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COLONEL TAKVORYANÂ~@~YS PORTRAIT DISAPPEARS
Agos (Armenian paper), Turkey
Oct 14 2014
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian's installation titled 'Canakayna'
at the 4th Canakkale Biennial that began on September 27 suffered a
mysterious attack last Tuesday. Biennial staff think this may have
been a case of theft, while Bezjian, who included photographs of
Armenian soldiers that served in the army from the Ottoman period to
the present day, treats the case with suspicion.
LORA SARI [email protected]
The 4th Canakkale Biennial, ascribed special importance since it
coincides with the centennial of the Battle of Canakkale, began
on September 27. Only in its second week, the installation of
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian titled 'Canakayna' at the Biennial
has suffered an attack. 'Canakayna' features a video containing
conversations with local people made by an actor who wanders the
streets of the city wearing the uniform worn by soldiers who fought
at the Battle of Canakkale (also known as the Battle of Gallipoli,
during the Dardanelles Campaign) and introduces himself as 'Sarkis',
and more than 40 portraits of Armenian soldiers who served in the
army from the Ottoman period to the present day. However, one of these
portraits, that of Colonel Krikor Takvoryan, mysteriously disappeared
last Tuesday.
'Not an attack but theft'
Deniz ErbaÅ~_, one of the curators of the Biennial, stated that they
did not perceive this action as an attack. ErbaÅ~_ emphasized the fact
that only one of the portraits had been stolen, and that the rest had
not suffered any damage, and that they had received neither a complaint
from visitors, or a threat from any organization regarding Bezjian's
work since the Biennial begun. Biennial Director Seyhan Boztepe
explained that the aim could not have been to damage Bezjian's work.
"If that were the case, they would have damaged the entire
installation. They would not have taken just a single portrait and left
the rest as they were," Boztepe added and made an interesting comment,
stating that they perceived the installation as an interactive work,
and that anything that befalls it until the end of the Biennial would
become part of the work.
Despite precautions
Despite the presence of biennial staff and security wardens on every
level of the biennial space who supervise visitors, and genuinely
tight precautions such as taking the names of visitors at the
biennial entrance, biennial staff do not know how this 'action' was
carried out. This is what Bezjian emphasizes first, and he explains
his suspicion with the following words: "Everyone who heard I shot
this video asked me whether I was harassed or not. The night before
the shooting, Seyhan Boztepe was worried about negative reactions
we might get on the street. As they say, this might be a case of
'natural' theft, or they might be covering it up to stop it becoming
a big thing. Or perhaps, a secret relative of Colonel Takvoryan,
who does not want to reveal his or her identity, took the photograph,
who knows..."
http://www.agos.com.tr/haber.php?seo=colonel-takvoryans-portrait-disappears&haberid=8368
Agos (Armenian paper), Turkey
Oct 14 2014
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian's installation titled 'Canakayna'
at the 4th Canakkale Biennial that began on September 27 suffered a
mysterious attack last Tuesday. Biennial staff think this may have
been a case of theft, while Bezjian, who included photographs of
Armenian soldiers that served in the army from the Ottoman period to
the present day, treats the case with suspicion.
LORA SARI [email protected]
The 4th Canakkale Biennial, ascribed special importance since it
coincides with the centennial of the Battle of Canakkale, began
on September 27. Only in its second week, the installation of
Lebanese director Nigol Bezjian titled 'Canakayna' at the Biennial
has suffered an attack. 'Canakayna' features a video containing
conversations with local people made by an actor who wanders the
streets of the city wearing the uniform worn by soldiers who fought
at the Battle of Canakkale (also known as the Battle of Gallipoli,
during the Dardanelles Campaign) and introduces himself as 'Sarkis',
and more than 40 portraits of Armenian soldiers who served in the
army from the Ottoman period to the present day. However, one of these
portraits, that of Colonel Krikor Takvoryan, mysteriously disappeared
last Tuesday.
'Not an attack but theft'
Deniz ErbaÅ~_, one of the curators of the Biennial, stated that they
did not perceive this action as an attack. ErbaÅ~_ emphasized the fact
that only one of the portraits had been stolen, and that the rest had
not suffered any damage, and that they had received neither a complaint
from visitors, or a threat from any organization regarding Bezjian's
work since the Biennial begun. Biennial Director Seyhan Boztepe
explained that the aim could not have been to damage Bezjian's work.
"If that were the case, they would have damaged the entire
installation. They would not have taken just a single portrait and left
the rest as they were," Boztepe added and made an interesting comment,
stating that they perceived the installation as an interactive work,
and that anything that befalls it until the end of the Biennial would
become part of the work.
Despite precautions
Despite the presence of biennial staff and security wardens on every
level of the biennial space who supervise visitors, and genuinely
tight precautions such as taking the names of visitors at the
biennial entrance, biennial staff do not know how this 'action' was
carried out. This is what Bezjian emphasizes first, and he explains
his suspicion with the following words: "Everyone who heard I shot
this video asked me whether I was harassed or not. The night before
the shooting, Seyhan Boztepe was worried about negative reactions
we might get on the street. As they say, this might be a case of
'natural' theft, or they might be covering it up to stop it becoming
a big thing. Or perhaps, a secret relative of Colonel Takvoryan,
who does not want to reveal his or her identity, took the photograph,
who knows..."
http://www.agos.com.tr/haber.php?seo=colonel-takvoryans-portrait-disappears&haberid=8368