MAK Opening: Searching For A Wonder

Contemporary Art from Istanbul in Vienna

The recently opened MAK exhibition SIGNS TAKEN IN WONDER (until April 21, 2013) with 33 artists is the first larger and comprehensive overview about Turkish art in Vienna. The New Contemporary visited the opening on January 22.

Vita Zaman, artistic director of VIENNAFAIR, Simon Rees, MAK curator of the exhibition, and the artists Ahmet Öğüt, Benjamin Hirte, and Mladen Bizumic spoke about the Turkish contemporary art scene. Note: the “white curtain” you see in the video is the installation “Re-illumination” by artist Cevdet Erek, winner of the 2012 Nam June Paik Award. Enjoy the video!

SIGNS TAKEN IN WONDER surveys the work of 33 international contemporary artists, born between the 1920s and the 1980s, whose artwork engages with aspects of the culture, history, and daily life of Istanbul.

Excerpt from the press text: “The exhibition intends to produce narratives of smallness in our era of bigness and globalization, presenting a collection of small worlds and little wonders.”

Participating Artists
Hamra Abbas / Murat Akagündüz / Yeşim Akdeniz / Eylem Aladoğan / Meriç Algün Ringborg / Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin / Halil Altindere / CANAN / Asli Çavuşoğlu / Cengiz Çekil / Banu Çennetoğlu / Mutlu Çerkez / Antonio Cosentino / Canan Dagdelen / Lukas Duwenhögger / Erdem Ergaz / Cevdet Erek / Murat Gök / Nilbar Güreş / Sibel Horada / Emre Hüner / Aki Nagasaka / Olaf Nicolai / Marcel Odenbach / Füsun Onur / Ahmet Öğüt / Mario Rizzi / Nasra Şimmes / Erdem Taşdelen / Cengiz Tekin / Güneş Terkol / İrem Tok / Uygur Yılmaz

Curators Simon Rees, MAK, and Bärbel Vischer, Curator MAK Contemporary Art Collection

Catalog SIGNS TAKEN IN WONDER: Searching for Contemporary Art about Istanbul, edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Simon Rees and Bärbel Vischer, texts by Vasif Kortun, Mario Levi, Markus Neuwirth, Bige Örer, Nikos Papastergiadis, Simon Rees, Gerhard Roiss, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein and Bärbel Vischer, German/English, c. 192 pages, MAK Vienna / Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2013. Available at the MAK Design Shop

Guided Tours

Sat, Sun 3:00 pm
(held in German)

Continuous information service and short tours
Sat, 1:00–3:00 pm

Special guided tours upon advance booking: Gabriele Fabiankowitsch, Head of MAK Educational Program and Guided Tours
T +43 1 711 36 298, education@MAK.at

Artist’s Talk

Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 3:00 pm
Halil Altındere, Canan Dagdelen, Cevdet Erek, Emre Hüner, Aki Nagasaka (Moderation Bärbel Vischer, held in German and English)