zeyno pekünlü

The Text Book For Knowledge of Life

2011-12-13T03:15:00.000-08:00

The Text Book for Knowledge of Life

Color Video, 6 min, 2011
Abuse Exibition, Sanatorium, İstanbul

The video “The Text Book for Knowledge of Life” is a work focusing on the official history thought in the primary schools. The footage of the video is from a primary school in Izmir, taken through out the day. The voice over of the video is a collage text formed by the sentences taken from the 7th, 8th, 9th grade school books of Turkish Ministry of Education. Taken out from their context, the audience can observe the weirdness and uncleanness of these sentences while watching the displaced movements of the kids shot in a “peeping Tom” manner.

Extracts from the text book sentences: Oh people! Listen to me, I cannot address you from this position again. Young brains should be developed with the national education and protected from being filled with stupefying and imaginary excessiveness… In our opinion, every view should be respected. However, people who oppose should be reasonable. Otherwise, the truth will be expressed in a convenient way. But, perhaps, some heads will be chopped off. Our time is nothing but an economical period.
He got sick after this journey. One night, a heavenly light landed from the sky on a tree over there. Then the trunk of the tree got swollen, the heavenly light was on that swell for nine months and ten days. The Chinese light a fire around the stone to take it away; when it heated up, they poured vinegar on it. All the birds and animals in the homeland cried for the stone in their own language. Few hundred dogs were impatiently waiting on the meadow.

Hairy Tale

2011-12-13T03:06:00.000-08:00

Hairy Tail
Photograpy and Photo Albums, 2011
As part of the Re-Locate Project organized by Apartment Project
http://re-locate.blogspot.com/

The theoretical framework of the Re- Locate project is based on the population exchange between Anatolia and the Balkans and it focuses on the flexibility of the borders, cultural similarities, controversies, the lack of communication between cultures, as well as various methods of developing new communication models. In addition, the project aims at establishing a new network between artists, curators, writers and institutions by making the shared history in the selected places its most important guide. This network also intends to form a dialogue between peripheral places, small-scale cultural centers, and artists.

Re- Locate Project proposes an experimental workshop practice that is based on mobility and translocation. The suggested mobility tries to encompass the physical transitivity of the cities and borders, as well as the flexibility of historical, identitarian, and ideological borders.

The “Hairy Tale” project is based on two different but intertwining investigations. The first pillar of the project is a visual investigation about the beauty conception of women, the diverse approaches about the familiar commitment and the creation of false memories. The other pillar is a verbal documentation about the common history of Turkey and Balkan nations and the reflection of this history on the cultural perceptions of people today.

Almost in all cultures and socio-economic classes in the European geography, the preparation of the bride for the wedding, includes a visit to the hairdresser’s for a special bridal hair and a bridal make-up. This ceremony continues with a visit to a professional photography studio to take a picture of the bride and the groom whom are supposedly in their best “look”. With the over made hair and make up and with the help of re-touched photos this “precious moment” freezes forever.

The first objective of the project is to experiment this beauty process and to examine the “re-touched” results of the wedding pictures in different countries or cultures, to investigate the common points or differences and to make a visual collection of false memories.
The second objective of the project consists of documentation of the conversations in the Hairdresser’s. These conversations focuses on the common culture or differences of Turkey and Balkan countries, marrigage, beauty, commitment etc.

The project realized according to a script to facilitate the conversations. The artist herself acts as the Turkish bride getting married to a local. This script helps to keep the talk focused on the countries, nation’s stereotypes, national histories, being a foreigner, the marriage of the different cultures etc.
On the other hand the bride gives full permission to the hairdresser’s to make her beautiful and to fit in the countries bride aesthetics. She does not make any desicions about the hair or the make up. After the session in the Hairdresser’s, the bride goes to the photography studio to pose for series of bridal photos. Also in this part all the aesthetic decisions will be left to the photographer’s taste.

work in process (Re-Locate)

2011-07-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

Re-Locate

re-locate.blogspot.com

http://www.apartmentproject.com/

Re-Locate aims to address the historical fact of compulsory population exchanges in the Balkan region, which took place between two world wars, changing borders and possibilities to create newer bonds through artistic dialogue. The shared history within the regions; Plovdiv-Bulgaria, Athens-Greece, Skopje-Macedonia and Prishtina-Kosovo, provides a basis to establish a mutual platform to research both about common history and develop a cultural understanding on various levels.

