THE TURN المنعرج

Art Practices in Post-Spring Societies

March 17 – May 14, 2016,

Opening: March 17, 2016, 7 pm

Conference: March 18, 2016, 3 pm

Artists: Omar Abusaada, Mohamed Allam, Noutayel Belkadhi, Arslane Bestaoui, Irena Eden & Stijn Lernout, Moufida Fedhila, Reem Gibriel, Inkman, Helmut & Johanna Kandl, Halim Karabibene, Huda Lutfi, Selma & Sofiane Ouissi, Hamdy Reda, Faten Rouissi, transparadiso (Barbara Holub & Paul Rajkovics)

Curated by: Christine Bruckbauer and Patricia K.Triki

The changes and new beginnings brought about by the Arab revolution that started five years ago in Tunisia have made an impact far beyond the Arab world. Not only have people rebelled out of anger at their old regime and out of a burning desire for political and social change; this democratic movement has also effected a paradigm change in local art practices, and artists have begun to claim public space and become agents of civil society.

The exhibition THE TURN المنعرج  presents several interventions that took place in public spaces in urban and rural post-revolutionary Tunisia. As expressions of socio-political issues and direct social engagement, they are rooted in the tradition of the “Social Turn” (Claire Bishop) in contemporary art history.

This exhibition includes not only relicts of performances and installations, but also objects (some of which have been adapted to the white cube) and was designed by the curators with the following issues in mind: What remains of these projects, which international artists also took part in and which were largely funded by foreign institutions? Can we measure their effectiveness?

What role does art play in times of transformations?

At the conference THE TURN المنعرج on March 18 in the Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, these questions will be discussed in-depth by artists, other participants, art theorists, and representatives of funding institutions from Austria, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.

In conjunction with the exhibition a book will be published by Verlag für moderne Kunst.