Journeys With No Return

A Foundation is the London focus of a touring exhibition to Istanbul, London and Berlin 2009/10. Inspired by the celebrated Turkish writer and political figure Nazim Hikmet's book of poems Journeys With No Return, this project explores reflections of Turkish migration on contemporary art.

Twelve artists from Germany, Great Britain and Turkey uncover themes around Turkish migration over the last 50 years in works that are new to UK audiences – six of which are unveiled for the first time. The artists balance the local with the global, their subjective sense of identity with cultural dissemination that potentially knows no borders. Using popular music, rap, cinematic conventions, anthropology and documentary they exploit archive images, cultural stereotypes and information systems. The artworks stretch from video, film, photography, drawing to installation and reach out with methods of communication that echo mainstream and popular cultural forms.

Zineb Sedira finds resonances of transportation in forgotten railway sidings, while Clemens von Wedemeyer has created a cinematic work that is as much a tribute to his modernist masters - Mayakovsky, Tarkovsky - as it is a film about crossing a border. Melanie Manchot takes a traditional European painting genre, the double portrait, and restores connections between people separated by migration. Adam Chodzko has created a surreal documentary about Romanian migrant strawberry pickers editing a historical archive of London hop pickers, subverting readings of power relations, identity, time and place. Nasan Tur's demonstration backpacks consist of a range of unusual objects and reference both mobility and rebellion. Asli Sungu uncovers historical layers that unexpectedly explode with poetic equivalences that only an outsider could create.

The conference is organised with the International Curators Forum and addresses the themes of the exhibition, how culture is transformed through migration and the influence of Turkish migration on contemporary practitioners. It is chaired by Edgar Schmitz (Goldsmith College, London) and Lisa Le Feuvre (Writer and Curator) and includes speakers Irit Rogoff, Professor of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths College, a theorist, curator and organiser, Artist Adam Chodzko and Dr. Mark Nash, Head of Department for Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art.

Journeys With No Return opened alongside the 11th Istanbul Biennial at the Akbank Cultural Centre, Istanbul in September 2009 and will be presented in Berlin in June 2010.

Participating artists: Nevin Aladag, Zineb Sedira, Adam Chodzko, Olaf Metzel, Denizhan Ozer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Olaf Nicolai, Ergin Cavusoglu, Melanie Manchot, Asli Sungu, Kiran Kaur Brar and Nasan Tur. 



Curators: Alice Sharp, Peter Cross and Levent Calikoglu Exhibition organizer: Denizhan Ozer

Journeys With No Return Conference 9.30-5.30pm 19 February With the Goethe Institut and International Curators Forum

Journeys With No Return
Kuratoren: Alice Sharp, Peter Cross and Levent Calikoglu
Ausstellungsorganisation: Denizhan Ozer

Künstler: Nevin Aladag, Zineb Sedira, Adam Chodzko, Olaf Metzel, Denizhan Ozer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Olaf Nicolai, Ergin Cavusoglu, Melanie Manchot, Asli Sungu, Kiran Kaur Brar, Nasan Tur.