Participants:

Alban Muja,Mary Zyguri,Gjorgje Jovanovic, Raycho Stanev, Mehmet Dere, Suat Öğüt, Zeyno Pekünlü, Ilgın Seymen, Gökçe Süvari, Ha Za Vu Zu

doublethink-2

2009-01-09T03:20:00.001-08:00

Doublethink-2
Video and Sound Installation, 4min.

Treballs Forçats, Canuda- Sala d'Art Jove, Barcelona

Exibition Format: sound installation along a tight, curvy and dark hall, video installation in a dark and small cabin at the end of the hall.
The second piece of the Doublethink project is formed by 10 youtube videos in which the pre-school kids are singing the national anthem memorized by heart. These videos are only a sample of what was uploaded by the proud parents and teachers.
While groping in the dark hall, the audiance will hear the sound of the kids singing the anthem in a pretentious, almost hysterical and overexaggerated way. When at last the room at the end of the hall is reached, the overacted gestures of the kids, their difficulties in memorizing, their artificial tears can be observed in the video, this time in total silence.

doublethink-1

2009-01-08T12:11:00.001-08:00

“Doublethink 1”

Video Instalation 4 min. 43 sec.

Contextos Intermédios, Tecla Sala, Barcelona

Biennal de Valls, Barcelona

Loop 2009, Barcelon

All the nations that were founded late 19th century or early 20th century are based on their national symbols, heroic stories, made-up mythologies and independence war heroes to create and strengthen the consciousnes of being a state and to connect the citizens horizontally with the bounds of the brotherhood. In the case of Turkish Republic, one of the most important national symbols is the national anthem, “Istiklal Marsi”

It is formed of 41 lines and 256 words and any Turkish citizen is obliged to know it word by word beginning from early childhood. Is it possible to think of this hymn (which all the students in all the schools sing every monday morning and ever friday evening until reaching the university years) in a different way?

The doublethink project consists of two video installations. To form the first one, all the words of the anthem were put in alfabetical order. This coincidential method of creating a new, almost dadaist poem, sometimes ended up creating new meanings, and sometimes totaly absurd ones. Afterwards, the video has been created by the first 256 images which google images finds searching for the turkish anthem “istiklal marsi” . Each image lasts on the screen during the reading of the words that forms the new poem. The overrepetition of the words such as patria, blood, nation, citizen, martyrs, as well as the repetition of the images of national ceremonies, flag, the school kids etc. can be observed in the video. The aim of this randomly made video is to invite the audiance to think about the fragile theme of being a nation, to forget about its sacred meanings and to trivialize it.

The name of the piece is inspired from the famous novel of George Orwell, 1984:

And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed--if all records told the same tale--then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'.

the game

2009-01-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Being an Artist From the Periphery Game-online version

Sala d'Art Jove, Barcelona, 2009

Being an Artist From the Periphery Game

Casa Elizalde, Barcelona 2008
Museu Maritim, Barcelona 2008

To create a relational space for exchange, circulation, exhibition and diffusion is the claim of today’s art. Compared to the recent past, it looks like the circulation of the information is much fluid, not only because there is a chance to see the works of various international artists but also since

artists from the periphery now have the chance to integrate to the market. Earlier, the “art of others” was seen illegitimate and their passports were always asked for. But at the same time, the art of “others” is valued by their emphasis on the issue of being the other and is expected to satisfy the expectations of the postmodernist neo-exotism. Is it possible to create an art that could be free from self-orientalism but still talk about its origins? Is it also possible to forget about the “art of others” and create “another art”, getting rid of the major aesthetics that have been taught for centuries?

The game is already made as a board game and currently the web version is being prepared with the project support of the Sala d’art Jove and the Autonomous Government of Catalonia. Beginning from the “start”, the player has to decide between two-optioned questions and follow the path of his/her decisions. These paths reflect different situations and decisions of the artistic ambit, and drag the player to various ends.

The game is a strategy game and there is no place for luck apart from being born in a middle/lower class family or gender. Apart from these, the experience of the “being an artist game” only depends on the judgments of the player. It also gives the opportunity to change identities and try different decision paths.

From a distance, the game looks like a colourful, bright, different and joyful object but the interaction with the game changes it to a violent, difficult experience of complex, curved decisions.

Yo Soy No Soy

2009-01-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yo Soy No Soy

Collective project of “Soyun”

Participating artists: Brooke Borg, Cecilia Lerma, Karin de Almeida Frutig, Laura Gamboa, Mahdie Motamedi, Silvia Rodríguez, Zeyno Pekunlu.

