Gulsun Karamustafa
The monument and the child
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
21 January - 27 February 2011
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My City is designed and impemented by the British Council in cooperation with Anadolu Kultur, Platform Garantie Contemporary Art Center and a number of partners in Turkey and Europe with the financial assistance of the European Union ((EU-Turkey Civil Society Dialogue: Cultural Bridges)
Commissioning new works by prominent artists from Europe, 'My City' has explored art and public space in five cities across Turkey. The cities are Canakkale, Istanbul, Konya, Mardin and Trabzon.

In addition, artists from Turkey were hosted by leading residency programmes in Berlin, Dortmund, Helsinki, London, Vienna and Warsaw. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was able to invite the Istanbul-based artist Gulsun Karamustafa thanks to the British Council project 'My City' supporting the dialogue between institutions and artists in the European Union and Turkey.
Taking up the historical relations between Vienna and Turkey, Karamustafa relies on an autobiographical element: two photographs taken by her father show Gülsün Karamustafa as a girl in front of a monumental sculpture in Ankara which was part of a plan for the square by Clemens Holzmeister and executed by Anton Hanak. Holzmeister and Hanak, both professors at Vienna's Academy, underscored the close political and cultural connections between the two countries with their works. Karamustafa, who now draws on this constellation of autobiographical, political, cultural, and artistic traces in the context of the Academy, develops a three-dimensional and thematic narrative exploring the dialogues between the countries, the cities, and the representations of private and public spheres. The political character of her work lies in the fact that its subtext outlines a pattern of these spheres' connections and connectedness which is based on the insight that we have to abandon the idea of separate cultural and political terrains and territories. (Text: Andreas Spiegl)
Opening | 20 January 2011, 7:00 pm
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
www.akbild.ac.at