Freedom of expression in Turkey has deteriorated at an alarming rate since 2015. The government now controls almost all media and aggressively punishes critical reporting and action. These developments should not be disregarded as foreign, particularly in the face of the current rise of conservatism in the West.
Join us as Istanbul based artist, İz Öztat introduces work produced collectively with Fatma Belkis, BAÇOY KOOP (Printing, Duplication and Distribution Cooperative) and anonymous contributors using mimeograph—a predecessor of the modern photocopier. This contemporary use of mimeograph technology will be contextualised against the current political climate in Turkey and mimeographed printed matter produced by dissident political organizations in Turkey and the artistic underground internationally in 1960s and 1970s.
Öztat is in Oslo for one month, working with a group of eight international and Oslo based residents, considering publishing as a space to unite, to research and develop, and to disseminate artistic imaginaries; shaping communities and proposing alternative value systems and political horizons through PRAKSIS’s seventh residency, For A Rainy Day: Publishing As A Site Of Collectivization. The residency has been developed with Öztat in collaboration with non-profit bookshop and publisher Torpedo and graphic design studio Eller Med A.
Iz Öztat (Istanbul, 1981) lives in Istanbul. She is a member of BAÇOY-KOOP (Printing, Duplication and Distribution Cooperative) that utilizes mimeograph technology for collective and independent publishing in the current suppressive environment in Turkey. The cooperative carries out archival research into mimeographed printed material and initiates dialogues with previous generations who have used the technology. This research leads to collectively produced printed matter, actions and installations. She is a collaborator of HTTPpRESS, an online platform that publishes content with free/libre licenses or notices. She is friends with Fatma Belkıs, with whom she explores the convergence of water and freedom. She has been engaged in an untimely collaboration with Zişan (1894 – 1970) who appears to her as a historical figure, channeled spirit and an alter ego.
Selected exhibitions include Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, United Arab Emirates (2017); Land without Land, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany (2016); Saltwater: A Theory of Thought Forms, 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); Conducted in Depth and Projected at Length, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany (2014); Rendez-vous 13, Institut d’art Contemporain, Lyon, France (2013); and Here Together Now, Matadero Madrid, Spain (2013).