Soyun is a group of artists from different nationalities and disciplines such as fine arts, design, scenic arts, art history and visual communication that live and produce in Barcelona.

The Video “I am I am not” is made with stop motion technique in which every artist of the collective appears like paperdolls with a neutral underwear. A hand that represents the cliché ideas about their national identities appears and picks one of them, then pops up an option menu of stereotypical dresses and objects of their countries: Brazilian-a carnival costume, Mexican- a mariachi costume, American- obese, Persian- burka, Turkish- belly dancer and Venezuelan- Miss Beauty. During the video, the hand keeps pasting the stereotypical dresses and objects on the dolls but every time an alarm is heard and the dolls protest.

yenisehirmektupculari

2009-01-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

yenisehirmektupculari.blogspot.com

Yenisehirmektupculari
Torre Muntadas, El Prat de Llobregat, 2008

Collective Project with Aylin Kuryel and Bob Pannebakker

Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire a new genre of literature appeared: Şehir Mektupçuları, meaning people writing letters to -or about- the city, City Lettrists. This genre consisted of writings about the city, its habits and characteristics, everyday life in the streets and moralistic behavioural rules to follow. It emerged at the same time as the Europeanization started to be a significant concern in the society and the influence of European culture became a more active cultural dynamic. Şehir Mektupçuları have written about urban life and culture especially in Istanbul, mostly comparing it to their beloved European cities. The general climate of their writings was based on the idea that Istanbul is still in a slow development process whereas European cities have already moved along in the path of modernization. While everything was ordered in European cities, in Istanbul it was very likely that your eye will get hurt by the umbrella of an irresponsible person or your shoes will become muddy while walking on premodern roads at an ordinary rainy day. This genre disappeared in 70’s.

In this international art project, we are collecting signs of urban culture and existing codes in public space, by making thematic photo series of daily life details ranging from street art, wall writings, lost shoes, street poles, nationalist items and icons in public space, empty houses, stickers of bug extermination companies and so on. Next to this, we collect sound fragments from different districts, create alternative visual and auditory city maps, write provocative letters to authorities and make interactive street walks and performances.

The first work of “Yenisehirmektupculari” was an international project between Amsterdam and Istanbul. The experiences of the first project helped to develop the second one with the project support of the Art Centre La Capsa and the Municipality of El Prat and to extend it between El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona) and Istanbul.

The project consists of four different ways of manipulating and experimenting the cities: The first one includes thematic photographs of daily urban life details to create different portraits of the cities apart from the stereotypical, cliché and touristic ones. These details were exposed as thematic pairs of repetitive phenomena from both cities. Images are either communicating thematically or creating conflicts between them. The second part of the project is to capture the most typical sounds of the cities to create a video composed of still images. In the interactive part of the exhibition, the audience can send postcards designed by the group to the randomly selected citizens. And last, “Yenisehirmektupculari” does interventions placing the most conspicuous images from one city to another in order to achive the “Istanbulization” of “El Prat and El Pratization of Istanbul or Istanbulization of Amsterdam and Amsterdamization of Istanbul.

postcard example from el prat de llobregat

El Pratization of Istanbul

Would it be possible in Istanbul to use the languages of minorities in every ambit? “We want to see the movies in our language” in Kurdish.

Istanbulization of El Prat

Imagine that from every corner fascist slogans are calling you to be a perfect citizen: How content for someone who says I am Catalan .

flaneur

2009-01-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

Flaneur

Aksanat, Istanbul

Flaneur is a three-dimensional game in which the possibilities of every day life in Istanbul can be followed step by step. This game is an adaptation of board games played with dice to an urban concept. It follows the path that a city dweller might have to take from early in the morning until late at night and takes him/her through all the surprises, tedious direct interactions, and the monotony of the city, as well as peculiar situations that a person might have to deal with.

CV

2009-01-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

ZEYNO PEKÜNLÜ

Contact Information

E-mail: zeynopekunlu@yahoo.com

Telephone: +90 533 541 74 51

Education

1980 Born in Izmir, Turkey

1998-2002 BA in Painting Program at Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Academy

2002-2004 MA in Painting at Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Academy

2004-2007 Teaching assistant in Department of Plastic Arts in Yeditepe University, Istanbul

2007-2009 Masters in Artistic Production and Research, University of Barcelona, Barcelona
2004-2010 PhD in Painting at Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Academy
2011 Lecturer in Kultur University, Istanbul

Exhibitions and Projects

2011 “The Text Book for Knowledge of Life” (video produced with Raşel Meseri), Abuse, Sanatorium, İstanbul

