T. MELİH GÖRGÜN

Scholarships and Artist-in Residence

1985 Scholarship of International Summer Academy in Salzburg by Prof. Uwe Bremer
1992 Goethe Institut- Boppard
2005 Artist in Residence, 3 months, Quartier 21 programm, Museums Quartier, Wien

Solo Shows

(Performance and exhibitions)

2008 “Underneath: Nothing as silent as snow”, Bulgarian Cultural Center, Odessa-Ukrain, Balchik-Bulgaria, Mangalia- Romania (co-production: Karne Johnson&T. Melih Gorgun)
2005 “Vorspielurteil”, performance, MQ Wien, Wien-Austria
2005 “Ich bin ein Anderer/I am another”, video installation, monochrom projectspeis, MQ Wien, Wien, Austria
2004 “Death is on the other shore", performance and video installation, Oratorio di San Ludovico, Venice-Italy
2002 “Violence”, sound installation, Stadthaus Galerie, Münster-Germany
1999 “I am Another”, Kunst-Pavillon, München-Germany
1998 “Seal”, Galerie Pjotr, Tilburg - Holland
1998 “2/2”, Galerie im Schloss, Augsburg-Germany
1997 “Seal”, Siyah Beyaz Art Gallery, Ankara-Turkey
1996 “Ik=Ikoon”, Huis der Kunsten, Brugge - Belgium
1995 “die Kohle”, City Gallery, Ahlen-Germany
1994 “TorsIkon”, Archological Museum of Sinop, Sinop-Turkey
1994 “TorsIkon”, Galeri Zon, Ankara-Turkey

Selected Shows
2007 “The Second View”, Neufert Box, Weimar, Germany,(Curator: Walter Bergmoser)
2007 “Unfinished: Project of Art Works”, BM SUMA Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, (Curator: Beral Madra)
2006 “Contemporanee Mediterrane”, Castello D’Aragonese, Taranto, Italy (Curator: Antonio D’Avosso)
2006 "To Hear is To See", sound exhibition, Municipal Museum, Gyor-Hungary, (Curator: Gue Schmidt)
2005 “Hören ist Sehen/ To hear is to see”, Tanzquartier, MQ Wien, Wien-Austria
2005 “Hören ist Sehen/ To hear is to see”, sound exhibition, Yyz Artist Outlet, Toronto, (Curator: Gue Schmidt)
2004 International 11. Asian Art Biennial, Dhakka-Bangladesh (curator of national participation: T. Melih Görgün)
2004 "To Hear is To See", YYA Gallery Toronto (Curator: Gue Schmidt)
2003 “To Hear is to See”, Niederösterreichisches Landes Musum, St. Pölten-Austria
(Curator: Gue Schmidt)
2002 “Dirge”, sound installation, Theatre Meeting, Augsburg-Germany
2002 Arte Sonoro Sound Art Biennial, Mexica, Venezuella (curators: Luis Romero, Dulce Gomez)
2002 “International 10. Asian Art Biennial”, Dhakka-Bangladesh (curator of national participation: T. Melih Görgün)
2002 “Hören ist Sehen/ To hear is to see”, Kultur Zentrum Kammgarn-Forum Vebikus, Schaffhausen-Swiss (Curator: Gue Schmidt)
2002 “corridor”, MU Faculty of Fine Arts, Istanbul (curator: Ahu Antmen)
2001 1. Tirana Biennial, Albania (Curators of national participation: Ahu Antmen)
2001 “Discard”, Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, Istanbul
2000 “Veritas omnia vincit”, Exhibition for Human Rights, Istanbul
(Curator: Beral Madra)
2000 “Media-Comunication-Art / Resistance”, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul
(Curator: Beral Madra)
1998 SAGA Art Fair- Galerie Daniel Amourette, Paris-France
1998 “Multiplies for Environment”, Borusan Art Center, Istanbul (Curator: Beral Madra)
1998 “Project : Work”, Atatürk Cultural Center, Istanbul (curator: Fatoş Beykal)
1998 “Transport 1.nakil”, Aula Carolina, Aachen-Germany
1996 “Other”, Habitat International Summit, Antrepo I, Istanbul
1992 2. International Istanbul Art Fair, İstanbul

