Gülsün Karamustafa
Memory of a Square
2005, Video (1-channel version), 17 min
About the work
Gülsün Karamustafa’s Memory of a Square (2005), juxtaposes scenes of family life not linked to any place or time with a collage of 50 years of documentary footage of Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square. The documentary sequences trace the history of Taksim Square from 1930 to 1980. They allude to harrowing incidents such as the September 1955 pogrom, when organised mobs attacked the minority Greek community; the military coup of May 1960; ‘Bloody Sunday’ in February 1969, when protestors were attacked by right-wing thugs; and 1 May 1977, when hundreds were killed or injured after gunmen opened fire on the crowds celebrating May Day. This highly charged site has played a crucial role in political and cultural change throughout the history of the Turkish Republic and continues to does so long after this work was made. From the annual May Day protests to the infamous Gesi Park protests of 2013, Taksim Square is a physical space pivotal to the history of resistance in contemporary Turkey. In the context of this exhibition, the duality juxtaposing scenes of enclosed domesticity with the most iconic point of resistance in modern day Turkey, can’t help but bring to mind our current situation of recurring lockdowns in parallel to growing global unrest.
Artist Stetement
Memory of a Square was done for the exhibition Center of Gravity curated at Istanbul Modern in 2005 by Rosa Martinez. Public squares write the history of collective memory. This film displays personal vs. collective history, crisscrossing between the two. While on one screen you see a family, on the other the images flowing are of an entirely documentary nature. The family is one single family for all times. They sit somewhere near the square. They hear the sounds, maybe they see something but we don't see what they are seeing. What we see are the documentary images flowing on the second screen. Maybe this is what we need to say anyway. Therefore, we have a dual feeling about the square. The film begins with the good times on the square; it begins with the erection of the statue in the 1930s, and even before that, the first balloon that was launched from the Taksim Square during the Ottoman era. Then we move on to the dramatic events of September 6-7, followed by May 27 when we now have a bayonet planted in the middle of the square. The images that follow are of the Bloody Sunday of 1970, which is followed by images we really would prefer not see from May 1, 1977. The film ends in the 1980s with the houses around Taksim square being expropriated and demolished so that the Tarlabaşı road could be built. This film was screened in many places around the world and it was actually received with empathy because there is the fact that this square – at which such a family is looking– can change any day and can also be found anywhere in the world. In other words, if we replace this square by one from, say, Argentina, or China, or Greece, and we can keep the family but change the images of the square; it's a film that can be watched with the same feeling everywhere. The music is an original composition done for the film by Selim Atakan.
Bio
Gülsün Karamustafa was born in 1946 in Ankara, Turkey. She lives and works in Istanbul and Berlin, where she is recognized as one of the most important and pioneering Turkish contemporary artists. She received her MFA from the Istanbul Academy of Fine Art in 1969. Using personal and historical narratives, Karamustafa explores socio-political issues in modern Turkey, addressing themes including sexuality-gender, exile-ethnicity, and displacement-migration. Her work reflects on the traumatic effects of nation building, as it responds to the processes of modernization, political turbulence, and civil rights in a period that includes the military coups of 1960, 1971, and 1980. Dduring the 1970s Karamustafa was imprisoned by the Turkish military dictatorship. She was refused a passport for sixteen years until the mid-80s and, unlike other Turkish artists, could not emigrate or travel. This enforced isolation led her to an analysis of her own situation and context: the city of Istanbul, interior migration and nomadism within Turkey, and the ideological and psychological ramifications of identity.
Gülsün Karamustafa is one of the laureates of the 2014 Prince Claus Awards that are presented to individuals or organisations whose cultural actions have a positive impact on the development of their societies. Karamustafa’s solo exhibitions include: “Chronographia” at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2016-2017); “Swaddling the Baby”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna (2016) / Villa Romana, Florence (2015); “Mystic Transport” (a duo exhibition with Koen Thys), Centrale for Contemporary Art, and Argos Centre for Art and Media, Brussels (2015-2016); “An Ordinary Love”, Rampa, Istanbul (2014); “A Promised Exhibition”, SALT Ulus, Ankara (2014), SALT Beyoglu, SALT Galata, Istanbul (2013); “Mobile Stages”; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2008); “Bosphorus 1954”, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn (2008); “Memory of a Square / 2000-2005 Video Works by Gülsün Karamustafa”, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2006); “Black and White Visions”, Prometeo Gallery, Milan (2006); “PUBLIC/ PRIVATE”, Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg (2006); “Memory of a Square”, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2006); “Men Crying” presented by Museé d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris”, Galerie Immanence, Paris (2005); “Galata:Genoa (Scavere Finestrini)”, Alberto Peola Gallery, Torino (2004); “Mystic Transport, Trellis of My Mind”, Musée d’Art et Histoire Geneva, (1999), among others. Gülsün Karamustafa took part in numerous international biennales, including: the 31st Sao Paulo Biennial (2014); the 3rd and 10th Gwangju Biennials (2000, 2014); the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale (2013); the 1st Kiev Biennale (2012); Singapore Biennial (2011), the 3rd Guangzou Triennial (2008); the 11th Cairo Biennial (2008); “Contour the 2nd Video Art Biennale”, Mechelen (2005); the 1st Seville Biennial (2004); the 8th Havana Biennial (2003); the 3rd Cetinje Biennial (2003); and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th International Istanbul Biennials (1987, 1992, 1995).
Extended Bio on:
www.momentumworldwide.org/collection/gulsun-karamustafa