2011 “Hairy Tail”, As part of the Re-Locate Project organized by Apartment Project, Rumeli Han, İstanbul

2011 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), Festoria Film Festival, Setubal, Portugal

2011 “Re-thinking the national symbols”, ASCA International Workshop “Practicing Theory” , University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam

2011 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), IAF İstanbul Animation Festival, İstanbul

2011“Doublethink-2”, “Where Fire Has Struck”, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 20th Aniversary Exibition, Depo, İstanbul

2011 “Doublethink-2”, If İstanbul Film Festival “It’s for your own good” compilation, İstanbul

2010 “Doublethink-1”, Sanatorium, Istanbul

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), 6^th Istanbul Animation Festival, Istanbul

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), 16^th London Turkish Film Festival, London

2010 "Doublethink-2",Treballs Forçats, Canuda- Sala d'Art Jove, Barcelona

2010 "Doublethink-1",Contextos Intermédios, Tecla Sala, Barcelona

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), 63th Cannes Film Festival, Turkish Short Movies Selection 2009, Cannes

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), Amsterdam School For Cultural Analysis International Workshop Articulations: Film Program, Amsterdam

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), 60th Berlin Film Festival, Turkish Short Movies Selection 2009, Berlin

2010 “Aysegul in Rebellion” (short movie produced with Aylin Kuryel), If Istanbul Film Festival, Istanbul

2009 La Trama Celeste, “Being an Artist from the periphery game”, Sala d'Art Jove, Barcelona
2009 "Doublethink-1",Biennal de Valls, Barcelona

2009 "Doublethink-1", Loop 2009, Barcelona
2009 "This is not a Medical Center", Carlos Garaicoa Open Studio 3.0, Madrid

2008 “Being an Artist from the periphery game”, Selected Artist 2009, Sala de Arte Jove, Barcelona

2008 “Yenisehirmektupculari”, Selected Artist 2008 (Aylin Kuryel, Bob Pannebaker, Zeyno Pekünlü) La Capsa, Torre Muntadas, El Prat de Llobregat

2008 “Being an Artist from the periphery game”, 4ª Mostra d’Art de Dones FEM ART 08, Casa Elizalde, Barcelona

2008 “Yo Soy No Soy”, (Brooke Borg, Cecilia Lerma, Karin de Almeida Frutig, Laura Gamboa, Mahdie Motamedi, Silvia Rodríguez, Zeyno Pekünlü) 4ª Mostra d’Art de Dones FEM ART 08, Casa Elizalde, Barcelona

2008 “La Fàbrica Transparete”, Centre de Creació i Pensament Contemporani de Mataró

2008 “Fill in the Blanks” , (Aylin Kuryel, Zeyno Pekunlu) 19th Ankara Film Festival, Ankara

2006 “Gra-Plast”, BKM, Istanbul

2005 “Searching the Spirit of Space”, Istanbul Design Week, Galata Bridge, Istanbul

2005 “66th State Exhibition on Painting and Sculptures”, Museum of Painting and Sculpture, Ankara

2005 “City: Practice and Project”, Istanbul Modern Arts Gallery, Istanbul

2005 “Thieving City”, Aksanat Art Gallery, Istanbul

2005 “Painting Exhibition of University Members Association”, Tophane-i Amire, Istanbul

2004 “65th State Exhibition on Painting and Sculptures”, Museum of Painting and Sculpture,Ankara

2004 “Holes in the Mirror”, Siemens Art Gallery, Istanbul

2003 “Belvü Project”, (Ceren Oykut, Ari Alpert, Zeyno Pekünlü), Galatasaray, Istanbul

2003 “Extreme Exteriors”, Gallery X, Istanbul

2002 “International ExLibris Exhibition”, Istanbul Archaeology Museum

2001 “Dükkan Dövmeciyan Project”, (Ceren Oykut, Zeyno Pekunlu, Guclu Oztekin) Anabala Han, Istanbul

2000 “Apartment Project”, Gümüşsuyu, Istanbul

Awards and scholarships
2009 Guasch-Coranty Award, Biennal de Valls, Barcelona
2009 Selected Artist 2008 (as part of the collective Yenisehirmektupculari) Idensitat 5, Barcelona

2008 Selected Artist 2009, Sala de Arte Jove, Barcelona

2008 Selected Artist 2008 (as part of the collective Yenisehirmektupculari) La Capsa, Torre Muntadas, El Prat de Llobregat