Curatorial Works

2008 “Discomfort at the Peformance”, Siemens Art, Istanbul
2008 “Imprecise Status”, Siemens Art, Istanbul
2007 “After the Ordinary: Present Time”, Siemens Art, Istanbul
2007 “Orbits and Borders 1.-2.”, Siemens Art, Istanbul
2006 “Sinopale, 1. International Sinop Biennial”, Sinop
2006 “Video Pool- Designer From Holland”, Grafist International Istanbul Graphic Design Week, Istanbul
2003 “Invention or Non-Invention”, Institut Français d’Istanbul
2003 “Entrophy”, International 10. Asian Art Biennial, Dhakka-Bangladesh (curator of national participation: T. Melih Görgün)
2004 “Drapeau: Une Experience d’identification”, Le Botanique, Bruexelles, Belgium
2002 “Prejudice”, video works, Under the programm Meeting with Mimar Sinan University, Münster Fine Arts Academy Exhibition Hall, Münster- Germany
2001 “On the Way”, International 10. Asian Art Biennial, Dhakka-Bangladesh (curator of national participation: T. Melih Görgün)
2001 “kaleydoskop, caléidoscope“, Institut Français d’Istanbul, Istanbul

T. Melih Gorgun is a founder and curator of SINOPALE, Sinop International Biennial. And he is a founder of European Cultural Association and art portal Europist.net. He is working as the curator of Siemens Art, Istanbul since 1 year.

T. Melih Gorgun has been exhibited in Berlin, Venice, Dhakka, Augsburg, Wien, Amsterdam, Varna, Lviv, Costansa, Odessa, Tromso, Bruexelles, Tilburg, Paris, Munchen, Salzburg, Weimar, Taranto, Praha, Fredricstad, Ahlen, Seul, Tokyo, Budapest, Gyor, St . Antonio, Caracas, Mexico, Toronto and invited to several conferences on the world.

He has been invited as a quest-editor of the 6. and 8. International Graphic Design Week of Istanbuls catalogue. It has been published of his artikels on the several newspapers and art magazines.

“Underneath/ Nothing as silent as snow” is a mixed media performance installation using digital imaging and live action exploring the convoluted journey to becoming a "European" and what lies underneath this apparent homogeneous identity. The audience experiences will be processed through the installation and presented with versions of Europe while becoming part of "our" constructed new Europe.

Karena Johnson is a pioneering force in British Theatre with a vision to direct and programme new theatre and a diverse voices. Her total theatre approach to directing has a strong conceptual edge focusing on the personal political.

T. Melih Gorgun is a curator, interpreneur,, visual artist, who uses pop-culture symbols, political cases and situations, introducing them in visual debates over intellectual approach versus public-oriented art and performing art. He is also involved in the development projects of cultural policies.

Location: Trømso/Norway

"Im München, Um München, Um München Herum”

Performance-Installation: Nezaket Ekici and T. Melih Görgün, 2008

Duration: 1 hour

On the occasion of the 850^th Anniversary of the Foundation of Munich.

The performance-installation "In München, Um München, Um München Herum" is the transposition to the exhibition area of the forms which were taken from the daily lives of the people living in and around Munich, and have been altered.

The spectators cannot see anything when they enter the room (6x6x6m) which is completely dimmed out. The turning movement of the artists (T. Melih Görgün and Nezaket Ekici) who stand back to back right in the middle of the room is barely perceived. A brightness, which results from the light filtered through only two light sources hitting the wall during this turning movement, dominates the space. Texts placed on illuminated places, the walls, the floor and the ceiling are tried to be made shown-read quickly through this movement of turning and simultaneous lighting. And words start to appear consecutively within the space. Thus an effect of infinite space reminding of the blinking stars has been created.

