Autonomous Space Agency presents In this Way

In this way begins with selected works from Mardin-based artist Rojda Tugrul, which refer to Kurdish villages in eastern and southeastern Turkey that were forcibly evacuated as part of a government counter-insurgency campaign in the early 1990s. Do these houses have memories? Diyarbakir and New York-based artist and author Sener Ozmen narrates a game of jump rope between three young Anatolian girls. He calls them ‘women’ in the title of the work, reviving the contested theory that geography is destiny. Do women have childhood? Stockholm based artist Savas Boyraz’s careful and caring gaze witnesses the silent walk of a group of guerrilla fighters. His cinematographic language negotiates their sad, joyful and lonely moments with nature. Do these guerrillas have hope? Berlin-based filmmaker, writer and theorist Hito Steyerl presents a gripping story from a fictional space agency and three pilot drones on a hill north of Iraq where an old national observatory is located. Do we believe in the future? Through this film programme, we travel in between different landscapes that become abstract, narrative and fictional spaces of the unspeakable psycho-geographic realities of our time.

ASA is an Autonomous, Anonymous... Space Agency for inter-terrestrial space travel, inspired by the works of Takiyuddin Efendi, El Cezeri, Fahru’l-Nisa and Sex Evdirehmane Axtepi, among others. They hope to assist artistic practitioners of all kinds who are forced to learn new languages, ways of creating, and strategies to sustain their practices during current transitions – and to support people in order to hold and improve their ground.

Di Ve Cercoveye De / In this way / Bu minvalde was first shown as an outcome of a workshop, entitled Understanding Damage, (19-22 May 2016), hosted by DSM (Diyarbakir Art Center) and was run parallel to the exhibition program of Artspace NZ, Beachhead’s Peace of Mind (5 May- 25 June 2016) conceived by Misal Adnan Yildiz.

Our thanks to Schau_Raum, Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg and Didem Yazici, and to the artists for their films.