¨cˇu'm„a* Ertesi ACTIVITIES /// No:2
Inspired by the FlashMobs imported from the United States, FlashRue consists of artistic performances in public space presented by professional artists. FlashMob presents a large number of people coming together in a public space, performing unusual activities that are choreographed and promptly disbanding after the event. A large audience is invited to participate in the performances, with an emphasis on the inhabitants of the neighbourhood where the action is taking place and who are asked to become actors in the staging of their own environment.
The artistic offerings are simple, fun, aesthetic and surprising. They attempt to disrupt the habits of the people and attract their attention, to disturb the usual passage of time with the aim of presenting an unusual image or view of public space while remaining open to the broadest possible cross-section of the population: the young and those who aren’t quite so young, men and women, passers-by, shopkeepers and inhabitants.
With this 'public performance', in collaboration with Lieux Publics, the one of the outstanding institutions in France for urban arts, CUMA offers the lost urban dwellers of Istanbul a chance to stand against the weary daily metropolitan life. FlashRue can be perceived as a tool in the shape of a public event for the re-unification of the urban individuals who are, as things stand, alienated from each other within their positions in society. It can also be seen as a mediator for the society in finding a way of expressing itself to authority, and creating a sense of strength and solidarity through integration.
For FlashRue, the leader artists write small scenarios: a flock of blonds, supermarket trolley races, and choreography for umbrellas... The citizens are invited by Internet or SMS and participate in an incongruous act with only 10 minutes preparation.
The programme consists of separate FlashRue activities to be conducted both in Marseille, France and Istanbul, Turkey. Artists Ekmel Ertan & Özlem Alkış and Caroline Selig are selected as a part of an artist exchange programme with Lieux Publics, France.
FlashRue Programme
December 5th, with Caroline Selig
December 12th, with Özlem Alkış and Ekmel Ertan
All necessary information about the location, daily schedule and required props regarding the FlashRues will be sent to those interested and registered by sending their mobile phone numbers to FlashRue@c-u-m-a.org by December 3rd till 17.00.
For further information on Lieux Publics's FlashRues, please visit www.flashrue.net.
Caroline Selig (1966, France)
Having initiated the Compagnie Artonik theatre in Aix-en-Provence with Alain Beauchet in 1992, Selig works on the observation of human behaviours in public areas, a high curiosity for common little things, those we use to consider too often passively as they are part of our usual visual field. Ever attentive to fundamental joys and dramas of daily life, Artonik mixes dance, theatre, visual arts as well as musical environments to develop its own unique theatrical style made of images and gestures.
http://artonik.lafriche.org/new
Ekmel Ertan (1961, Turkey)
The founding member of AMBER Body-Process Arts Association, the laboratory and research-and-production platform on new technologies in art, Ertan is curator and director of the annual Amber Festival as of 2007. Since 1999, he is teaching multimedia / visual communication design at Istanbul Bilgi, Sabancı, İstanbul Technical and Yıldız Technical Universities. He has shown his works and performances in various international venues. Ertan is co-organizer of TECHNE06 Istanbul International Digital Performance Platform.
Özlem Alkış (1977, Turkey)
Özlem Alkış is a dance artist based in Istanbul. After receiving her dance education in ex.e.r.ce at Centre Choréographique National de Montpellier in 2003, she followed essais choreographic formation between 2005-2006 in Centre National de Danse Contemporaine-Angers with the support granted by the French State. She worked with Loïc Touzé, Deborah Hay, Sabine Jamet, Emre Koyuncuoğlu as a dancer and produces her own dance work since 2003. She is one of the co-founders of BPA, AMBER Body-Process Arts Association and Çatı, Contemporary Dance Artists Association in Istanbul. She currently works as the Assistant Director and Project Coordinator of Amber Art and Technology Platform and Amber Festival.
http://bis.a-m-b-e-r.org