The light source hitting just one point is not inclusive, but it is rather like a “note” trying to remind the Moment.

Spectators at the same time witness the movement of the performers.

When we look at its process this performance, where the outcomes of the reactions such as “awareness, reminding, prejudice etc.” are tried to be made perceived, and considered as sort of a “city trip with the citizens”, besides a mere performance-installation effect, stands out with its “documentary” tone as well.

Before the installation in situ a relation has been established with the citizens by asking them eleven different questions. Their answers and reactions have been evaluated in “written format” and placed in the space.

Their answers to questions “What do you think about Emin Pasha?” “Do you know the story about the Türken Strasse?”, “If your brother/sister lived in Zimbabwe-Harare, would you consider to move and live there?” which seem quite ordinary but have at the same time a highly political stand have been evaluated and moreover an occasion to face what they are not really aware of has been created for the citizens of Munich.

The questions had interesting answers. The citizens of Munich experienced an earnest contradiction between their answers and the real answers, and had to face the reality.

For instance the fact that their common answers to the question about Emin Pasha (some said that it is a discotheque, others an erotic shop etc.) were quite banal compared to the right answer upset them. Because even though a big avenue there was named “Emin Pasha”, it was named after a writer whose real name was Eduard Schnitzer, who has been reknown for being a sound researcher on Africa, then converted to islam and has been named Emin Pasha.

Or even though they had reactions against the dictatorial Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe as answer to the question that we asked, they seemed desperate when they learnt that Harare was the sister city of Munich.

In München, um München, um München Herum is the first performance by Nezaket Ekici and T. Melih Görgün together. The main project “Brücken bauen / Building Bridges” was a motto selected for the 850^th Anniversary of the Foundation of Munich. The performance “In München, um München, um München Herum” which took place within this project which aimed to treat the togetherness of different cultures and to show it based on concrete examples has been developed at that point through questions and preferred to treat the problematic “Is it still really possible to build bridges?”

Curator: Walter Bergmoser
Venue: Neufert Box-Weimar, Germany
20.10.-18.11.2007

“Illusion of Wholeness”

An imagined subject is a fragmented subject which comes with an illusion of wholeness, whereas, the subject that expresses itself exists in a symbolic order. The two subjects do not overlap, they invade each other’s spheres of operation, they tend to include one another by transforming, or they tend to neglect each other, so they make it impossible to talk about a monolithic subject which resists the fragmentation caused by dualities. The illusion of wholeness seen in the subject is in fact the fragmented status of subject-immaterial and the symbolic.

The Real finds its imperative correspondent in the relationship between subject-immaterial and the symbolic. The symbolic order fragments the subject by trying to confine the subject’s imaginational identifications and the undefined blurriness of the Real which can only be seen from the corner of an eye, to a closed system of categories and binary opposites.

Furthermore, the imaginary order connotes identifications imagined by a not yet existent corporal wholeness on a surface that functions by reflecting or on a corporal equivalent of that surface.

As Lacan expressed it, “the Real is a hard nucleus that cannot be contained by the symbolic.”

The Real outside the symbolic is realized in the phenomenon we call nature, through its indefinable existence in the uterus.

Although we control natural truths and carry them to the sphere of the symbolic, the real always returns to its origin.

There will always be a surplus, a residue that philosophy and human sciences cannot explain, and the Real is this very surplus: the Real is the impossible.

Location: Weimar-Germany

01.08-10.2005
Artis in Residence - MQ Wien
by monochrom

The performance ‘Vorspielurteil’ illustrates how real and imaginary interchange.When I first arrived to Vienna, “duell in wien”, billboard of electoral campaign was a clear document of persistent prejudgments and racism that have not been eradicated yet. It was a futureless and ironic case of how democratic instruments of a society that has witnessed serious assimilation process visualizes 'camps' legally by means of this structure. My previous proposal 'Do you know who I am?' which I have submitted to MQ quartier 21 has materialized in a snap. But questioner has been changed and within this context it turned to me. A very clear response must be given.

