Halil Altındere - Space Refugee

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:00

On view
15 Sep-6 Nov 2016

Halil Altındere - Space Refugee

For Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Halil Altındere developed the Space Refugee Project that with ironic distance suggests outer space as the ideal place for refugees in the face of European fears of foreign domination.

One of the central components of the exhibition is a film about the former Syrian cosmonaut Muhammad Ahmed Faris, who flew with the Soviet space ship Sojuz TM-3 in 1987 for a seven-day stay to the space station Mir. Today, the former hero of the Soviet Union and supporter of the democratic opposition to Assad lives as a refugee in Istanbul. In his works, Altındere criticizes the military apparatus and government policy as well as patriarchal and nationalist structures within Turkey. Migration, identity, gender, and questions of the influence of Western contemporary art currents on Turkish art today shape his work.
A project of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes in the framework of Die Ästhetik des Widerstands – Peter Weiss 100, a festival at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin.