videos, and drawings of performances, along with signs, textile works, artefacts, performance scores, stories, and maps collected globally in the thirteen years of the project’s development. A part of the exhibition space has been arranged as a gathering place that invites the visitor to be an explorer and participant instead of being only a viewer.

A sixty-eight minute documentary will also be on display at Depo, which follows the collective and individual performances and reflections of the participants in the “Mis(s)placed Women?” workshop, which was realised (in collaboration with Performistanbul and Cultural Academy Tarabya) over four days in Istanbul during September 2021. The workshop uses the principles of Art as Social Practice that both explores a variety of public spaces and the possibilities for temporary interventions within them, and empowers participants via a Master-class-like block seminar, a laboratory outside of an official educational institution. The Istanbul itinerary of the project was marked by massive police presence, the pressure and distress of the pandemic, and an overall positive and appreciative reaction from people on the street. The participants were amazingly supportive of each other, highly motivated to engage in the collaborative work and to grapple with issues of displacement, feminism, oppression, and queerness in public city spaces.

Tanja Ostojić (*1972) is a renowned Berlin-based, Yugoslavian-born performance and interdisciplinary artist who also works in the fields of research and education. She is internationally known as a pioneer of institutional gender critique and socially and politically engaged feminist art in the public space, especially related to migration and gender issues. Her artworks have been analysed and included in numerous books, journals and anthologies. The British Guardian recently named Ostojić one of the 25 best artists of the 21st century for her project Looking for a Husband with EU Passport (2000-05). Tanja Ostojić was a resident at the Tarabya Cultural Academy from June to September 2021.

As part of the exhibition, a public programme consisting of live discussions, performances, and an international community gathering of Mis(s)placed Women? participants will take place September 20-22, 2022 at Depo and across the city of Istanbul. Detailed information about the public programme can be accessed through Depo’s website and newsletter.

Live events calendar:

  • Tuesday, September 20, 5 pm – Guided tour with Tanja Ostojić and Arzu Yayıntaş (in English and Turkish)
  • Tuesday, September 20, 6:30 pm – Artist talks and Q&A with Tanja Ostojić, Arzu Yayıntaş, Gaby Bila-Gunther aka LADY GABY, Dagmara Bilon, Selma Hekim, Kathryn Fischer aka Mad Kate, Susan Merrick, Vanessa Ponte, Hieu Hanh Hoang Tran aka Hany Tea, Gülhatun Yıldırım and Gizem Yılmaz (in English)
  • Wednesday, September 21, 5-7 pm – Public performances at Depo
  • Thursday, September 22, 11 am-4 pm – Public performances across the city

Live events with the participation of: Gaby Bila-Gunther aka LADY GABY, Dagmara Bilon, Nazlı Durak, Selma Hekim, Kathryn Fischer aka Mad Kate, Susan Merrick, Tanja Ostojić, Vanessa Ponte, Hieu Hanh Hoang Tran, Arzu Yayıntaş, Gülhatun Yıldırım and Gizem Yılmaz, among others.

For further information please visit:

Mis(s)placed Women? project blog

Misplaced Women? video channel

Image credit: “Mis(s)placed Women?” workshop, Istanbul, a collective performance in a tea house, Mis Street (2021), with the participation of: Arzu Yayıntaş, Bahar Seki, Gülhatun Yıldırım, Gizem Yılmaz, Nazlı Durak, Persefoni Myrtsou, Vanessa Ponte, Sabbi Senior, Selma Hekim and Tanja Ostojić. Photo: K. Kaygusuz. Copyright: Tanja Ostojić.

Realised with the support of:

ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
Alumni-Fonds of the Tarabya Cultural Academy
FfAI – Foundation for Arts Initiatives
Mis(s)placed Women? Community
Performistanbul
Stiftung Kunstfonds
NEUSTART KULTUR

 

Details

Start:
15/09/2022 @ 18:00
End:
28/10/2022 @ 18:00
Event Category: