March 2024

Location

ARTIM PROJECT SPACE

ADDRESS: 

5 Kichik Gala str., Icheri Sheher, 

Baku, Azerbaijan, AZ1001

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OPENING HOURS:

Tuesday - Sunday: 12 pm > 8 pm


CONTACT:

+994 12 505 1414


E-MAIL:

artim@yarat.az

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ARTIM FLUX: DO NOT RUN! THIS IS ONLY A MIRAGE YOU SEE… GROUP EXHIBITION

30 Apr - 20 Aug 21

YARAT Contemporary Art Space is pleased to announce the second group showDo not run! This is only a mirage you see…” in the framework of ARTIM Flux with works by Agil Abdullayev, Nargiz Askerova, Kateryna Bortsova, Ruslan Guliyev, Adam Panczuk, Lena Skripkina, Elizaveta Zalieva


“Do not run! This is only a mirage you see...” brings together works by a group of artists examining different approaches to an elusive reality.


The exhibition’s core reference is connected to the allegory of the cave developed by the Greek philosopher Plato, in which a group of people are chained to the wall of a cave and can only see projections of the shadows of objects passing by in the light of the fire behind them. For “the prisoners of the shadows”, this version of reality is the only true and accurate representation of it. Much like in the symbolism of this story, where people are trapped in only one way of perception – seeing mirages of superficial truth and perceiving the shadows as their reality – the group show proposes a statement to see beyond: is the truth that we see as intangible and dark as shadows, or there is another layer to it?


The group show explores both individual and collective perceptions of the erratic nature of reality through the lenses of different approaches, narratives and reflections of the artists. They consider recent shifting in both global and local society, which triggered a “disorienting dilemma” on a collective level. 


The exhibition space represents a state of dreaminess and fantasy, which is also as elusive as reality itself, and aims to create a space where the line between illusion and real blurs. Are we aware and capable of acknowledging the blurry line between the perception of delusion and real, visible and invisible?  What if human perception is a shadow or a metaphor of a bad dream; where is a source of light in the shadows of this reality?

In the same manner, the artists attempt to shed a glimpse of light and challenge such themes as dreams, memory and illusions, shadow and light, truth and the perception of it, fear and hope, visible and hidden, cycles and movements, neglected narratives and superficiality.

The exhibition's title “Do not run!  This is only a mirage you see…”  is adapted from an excerpt of Nizami Ganjavi’s poetry and inspired by the phenomenon “Fata Morgana”, which is a form of mirage that rapidly changes its image, resembling a glitch in the horizon, and can be seen both on sea and land, often appearing as a magical castle.


“Allies wear a rainbow pin” is a two-part short film by Agil Abdullayev, examining queer allyship as a part of social responsibility and growing into a post-discriminative future. The film reimagines local post futurism within the dialogues of four friends, in relation to a post-class privileges-based future. The film incorporates 2 dialogues accompanied by characters introduction in poetic language, which emphasize the concept of privilege in the first part, and discrimination in the second part attempting to find a balance in the form of allyship, as well as refers to social and cultural codes of the local society.


In "Gaia", Nargiz Askerova's nanoart examples magnify small details of natural objects that we interact with on a daily basis but overlook in the fast-paced globalized world. The artist invites us to take a second look at the environment that surrounds us and see beyond the surface - the invisible and magical nano life. 


In her work “Self-propulsion”, which is a term meaning the change in an object under the influence of its inherent contradictions, factors and conditions, Kateryna Bortsova explores the concepts of shiftings/transformations. The map in her work depicts a continuous link between the past and the present through cyclical transformations.


Ruslan Guliyev’s “Untitled” sculpture series were inspired by the short story “White nights’’ by F. Dostoyevsky. The work is about unspoken, unseen, and even unthought, and thus hidden dreams of an illusionary world in the search for the meaning of life.


“Bright Night” photo installation by Adam Panczuk depicts the artist’s journey through the countries of the former Soviet Union and the people’s intimate dreams. In this journey, we hear people’s dreams that come to them at night. The idea was inspired by the experience of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, according to which several years before the outbreak of World War II, his patients mentioned their growing nightmares envisioning and feeling the terrible events through their reoccurring dreams. The artist is curious about hidden symbols in the subconscious of the inhabitants’ former Soviet countries. This is a story about fears, hopes, expectations, and reality filtered through the subconscious.


Lena Skripkina’s videomapping “Plato’s Caverefers directly to Plato’s allegory of the cave. The installation depicts three worlds representing a mythological scheme of submersion into the cave and creates a possibility to apprehend the reality through the metaphysics of collision with an object, a portrait of an illusion and the work of memory. “Curious Woodland” is another video installation by Lena Skripkina, brings up the Jungian theory of shadows and the motifs of Arthurian literature about the knights of King Arthur searching for the Holy Grail, creating a parallel between the two. According to the legend, the Holy Grail is a shapeshifting sacred object that provides happiness and eternity. In the video, the dark forest acts as a metaphor of the shadow side of the soul, emphasizing the idea that any sacred symbol is hidden in a very dark deep and scary space of shadow.


Path/Azure by Elizaveta Zalieva is an installation about duality; through dual visual images, the artist is presenting the fragility of life and the search for foundations, the illusion and the importance of direction, protection and play.


About ARTIM Flux

ARTIM Flux is a platform, which supports creative individuals with specific projects that challenge the concept of a static exhibition by exploring moments of change and transformation. The format aims open up the space for process-based experiments, becoming a living organism connecting and growing through creativity.


Opening: April 30, 2021
Address:
Icherisheher, Kichik Gala Street, 5


Free admission


Exhibition dates: 30 April – 20 August
Working hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 20:00
More information: www.yarat.az; +994125052424

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