Ocula Conversation Hito Steyerl: How To Build a Sustainable Art World 'A Picture of War is Not War', we read in Hito Steyerl's iconic film November (2004), an essayistic Super 8 film tackling the definition of terrorism constructed around the figure of the artist's best friend Andrea Wolf, who was killed as a terrorist in 1998 in Eastern Anatolia after she joined the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). Mixing documentary...
Ocula Report Aichi to Okayama: Art in Japan Looks to the Future 11 Oct 2019 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula There has been a flurry of triennial and biennial art activity in Japan this year. The Aichi Triennale opened in Nagoya this August, sparking a national debate about the shutting down of a display of formerly censored works—the result of public backlash against a burnt image of Emperor Hirohito and a statue commemorating the women forced into...
Ocula Insight | Video Hans Hartung and Art Informel at Mazzoleni London (1 October 2019-18 January 2020) presents key works by the French-German painter while highlighting his connection with artists active in Paris during the 50s and 60s. In this video, writer and historian Alan Montgomery discusses Hartung's practice and its legacy.Born in Leipzig in 1904, Hans...
Ocula Report Independent Growth: Art Dubai 2018 31 Mar 2018 : Mohammad Salemy for Ocula It is far too easy to dismiss art fairs, if not the entire commercial art market. By the same token, it is easy to be turned off by Dubai, the most glitzy and commercial of the UAE's emirates. It might take a little longer to appreciate how an art fair staged in a free port like this could benefit artistic production and development—an...
Ocula Photolog Art Dubai 2018 26 March 2018 'The 2018 edition of the fair presents an intimate and diverse line-up of 105 galleries from 48 countries, making this year's edition the fair's largest and most globally diverse to date. Alongside 77 returning galleries, the fair welcomes 28 first-time exhibitors from around the world.' –Art Dubai (21–24 March 2018).
Ocula Photolog Contemporary Istanbul 2017 15 September 2017 'Notable for its unique position both geographically and culturally, the Contemporary Istanbul art fair prides itself on bringing together galleries, artists and collectors from Turkey, the Caucasus, the Black Sea, Russia and the Middle East, as well as from Europe, America and Asia.'–Contemporary Istanbul (14–17 September 2017).
Ocula Insight Recycle Group at Gazelli Art House, London 24 November 2015 How did you first meet and start collaborating as artists?We have known each other since childhood, but did our first project together as "Recycle Group" in 2008. Before that we worked separately but always advised each other, after realising that each of us have a role in creating the work and we started to work as a...
Ocula Report Mad Times: A Report from ArtInternational 2015 18 Sep 2015 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula According to a report by The Art Newspaper, this year's edition of ArtInternational (which opened in Istanbul on 05 September) opened one day later and ran one day shorter because of sustained pressure from the 14th Istanbul Biennial curator, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. It was reported that Bakargiev had made "no secret of her...
Ocula Report Must-see exhibitions in London over Summer 2015 28 Jul 2015 : Kostas Prapoglou for Ocula The British capital has a fascinating selection of art shows to see this summer. With Gabriel Orozco at Marian Goodman Gallery, Sonia Delaunay at Tate Modern, Roni Horn at Hauser & Wirth, John Waters at Sprüth Magers and Yto Barrada at Pace London in full swing until late July/early August, a number of other equally stimulating exhibitions...
