Speaker: Rahmi Öğdül
About the Seminar: In this seminar, the relationship between art and writing, the endless relationship between art writing and the artwork itself will be discussed through texts and works. We know that the body as a space expands its own space with the writings and images it produces in an extent. The space of art and the space of writing never overlap, on the contrary both touch each other and extend one another to infinity: “The relation of language to painting is an infinite relation. It is not that words are imperfect or that, when confronted by the visible, they prove insuperably inadequate” (Foucault). Between the space of art and the space of writing, there is a “very large, gray, ambiguous, untitled” area. This space “... where they achieve their splendor is not that deployed by our eyes but that defined by the sequential elements of syntax.” And no matter how much writing there is on art, there is always a gap behind. We know it from what Deleuze wrote: “Writing is an existence matter that is never completed, always occurring and surpassing every material that is habitable or inhabited... Writing cannot be separated from the existence.” So does art needs to be inseparable? As an exploit of existence for the body, we will try to understand the relationship between writing and art in the context of art writings.
About the Speaker:
Rahmi Öğdül (born in 1960 in Istanbul) maintains his life by working as a faculty member, art and culture critic and radio programmer in Istanbul. He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology and completed his master’s degree in the Institute of Marine Sciences of the same university. After working for many years as a research assistant in the Istanbul University, Faculty of Fisheries, he carried his studies to the fields of culture, society, art and philosophy. He still gives lectures on “Basic Design Philosophy” in the undergraduate program and “Representations of Space and Body” in the graduate program of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and “Representations of Body” and “Representations of Nature” in Istanbul Bilgi University. He writes cultural and artistic articles in various newspapers and publications. He also, together with Evrim Altuğ, prepares and presents a culture and art program entitled “Yolgeçen” every Mondays in Açık Radyo. He carries on his studies on the social and artistic history of the body and nature, gender, queer theory and cultural studies.
* The single course fee of the event you want to participate in the seminar series is 100 TL and tickets can only be obtained from the ticket offices. For more information: apply@curatingcontemporaryart.org