S T E P H E N G A N G G A L L E R Y
529 WEST 20TH STREET 4E. NEW YORK, NY 10011 PHONE 212.741.7832
FAX 212.741.7957 P R E S S R E L E A S E
F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E
S�KRAN AZIZ
TONGUES & SIGNALS
Phonemes, Translations of 'Kerem', the American Alphabet, and
the Four Faces of Willem De Ridder
(April 1 - April 30, 2000)
reception: April 1, 6 - 8 pm
Stephen Gang Gallery is pleased to present the 'Tongues & Signals' exhibition
by S�kran Aziz, a video/sound/media event that features the artist's latest
work.
This exhibition consists of four different and distinct video-and-sound
installations, the assembly of which forms a coherent whole. Two of the
installations depict opposite end-points, or polar extremes, in human
communication. The Phonemes shows the irreducible minimal sound units, the
essential building-blocks of language, in myriad tongues, whereas the
Translations of 'Kerem', in portraying recitations of a poem called 'Like
Kerem' by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet by speakers of many languages,
represents expressive human communication at its fullest. This juxtaposition
is subtly mediated by the sound installation the American Alphabet which
sporadically produces alphabet sounds by native kindergarten and
elementary-school speakers of American English who have just learned the
alphabet reciting their favorite letters (the recited letters will vary
according to the language of the country in which the exhibition is shown).
Finally, the Four Faces of Willem De Ridder, video-films based on a
performance by the Dutch Fluxus artist, explores four different modalities of
the communication process, namely, the fully articulate and meaningful
narrative, meaningless sounds or gibberish supported by meaningful gestures,
as well as, song and pantomime.
S�kran Aziz is an artist who has been interested in the capacity of the
various human language processes, be these spoken, written, gestural, or body
languages. In the present project, the artist has included the participation
of some of her viewers from earlier shows and several people who live around
her in the production of this art event. Known for her use of 'technology
with a human face' in her intermedia productions, S�kran Aziz says "I realize
the preciousness of the lived-moment. I like to capture a segment of time,
document it, and leave it for the future. For me, as a medium of artistic
expression, the use of video and technology is not an end in itself, but is
merely a means through which to achieve my substantive aims." In her work,
thematic continuity concerning the concepts of time, identity, and language
has been clearly discernible in all of her major exhibitions. Some of these
critically acclaimed shows from the past include the 'Dream Drops' project in
Los Angeles, the 'Room For Rent', 'Memory As Metaphor', 'O Difference - Off
Difference', 'The Past with Us', 'Mythology of Tongues' projects in New York
City, the 'Reminiscences II' exhibition at the 5th International Istanbul
Biennial, and the 'Oscillations' exhibition at the Habitat International
Exhibition in Istanbul. Also, her 'Body Identity' project was chosen by
Fundacion America for the Body Museum in Santiago, Chile.
Contact: Stephen Gang Phone: 212.741.7832 Fax : 212.741.7957
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
