Article
Esra Ersen
Esra Ersen is a Turkish artist born in Ankara in 1970 and currently living and working in Istanbul. Central to her works are the themes of identity, migration and aspiration. Whether using film, photography, installation or situational activity, Ersen consistently explores the relationship between the individual and society, with an eye to how the various factors involved in this (such as ethnicity, education, and culture) can bind or divide communities.
A peripatetic character, Ersen has lived and exhibited in many different countries around the world (in particular, Sweden and Germany), with her modus operandi being to produce work in direct response to each location that then serves to explore aspects of her wider concerns. Naturally drawn to the marginalized and downtrodden, such a process of transience often brings Ersen into contact with the poor migrant communities that have provided the stimuli for many of her works.
A prime example of this is her video installation ‘If You Could Speak Swedish’ (2001): commissioned for Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, the piece features the migrant / asylum-seeker students of a Swedish language course individually reading a statement that they had written (about any subject of their choosing; sometimes political, sometimes personal) both in their native tongue (including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese and Russian) and in their hesitant and uncertain Swedish; the contrast between the two versions highlights the vulnerable position that the migrant finds themselves in during the first stages of integration, suddenly unable to communicate with or express themselves to the wider community (added to the effect on self-respect and, more practically, the limited prospects for employment that poor language skills bring). Based upon an understanding of how language fundamentally determines the structure of both personal and social identity, this piece shows how the individual gauges their sense of self through interaction with others, and just how fragile such a construct can be.
Paralleling these themes, Ersen’s social experiment ‘Parachutist in Third Floor, Birds in Laundry’ (2005) involved the residents of the “foreign quarter” of Holma painting their visions of the foreseeable future on the walls of their surrounding estate. Based upon research into the changing population structure of Sweden due to migration, the resulting work illustrates the paradigm shifts that occur with the assimilation of new communities: the romantic, nostalgia tinged paintings of the remaining Swedish families contrasting against the aspirations (and growing presence) of the newcomers vision.
Inevitably, Ersen’s Turkish heritage informs much of her art. Spanning two continents, Turkey is both the actual and symbolic meeting point between East and West, a factor that has created an ambiguous national identity. This theme is explored explicitly in her piece ‘Schlucht’ which, through reference to the urban development of Istanbul, reflects upon the diverse cultural elements that compose that city’s multifaceted personality. This historic significance can also be seen in the film ‘Hello where is it?’ (2000) which takes the crossing of the Bosporus bridge as its symbolically loaded motif.
One of the keenest examples of Turkey’s psycho-geographical influence upon Ersen can be seen in her piece ‘Brothers and Sisters’ (2003), which takes the plight of illegal African immigrants stranded in Turkey as a microcosm of her themes. Assuming the role of social anthropologist, Ersen spent six months working with such a group; suspended in limbo between Europe and Africa, unwanted by either, the film documents how these displaced people clung to one identity in search of another, only to assume a new, unintended identity through the common experience of their struggles, hopes and despairs.
Other works have included the video installation ‘In the Penalty Area’ (2001), which addresses the ambivalent relationship between Turkish migrants and their German hosts; and ‘Statement’ (2003), an interactive project with inmates of the Graz-Karlau prison in Austria (notably, the area around the prison is marked by the presence of its red-light district and immigrant population). The former piece demonstrates how migrant communities can find cultural strength through such levellers as sport (in this instance, Galatsaray’s winning of the 2000 UEFA cup), and perhaps also in a selective curation of their heritage, responsive to their new circumstances (how far they can / will assimilate). The latter work takes Ersen’s concern for the disenfranchised to a logical conclusion; by taking the uncensored statements of prisoners and presenting them upon the architecture of their confinement, she characteristically uses her art to give voice to those left inarticulate through displacement and alienation.
Esra Ersen lives and works in Istanbul. She is currently exhibiting at the Frankfurter kunstverein e.v. in Germany and has just completed a show at the National Museum of Modern Art in Romania. Furthermore, the OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst in Austria recently held a retrospective of her work produced from 1998 to 2005. She has also gained attention with work shown at ZKM Karlsruhe, Casino Luxembourg, Rooseum Malmö, Galerie für Zeitgenossische Kunst Leipzig and the 8th Biennale Istanbul.
A prime example of this is her video installation ‘If You Could Speak Swedish’ (2001): commissioned for Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, the piece features the migrant / asylum-seeker students of a Swedish language course individually reading a statement that they had written (about any subject of their choosing; sometimes political, sometimes personal) both in their native tongue (including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese and Russian) and in their hesitant and uncertain Swedish; the contrast between the two versions highlights the vulnerable position that the migrant finds themselves in during the first stages of integration, suddenly unable to communicate with or express themselves to the wider community (added to the effect on self-respect and, more practically, the limited prospects for employment that poor language skills bring). Based upon an understanding of how language fundamentally determines the structure of both personal and social identity, this piece shows how the individual gauges their sense of self through interaction with others, and just how fragile such a construct can be.
