| Description | Punk Orientalism artists: Aikaterini Gegisian, Ala Younis, Ali Cherri, Babi Badalov, Erbossyn Meldibekov, Ergin Cavusoglu, Farhad Ahrarnia, Inci Eviner, Mustafa Hulusi, Nazgol Ansarinia, Rokni Haerizadeh, Shahpour Pouyan , Slavs and Tatars, Taus Makhacheva, and Vyacheslav Akhunov
Punk Orientalism focuses on the theme of non-conformity as a tool for investigating contemporary art and critical enquiry on the spaces and places that identify with Central Asia and the Caucasus from a post-Soviet perspective. Rooted in the conceptual capacity of “punk” the exhibition centres on the contemporary theme of resistance and highlights the practices of artists who have questioned changing and divided societies from a variety of different historical and conceptual vantage points. Featuring a spectrum of recent artwork, projects, text based art (zines) and new media Punk Orientalism presents a forum for diverse artistic voices from a complex and multifaceted part of the globe, where artists have actively challenged draconian state and academic policies, mapped new territories and formed new artistic movements. Overall the exhibition aims to present overlooked models of artistic reality, which cross-circulate between different societal, cultural and political systems and provide alternative contexts from which globalism and other modernisms can be accessed from a non Eurocentric perspective. By adopting an ideas driven narrative Punk Orientalism offers proposals that solicit a redefinition of fixed geographical rubrics and instead offers a nuanced survey of recent artistic thinking.
Organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and curated by Sara Raza.
The MacKenzie Art Gallery is grateful for the support of South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, City of Regina, University of Regina, and Saskatchewan Arts Board. |
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