Datum:     Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:00:32 +0000
Von:     serhat koksal <[email protected]>


To the press and the public;
A group of activists protested against the “Scared of Murals” exhibition held at Beyoğlu Salt,

with stencils featuring portraits of Vehbi Koç, Sakıp Sabancı and Şarık Tara and the slogans “It isn’t over! They are still scared…
”, “We are still here” and “Waiting for the barbarians".
The activists placed their stencils on the floor of the gallery’s foyer and gave a press statement.

They completed their protest by using their stencils to paint on the building’s façade.

16 March 2013

http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still <http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still>


*It isn’t over, you are still scared. *
The biennial was launched with parallel events featuring the art of the capitalists, along with the opening of debates on "publicness", the biennial’s main theme. They try to tame every artistic rebellion, bringing protest art down to their own level. There has been an attempt to remove all meaning from the artistic images, figures and methods used throughout the history of this country's political uprisings, and to use them in art performances directed by capitalists. These barbarians are barbarically killing each of these images; images that are the expression of the dreams, carved into public memory, of a “livable world, rights and equality”. In the past, so many young people with a brush and paint in their hands paid the price for the slogans they painted on walls with years in prison or even with their life. At that time these “murals” were capitalists’ nightmare, their biggest fear; now they announce that they are no longer afraid of those young hands and hearts who used their dreams to paint those images on the walls. Even though nothing has changed, see how the capitalists have developed compassion. Today, instead of beatings they have chosen love. And they declare this love to the world through the artistic events of which they are so proud. Saying “How wonderful for us, for our democracy” is naïve and turns a blind eye to their hypocrisy. Presented as nostalgic works of art, these “murals” are now no more than the memories of naughty children who have been brought to heel by Doğuş Holding. The underlying message that the capitalists who have brought the economy to the most brutal level of capitalism are trying to give is that they are no longer afraid of murals. As though embracing the philosophy of Rumi, they say "we may drink your blood but our arms are open to your love, whoever you may be". They say that important artists give their names to these paintings and they are now mere works of art with no political meaning left. Time and again they say that the people who then made these murals, now love money even more than they do. But what they have forgotten is that although the people who, in another time, made these paintings became the money-loving artists who are today slaves to capitalism, the dreams that they abandoned still colour our nights. They are a legacy; the belief in the idea that it is possible to live humanely still remains on those walls. It is these dreams that have brought us here. It is the fighting spirit that is carved on those walls that has brought us here. These murals that speak of equality in the world, that say that equality is possible, are now being presented as "nostalgia” under the sponsorship of a bank that once supported the coup d'état. We are here because a living thing, a song that is still sung, can never be nostalgia. It lives on here, in us! That song is still sung by the youth of today. The spirit that is carved into those walls is not that of the once naughty, now well-behaved children of the capitalists but that of the artists who value disobedience. If a bank that supported the military coup can open tactless exhibitions that say that they are scared of murals, the reason for this is the politics of art that has been taken from our control. In this exhibition, the best example of the idea that “there can be no art without money”, those who supported the military coup try to downplay their responsibility. We will not stand for this! We are still ruled by the patched-up constitution of the coup. Our protest is against the capitalists who ensured that this constitution would destroy the country's unions, an act for which they now deny any responsibility. Our protest is against the fact that Garanti Bank is using art to turn the political legacy of the struggle of so many artists who created these murals into nostalgia. The capitalists are those who are really afraid of these murals and who hold the political power; yet today they have announced that they are no longer scared of murals. In light of the parallel events and today's event on the theme of “We were once organised”, we say to all the artists involved that we are still organised, we are still here. And we say that they are still scared of murals. Today’s curators, these children of the neo-liberal system, try to pay their debts to their creators by devaluing the past of those who have suffered in the unconfronted history of this country. We want you to know that we will not remain silent.

ArtHack
Emek Gençliği
Gündoğusu Sanat Ve Düşün Topluluğu
Öğrenci Kolektifleri



*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W735uhGMT5Q ( 16.3.2013 )*
---------------------
http://www.evrensel.net/news.php?id=51820

http://www.sendika.org/2013/03/saltta-protesto-biz-hala-orgutluyuz/

http://www.kizilyildiz.org/2013/03/saltanat-yklyor-bitmedi-hala-korkuyorlar.html

https://www.facebook.com/AnneBenBarbarMiyim

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http://2-5bz.tumblr.com/post/42398186787/2-5bz-hostmodern

*bu bir dönemeçtir*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOdPx90bQpY <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOdPx90bQpY%20> *ViDEO (2009)*
http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/19042452309/begenal-logolu-amade-bienali
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*
http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still <http://gozel.tumblr.com/post/45886522633/it-isnt-over-you-are-still>
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