Context

What remains?
Cevdet Erek 

Video

Please note that this video is available in English.

In his lecture, the artist presents his reappraisal of the form, the historically attributed function and the ongoing reception of the Pergamon Altar that he performed through his work Bergama Stereo (2019) and its variation Bergama Stereotip (2020).

The work, an architectural installation with sound and a performance program, refers to the altar and its famous Gigantomachy frieze which was originally located in what is now İzmir, Turkey, the historical Bergama. The original elements were transported to Berlin at the end of the 19th century and a reconstruction designed specific to the new Pergamon museum was produced. Bergama Stereo was exhibited in two different locations in Germany; first at Bochum as part of Ruhrtriennale and at Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of Contemporary Art (Berlin, 2019). Afterwards it was reinvented in a new form and reconstructed as Bergama Stereotip in Arter (Istanbul, 2020), thus addressing further ideas such as originality, remake and return.

Cevdet Erek (*1974 Instanbul, lives in Istanbul) studied architecture at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul and Sound Engineering & Design at the Center for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) of Istanbul Technical University, ITU. From 2005 – 2006 he was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 2011, Erek received his doctorate in Music from the ITU MIAM. In 2012, he received the Nam June Paik — International Media Award of the Arts Award of Kunststiftung North Rhine-Westphalia. He currently teaches at ITU TMDK and ITU MIAM.

Cevdet Erek has presented his installations internationally in numerous solo and group shows: in 2017 he represented Turkey at the 57th Venice Biennale with his work ÇIN. In 2012, at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, he showed the installation Room of Rhythms, a work that he later realized in site-specific versions in altered form at MAXXI, Rome (2014), the Istanbul Biennial (2015), and the Sydney Biennale (2016). Erek was represented with solo exhibitions at venues including Chicago Art Institute (chiçiçiçichiciçi, 2019); M HKA, Antwerp (AAAAA, 2018); MUAC, Mexico City (A Long Distance Relation, 2017); Spike Island, Bristol (Alt Üst, 2014); and Kunsthalle Basel (week, 2012).

More contributions

Diedrich Diederichsen
Vortrag 

Video

On the basis of his contribution to the publication, conceived against the backdrop of Poledna’s film produced in Los Angeles in the summer of 2024 especially for the exhibition at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Diederichsen will discuss and present Mathias Poledna’s artistic career with references to music and art history as well as pop culture.

Diedrich Diederichsen

Karel Císař
Lecture 

Video

In this lecture, Císař will explore Mathias Poledna’s career and artistic practice against the backdrop of the current exhibition, which can also be understood as a kind of retrospective. 

Karel Císař – Lecture

Mathias Poledna
Exhibition Tour 

Slide show

Mathias Poledna has created a complex, multi-layered body of work in which films, expansive installations and architectural interventions are in constant dialog with each other, where independent series of works, found objects and ephemeral materials all condense to form a singular artistic language. Central to his practice are questions of modernity, cultural memory and the visual imaginary in art and popular culture.

Ausstellungsrundgang Mathias Poledna

STAGES
Jakob Kolb aka On Bells

Video

The STAGES format is as radical as it is simple. HALLE FÜRKUNST Steiermark offers a platform for artists from the immediate vicinity for the duration of an evening. The exhibition hall is intended to… 

Stages Jakob Kolb

Performance Total Romance: Partial Repair
Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell with vocalist, performer and artist Rupert Enticknap and performer and pole dancer Yann Slattery 

Video

The performance Total Romance: Partial Repair is the centerpiece of Isabel Lewis and Dirk Bell’s joint exhibition Ever/​Repair at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, and is performed by four performers. In… 

Performance Total Romance: Partial Repair Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell with vocalist, performer and artist Rupert Enticknap and performer and pole dancer Yann Slattery