Can Altay (TR): INHABITATION: SETTINGS AND COLLECTIVITIES

Time: Wednesday 4 March 2015, 5 – 6 PM
Venue: Konstfack, Mandelgren (next to Svarta havet)
LM Ericssons väg 14, Stockholm. T-bana: Telefonplan
Lecture in English

‘PARK: bir ihtimal’, 2010. Istanbul. Photo: Laleper Aytek.

The second 2015 Organising Discourse Open Lecture looks at developing space and situations. Based on the idea of “Setting a setting” the Istanbul based artist Can Altay will present and discuss around different examples developed in various contexts, from the art space exhibitions and projects to social and urban interventions.

Inhabitation: Settings And Collectivities

A “setting” is a space or situation of gathering for ideas and discussions to take place and foster. “Setting a setting” involves the conception and actualization of spaces that instigate, host, and stage a certain production. This “production” usually involves collaboration: some form of working together that transforms the “work” of all the collaborators. The early settings that I had developed, reflected on performative and architectural means, primarily within spaces of art. Later settings – such as The Church Street Partners’ Gazette and PARK: bir ihtimal – began in the realm of art too, as exhibitions and collective projects, but ventured into direct social and urban intervention / contributions in a realm that involves less mediated, more confrontational, wider publics. It is a situation, or condition, that also shifts the centrality of the setting, since it is now located in a more severe, factual, and crowded network of things and operations. These settings ask for the emergence of a collectivity, in the city.

This lecture at Konstfack will introduce a number of settings that I was able to develop in various contexts, and share insight on ongoing projects, where I am trying to tackle questions of inhabitation and territoriality.

Can Altay is an artist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Bilgi University. He investigates the functions, meaning, organisation and reconfigurations of public space. His ‘settings’ provide critical reflection on urban phenomena and artistic activity. His work traverses sculpture, photography and installation, and is staged and manifested through the spaces, exhibitions and publications he produces.

Altay has had solo exhibitions at Arcade, London (2012), Casco, Utrecht (2011), The Showroom, London (2010), Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2008), Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2006) and Spike Island, Bristol (2007). His work has been included in Biennials of Istanbul, Havana, Busan, Gwangju, Marrakech, Taipei; and in museums and galleries such as the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), ZKM (Karlsruhe), Artists Space (New York), and SALT (Istanbul). His public projects include: Inner Space Station (NewYork, 2013); Distributed (London, 2012); The Church Street Partners’ Gazette (London, 2010 13) and PARK: bir ihtimal (Istanbul, 2010). Altay is the editor of Ahali: an anthology for setting a setting, 2013 published by Bedford Press, AA Publications, London. His work has been published in periodicals such as Frieze, AD (Architectural Design), Journal of Architectural Education, and Sanat Dunyamiz.

Altay holds a PhD in Art, Design and Architecture from Bilkent University, Ankara. He studied Critical Studies at the Malmö Art Academy and Lund University, and Interior Architecture and Environmental Design (BFA and MFA) at Bilkent University. He is currently Head of the Department of Industrial Product Design at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Download as PDF: Organising Discourse lecture 2

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