The ground was divided, we jumped (Home of the Transeuropa Festival)

a project by Can Altay

curated by Emanuele Guidi

 

The ground was divided, we jumped is the title of the setting that the artist Can Altay realizes for Transeuropa and that acts as Home of the Festival in Cluj Napoca (Tranzit House), Bologna (Sala Borsa/Urban Center), London (Rochelle School) and Paris (Espace Jemmapes). The project consists in an installation that symbolically link the cities among them through a series of architectural elements and conceptual references.

Can Altay understands the Home of the TRANSEUROPA Festival as the chance to go beyond the idea of producing just a perfectly functional ‘hub’ for the festival that through its venues brings together the different local audiences and connect the cities. The plan of introducing some open-ended situations and a slightly dysfunctional nature within this context reflects the intention to critically translate the image of a world (or more precisely Europe) that not necessarily it is perfectly operating and functioning. But that in this way hands over responsibilities, creative or not, to the audience, participants and citizens.

The ground was divided, we jumped hosts an array of activities organized by the Festival activists in the venues of each European cities mentioned. Those activities include: gathering, discussing, speaking, showing, viewing, connecting, expanding, and transgressing through the action and inhabitation of the Festival.

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Can Altay (1975, Ankara, Turkey) is an artist who lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.

He has a PhD in Art, Design, and Architecture from Bilkent University (2004), and a degree in Critical Studies from Malmö Art Academy and Lund University, Sweden. He has had solo exhibitions in The Showroom, London (2010), in Kunst lerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2008), and Spike Island, Bristol (2007) and has presented work at Istanbul (2003), Havana (2003) and Gwangju (2008) biennials, as wel l as at the Walker Ar t Center (USA), Van Abbe Museum (Nether lands), ZKM (Germany), PS1 MoMA (USA), and Platform Garanti (Turkey).