Vor(ur)teil-spiel. Here begins word game! Game inside game!

The performance 'Vorspielurteil' was designed with real documents. For the reason that it has a circular form, in order to emphasize the concept, it was realized by using video, sound and text in Ovalhalle with the support of ZARA (Zivil Courage und Anti Rasismus Arbeit) and monochrom. Performance has become a collaboration project between 'I' and 'the other' with contributions of Viennese artist Gue Schmidt’s by his text-reading and Suna Suner who was born in Istanbul and still lives in Vienna by her live voice improvization.

Location: MuseumsQuartier-Wien

“Death is on the other shore” is emanating from the manifesto of the artist, which is primarily a juxtaposition of the self and the other within the religious conditions of today’s world. Görgün makes us aware that we have to re-think about the role of the religion in today’s worldwide processes of change alternatively labelled globalisation, internationalisation and transnationalisation. The process of globalisation in economy, politics, culture and religion is visible and we openly discuss their legitimacy or damage. The manipulation and tension between forces related to these fields lead to submission or resistance. This dynamic connection or destroying antagonism between globalisation and religion calls forth a renewed self-reflection in respect of the difference between the attitude of the state and the individual towards discriminating religious dictums. It might be of particular interest to focus upon the religions role at the centers, where the strategies lead to a new polarisation and the margins of globalisation where multi-religious societies prevail.How can an individual submitting or resisting to the confusing ambiguities of the globalisation capture the changes and transform it to a positive energy or to a self-determined position? This work discreetly creates the ambiguous environment to react to this guestion.

Beral Madra, “Death is on the other shore”, Oratorio di San Ludovico, Venice/Italy, 2004,64 p., Catalogue

Location: Oratorio di San Ludovico, Venice, Italy

“Violence”, sound installation, 2002
Sound installation (sound, slide-projector, mattress)

Stadthaus Galerie Münster, Germany, 2002

Is the thing we seek protection is a proof of an action that will keep our existence strong or that will make us feel ashamed?Is not the spectacle of force the best demonstration of our powerful helpnessness? Are the choices or obligations relevant when we decide to live with the other?Do we sound louder in silence where choices and obligations meet and overlap?Our worries, our desires and dreadful passions have created it.

Location: Stadt Haus Galerie, Münster-Germany

"MEMORY"

Video-installation 2001
Co-production: Canan Beykal & T. Melih Görgün
Three monitor
Video duration: 3' 17"
Video editing : Serhat Akavci

Canan Beykal and T. Melih Görgün are a pair who work together from time to time, and they’ re- concerned with the theme of escape on a deeper, more psychological level. They try to imagine what it is like to be another, and try to create spaces in which they can pursue this end through an interaction with the viewer. Proust wrote somewhere that the only true voyage of dicsovery would not be to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another...Can there be any higher state of empathy, of which the lesser there is, the bigger our problems are?

Antmen Ahu, 2001, ‘ Out of here, somewhere different: the possibility of escape and the Tirana Biennale’, Tirana Biennale 1 Catalogue

Location: 1. Tirana Biennial, Tirana-Albania

August, 1999

Tent, letters, edited photos

To be another within a time and space belonging to nobody at all, a space beyond all time...To tell a story of another is to enact a transformation through a seperate space, time, history, nation and race. Nobody has one identity. No one has one age. One can be five, six, ten, twenty, forty, a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old. One has no single name. When one writes the other, one becomes a witness. A mirror. An eye. One exists at a point in which watching and being watched, seeing and being seening, witnessing and being witnessed are one and the same thing. Sartre says this is the inferno where the ego is to be found. Because one is the other, and I am another.

Location: Kunst Pavillion, München/ Germany