From tomorrow The Glasgow School of Art will showcase work by the Turkish artist, Can Altay, in an exhibition curated by Lesley Young. The Istanbul-based artist is presenting his project Ahali: a journal for setting a setting in a show that runs concurrently with Line of Sight, a group design exhibition. Can Altay - Ahali: a journal for setting a setting runs in the Reid Gallery at the GSA from 19 November – 16 December 2016.
Ahali: the Turkish word for a community based on being at a particular
location at a particular moment in time
Altay’s practice concerns itself with civic spaces, both physical and imagined. His works takes the form of platforms, situations, and settings that ask when the conditions for a community to exist might arise. Ahali: a journal for setting a setting, is a publishing project initiated by the artist in 2007 as a satellite part of his practice. Within it he acts as editor, host and discussant for a growing set of paper based works, statements and voices.
“This format has allowed Can Altay to acquire, accommodate and seek material from both established and less well-known contributors on topics like improvised architecture, systems of organisation and co-habitation, and public space, all of which underpin the artist’s wider practice,” says Lesley Young, exhibition curator and tutor on MLitt in Curatorial Practice (Contemporary Art), a joint GSA, University of Glasgow programme.
“When exhibited in a gallery context Ahali is presented on a bespoke structure, and the audience is invited to read contributions and compile their own edit of the material to take away.”
Contributors to Ahali include: Celine Condorelli, Paul O’Neill, public works, Bik van Der Pol and Heague Yang. Individual contributions to date number 38, with an edited anthology published by The Architectural Association in 2013.
Ends
For further information, images and interviews contact:
Lesley Booth
0779 941 4474
press@gsa.ac.uk
@GSofAMedia
Exhibition Listing
19 November - 16 December 2016
Reid Gallery, The Glasgow School of Art, 164 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6RF
Turkish artist, Can Altay, presents his project Ahali: a journal for setting a setting in an exhibition curated by Lesley Young
Entry free
www.gsa.ac.uk/events
Associated Event
Thursday 1December 2016: 7pm – 9pm
CCA - Centre for Contemporary Arts
350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD
A free public talk focusing by Can Altay focusing on his artistic practice and its relation to the city. Presented as part of CCAs ongoing Cities Programme
http://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/cities--can-altay
Notes for Editors
· Can Altay: Ahali: a journal for setting a settingis the third project selected following a GSA staff and student call out for proposals. It is organised in collaboration with MLitt Curatorial Practice (Contemporary Art)
· Can Altay (b. 1975, Ankara, Turkey) has had solo exhibitions at The Showroom, London (2010), Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2008), Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2006) and Spike Island, Bristol (2007). His work has been included in biennials in Istanbul (2003), Havana (2003), Gwangju (2008), Taipei (2010); and in museums and galleries such as the Walker Art Center (USA), VanAbbe Museum (Netherlands), ZKM (Germany), P.S.1 MoMA (USA) and Platform Garanti (Turkey). He is part of the new group exhibition We are the center, curated by Paul O’Neill at Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, New York State.
· Lesley Young (b. 1974, Edinburgh, UK) is a curator based in Glasgow. She established the curatorial agency The Salford Restoration Office with James N. Hutchinson to explore and critique the visual arts infrastructure of Manchester (2006–2010); within the project she curated exhibitions by Artur Żmijewski, Jeremy Deller and Dan Shipsides. She curated All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, with Jeremy Deller, forHayward Touring, London (2013–2014). She leads MLitt Curatorial Practice (Contemporary Art) for the University of Glasgow, a course run jointly with The Glasgow School of Art. Recently she has integrated teaching with artists Annette Krauss, Roger Hiorns, Christine Borland and Can Altay into the programme.