STATION

Initiated by Kim Einarsson (Konsthall C, Stockholm) and Adnan Yildiz (Künstlerhaus Stuttgart).
Developed in collaboration with Aykan Safoglu (Berlin/New York based artist-activist) and Lisa Torell (Stockholm based artist).

Station is an open ended project that investigates public space and its politics, and how political discourses changes through space and time.

Taking the city as a working metaphor for “artist studio”, the discussion departs from a recent public screening of a 70`s film, “The Bus” (Tunc Okan, 1977), which happened on the 27th of May, 2010 (via a coded form of public communication: “The Bus at the Station”) at Sergels torg of Stockholm – where it was shot 33 years ago. The film is based on a story of Turkish migrants who were illegally brought to Sweden, and found themselves in the middle of the city without any orientation. Their dramatic story reflects the notions of alienation, violence and cultural conflict, and draws a certain picture of its time and modern Swedish society as a black comedy.
The day after the screening, there was a public discussion session – with the presence of the director, producer, and audience (28 May 2010). The workshop took place within an installation by Lisa Torell, that transformed the formal aspects of Sergeltorg into a discussion platform. The aim was to develop further motivations, interests and ideas to continue the project at Konsthall C and other places.

As the second episode, Station C, is designed as an exhibition program (31.8-16.10 2011 at Konsthall C) with an installation, lecture, screening, and discussion. The exhibition project is dealing with the experience of moving political ideas, acts and statements in time and contexts, as a way of understanding the potential of public space and critical imagination.

The opening evening of the exhibition will begin with the lecture by the artist collective Slavs and Tatars: “Molla Nasreddin: Embrace Your Antithesis”. This lecture is based on a satirical magazine from the early 1900s that was published in the region between Morocco and Iran. The exhibition also features a series of new works entitled “Not Moscow Not Mecca” based on the idea of cities as travel destinations. This work also makes reference to two of the grand narratives of the 20th century: Communism and Islam.

Lisa Torell‘s work “[ʃ] Sch/sh, The Politics of Public Space” explores the regulation of public space and freedom of expression and sets it in relation to the generic art space. The work manipulates and relocates various aesthetic, linguistic and spatial conditions and breaks with the habitual and expected.
Aykan Safoglu presents a video work based on a sequence from the Iranian filmmaker Cafes Pahani’s “Ayneh/The Mirror” (1997) in which the main character breaks the fictional spell of the cinematic medium by stepping out of his role, thereby suddenly transforming Tehran’s urban space into a film backdrop and stage.
The background to Sylvia Winkler and Stephan Köperl‘s project “STIEFKIND ZOB/Stepchild Central Bus Station” is the relocation of the bus terminal in Stuttgart to the outskirts of the city as a result of the commercialization of the city center.Station aims to produce publications as chapters from each form of event, and to travel to Künstlerhaus Stuttgart next year with a different focus.

You can find your free copy of the publication “The Station” at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.

http://www.konsthallc.se