Paralleling these themes, Ersen’s social experiment ‘Parachutist in Third Floor, Birds in Laundry’ (2005) involved the residents of the “foreign quarter” of Holma painting their visions of the foreseeable future on the walls of their surrounding estate. Based upon research into the changing population structure of Sweden due to migration, the resulting work illustrates the paradigm shifts that occur with the assimilation of new communities: the romantic, nostalgia tinged paintings of the remaining Swedish families contrasting against the aspirations (and growing presence) of the newcomers vision.
Inevitably, Ersen’s Turkish heritage informs much of her art. Spanning two continents, Turkey is both the actual and symbolic meeting point between East and West, a factor that has created an ambiguous national identity. This theme is explored explicitly in her piece ‘Schlucht’ which, through reference to the urban development of Istanbul, reflects upon the diverse cultural elements that compose that city’s multifaceted personality. This historic significance can also be seen in the film ‘Hello where is it?’ (2000) which takes the crossing of the Bosporus bridge as its symbolically loaded motif.
One of the keenest examples of Turkey’s psycho-geographical influence upon Ersen can be seen in her piece ‘Brothers and Sisters’ (2003), which takes the plight of illegal African immigrants stranded in Turkey as a microcosm of her themes. Assuming the role of social anthropologist, Ersen spent six months working with such a group; suspended in limbo between Europe and Africa, unwanted by either, the film documents how these displaced people clung to one identity in search of another, only to assume a new, unintended identity through the common experience of their struggles, hopes and despairs.
Other works have included the video installation ‘In the Penalty Area’ (2001), which addresses the ambivalent relationship between Turkish migrants and their German hosts; and ‘Statement’ (2003), an interactive project with inmates of the Graz-Karlau prison in Austria (notably, the area around the prison is marked by the presence of its red-light district and immigrant population). The former piece demonstrates how migrant communities can find cultural strength through such levellers as sport (in this instance, Galatsaray’s winning of the 2000 UEFA cup), and perhaps also in a selective curation of their heritage, responsive to their new circumstances (how far they can / will assimilate). The latter work takes Ersen’s concern for the disenfranchised to a logical conclusion; by taking the uncensored statements of prisoners and presenting them upon the architecture of their confinement, she characteristically uses her art to give voice to those left inarticulate through displacement and alienation.
Esra Ersen lives and works in Istanbul. She is currently exhibiting at the Frankfurter kunstverein e.v. in Germany and has just completed a show at the National Museum of Modern Art in Romania. Furthermore, the OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst in Austria recently held a retrospective of her work produced from 1998 to 2005. She has also gained attention with work shown at ZKM Karlsruhe, Casino Luxembourg, Rooseum Malmö, Galerie für Zeitgenossische Kunst Leipzig and the 8th Biennale Istanbul.
Author: Cate Rickards
Bio
Born in Ankara 1970.
Lives and works in Istanbul.
1999/00 Ecole Beauxs-Arts de Nantes, Post-Diplom Program, Nantes, France
1992/95 Marmara University The Faculty of Fine Arts, Post Graduate, Istanbul, Turkey
1988/92 Marmara University The Faculty of Fine Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
Lives and works in Istanbul.
1999/00 Ecole Beauxs-Arts de Nantes, Post-Diplom Program, Nantes, France
1992/95 Marmara University The Faculty of Fine Arts, Post Graduate, Istanbul, Turkey
1988/92 Marmara University The Faculty of Fine Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
Works
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)
Established
2006
Liverpool Biennial , Liverpool (upcoming)
27th Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo (upcoming)
Cooling out, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Ireland, (upcoming)
Cooling out, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel, Switzerland (upcoming)
Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany
MRKS & SPNCR, Delfina Trust Gallery, London, England
It Is Hard To Touch The Real, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria
The Peninsula, Singapore History Museum, Singapore
2005
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA
euroPART. Public art project throughout Austria, Austria
Rundlederwelten, Martin Groupius Bau, Berlin, Germany
EindhovenIstanbul, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Pursuit of Happiness, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Moving..on…, NGBK, Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Sous les ponts, le long de la riviere…2, Casino Luxembourg, Luxemburg
2052 Malmo no Longer be Swedish, Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden
Normalization, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
A forest and a tree, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Yellow Bird Gallery, New York, USA
Other, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
Der Knochen der Zunge, Medienturm, Graz, Austria
Xenopolis, RathausGalerie, München, Germany
Hilchot Shchenim Chapter C, Israeli Digital Art Lab Holon, Israel
It´s Hard to Touch the Real, Yeans Göteborg, Sweden
2004
Coalesce, Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
Effort, Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastián, Spain
Minority Report: Challenging Intolerance in Contemporary Denmark, Aarhus,
Continental Breakfast, Belgrade Cultural Centre, Serbia and Montenegro
Re:Location Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg
Swedish Heart, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
(EA)Stories, K&S Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Borderline, kino arsenal, Berlin, Germany
Shake Society, Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg
Exciting Europe, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Trading Places, The Pump House Gallery, London, UK
Green Box, Trafo gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Along the Gates of the Urban, Galerie K & S, Berlin, Germany
Call me Istanbul, ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany
Arte Fierra, Bollogna, Italy
Revolution is Not What it Used to Be, S1 Artspace , Sheffield, UK
2003
Poetic Juctice, 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
The way of the ideas, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao, Spain
10th Biennial of Moving Images, The Centre for Contemporary Images Saint Gervais, Swiss
In the gorges of the Balkans, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Where? Here? , The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan
How Latitudes Become Forms, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Real Utopia, ,Graz Culture Capital of Europe, Graz, Austria
Totally Motivated, Kunstverein München, Münich, Germany
It Is Hard To Touch The Real, Kunstverein München, Münich, Germany
Here, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
How Latitudes Become Forms, Walker Art Center, Minnepolis, USA
2002
Manifesta 4, Europan Biennial of Contemporary art, Frankfurt, Germany
Pause, 4 th Kwangju Biennial, Kwangju, Korea
What? A tale in free images, Memling Museum, Burgge, Belgium
Animation:Video, Centre d´édition contemporaine,Genève, Swiss
In Search for Balkania, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria
City of Women, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Art and Documentary, TEMPO Documentary Festival, Stockholm, Sweden
On my way to Timbuktoo, ifa Galerie Berlin, Bonn, Germany
2001
Under the Sign of the City, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Becoming a Place, P4L Istanbul Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
Dare to be different, organized by Cultural Art Center Lind Art, Fier, Albanian
Standardrum, Randers Kunstmuseum, Randers, Denmark
2000
Divine Comedy, Galerie Urart, Istanbul, Turkey
Between Condition and Construction, ifu-open space, Hannover, Germany
Showview, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria
Activ-Reactiv, Lieu Unique, Nantes, France
MK2 projekt cafee, video program, Paris, France
International Boutique, Galery Lafeyett, Nantes, France
SansSousi, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
Spring Time, Nicolaj Contemporary Art Center, Cophenagen, Denmark
One night stand, Klemens Gasner & Tanja Grunert, New York, USA
1999
Mode of Art, Düsseldorf Kunstverein, Düsseldorf , Germany
Relation with an Other, Galellery Emsdetten, Emsdetten, Germany
Society and Communitiy, ACC Gallery,Weimar, Germany
1998
Art Hansa Special, Hansa Gymnasium, Köln, Germany
Interfaces, Paleantologisches Museum, Münster, Germany
Dialogues-art in scools, Real Schule Velen, Münsterland, Germany
1996
Dialogues/the lost idea of the oder of things, AKM, Istanbul, Turkey
Dialogues/the lost idea of the oder of things Kunstpalast im Ehrenhof, Düsseldorf
A Ding Table, BM Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
1995
Orient/ation, 4 th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
16th. Istanbul Exhibition, Paintig and Sculpture Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Borders and Beyond, TUYAP, Istanbul, Turkey
1994
15th Istanbul Exhibition, Paintig and Sculpture Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Hope and Responsibilitiy, Ship of City Lines, Istanbul, Turkey
1993
14th Istanbul Exhibition, Paintig and Sculpture Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)
Established
2006 Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
2005 The O.K Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria
2002 Bild Museet, Umea, Sweden
2001 ´If You Could Speak Swedisch´, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1999 Bettina, Susanne, Esra, Schloss Wiepersdorf, Brandenburg, Germany
1997 Macka Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul, Turkey
1995 ´Diologues´, Yerebatan Cisterne, BM Contemporary Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Merits
Selected Grants and Residencies:
2005-2006 Visiting Arts/Delfina International Fellowship Programme, London, UK
2004 Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg
Rooseum Center For Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden
2001 IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden
1999-2000 Ecole Beauxs-Arts de Nantes,Post-Diplom Program, Nantes, France
1999 Stiftung Kulturfonds, Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf, Brandenburg, Germany
1998 NRW-fondation, Künstlerdorf Schoppingen, Münsterland, Germany
ACC Gallery and Stadt Weimar, Weimar, Germany
2005-2006 Visiting Arts/Delfina International Fellowship Programme, London, UK
2004 Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg
Rooseum Center For Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden
2001 IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden
1999-2000 Ecole Beauxs-Arts de Nantes,Post-Diplom Program, Nantes, France
1999 Stiftung Kulturfonds, Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf, Brandenburg, Germany
1998 NRW-fondation, Künstlerdorf Schoppingen, Münsterland, Germany
ACC Gallery and Stadt Weimar, Weimar, Germany
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
