Bakunin\'s Barricade

27.09.2016 A Critique on Ahmet Öğüt’s Bakunin’s Barricade İpek Sobutay

Walking around Pangaltı, urban sprawl accompanies your little trip with the sense of getting lost amid skyscrapers and houses constructed imprecisely. Then, suddenly, turning to the road that leads to Bomontiada, where old beer factory is replaced by fancy restaurants, a stage, and an art space, it is felt how the atmosphere is changed in accordance with the other sides of the neighborhood. Passing through security point, free-entry “Alt” Art Space welcomes all visitors with an automatically opened door. Later on, we will see how this aspect is affecting the chosen art work. At the time I visited, Ahmet Öğüt’s Round-The-Clock that consists his works; For Six Months, Bakunin’s Barricade and Pleasure Places of All Kind was exhibited in Alt. Ahmet Öğüt’s project “School of Urgency”1 arouses my attention through connection and, at the same time, a dilemma that is conducted within this specific education system lead me to visit Round-The-Clock; to see how this artist’s thoughts are shaped in physical forms. Ahmet Öğüt is a conceptual artist born in Silvan and works in Amsterdam and Berlin. Along with solo exhibitions, the main biennials that his works were presented in were Venice, Sydney, Liverpool, Berlin, İstanbul and Moscow biennials.2 According to Artfacts.net, a prestigious website for whom would love to show presence in the art world; he is ranked as

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A non-hierarchical and independent education system that is alternative to education system in Turkey. http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/ahmet-ogut-3/, http://www.ahmetogut.com/ahmetweb_bio.html

the 354th artist in compliance with the amount of attention he has received from art institutions.3 By that, he has the highest ranked among the artists who was born in Turkey. In this essay, I would love to think through the work titled as “Bakunin’s Barricade”, a modified installation made in 2016 which contains a collection owned by Zeyno - Muhsin Bilge, that includes modern and contemporary paintings by Aliye Berger, Şükriye Dikmen, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, Füreya Koral, Fikret Mualla, Celal Tutant, Wolf Vostell and Fahrelnissa Zeid, and brick, various construction materials, wheels, garbage containers, metal tubes, plywood pieces, police barricades, plastic tubes, junk cars, pegs, street lamps and Antonio Cosentino’s oil painting; hence the size is variable. Paintings are hanged on or put inside of the barricade. The first edition made in 2014 and includes a different collection of paintings.4 During May Uprising took place in Dresden in 1849, Mikhail Bakunin proposed to put art works in front of the barricade in order to speculate Prussian soldiers in a way they wouldn’t dare to destroy the art works and hence wouldn’t pass the barricade.5 The most crucial aspect of the work for me was that an agreement warrants that in a case of the art work will be sold to a museum, during a possible uprising; borrowing the art work could be demanded. In that sense, I think that Ahmet Öğüt is behaving as Bakunin and the May Uprising is reoccurred in accordance with the current time and place. The art work is also precious in a way that it could be regenerated in any time at any place in a case of an uprising. In that way, we could catch a connection between “History repeats itself.” and the name of the exhibition “Roundthe-clock”; it happens, continues and ends like a vicious circle.

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http://www.artfacts.net/en/artist/ahmet-gt-41557/profile.html http://ahmetogut.com/ahmetwebbakunin.html 5 http://ahmetogut.com/ahmetwebbakunin.html 4

Could an object serve both aesthetic perception and practicability? Indeed, Bakunin’s Barricade is not just a barricade with random art works. There must be a reason that this specific collection is chosen to put on it. Aesthetic perception is effective for the value of art work. In order to be practical, the collection must have been chosen carefully. Apart from that, a few of the artists whose works are in the collection are relatives of politicians. Paintings could be chosen on purpose to create a dilemma regarding civil resistance. Along with the collection, space is another factor that will affect the practicability. That’s why I mentioned how Alt is positioned and how it is guarded. An automatic door would ease entering and take the art work out. In that sense, practicability and accessibility could be the main concerns of the artist. A barricade is a symbol of self-defense. Who defense themselves from who is the question. In a case of an uprising, the police would set barricades to inhibit people to spread around and people would set barricades to prevent police action. By Bakunin’s Barricade, the border lies in the middle of defender and assaulter in the field of uprising could also be regenerated in a different way. Did the artist install the barricade in the middle of the room consciously? The barricade prevents the visitor from passing another empty side of the room. We socially evolved not to touch art works in art spaces. Would random junks be as effective as the art work to prevent us to action? Do the paintings remind us that we draw extra lines between us and art works when accustomed aesthetic values are added? When Bakunin’s Barricade is taken off the streets as the artist demanded, paintings with certain aesthetic values on a barricade will also destroy aesthetic aspects; fancy lighting and frames won’t company the paintings. In that sense, Ahmet Öğüt may be starting a civil resistance against both aesthetic values and the reason that leads to an uprising. Not only a good replication of proposed scene but also the way that Ahmet Öğüt puts the art work into practice really excited me. The function of the barricade depending on whether it is

inside or outside of an art space changes the meaning of the art work rapidly and that make us share more with the object and the idea. Once it is moved out, we are no longer outsiders. The only thing that made me suspicious was Bakunin’s idea may no longer be acceptable in our time. According to The Hague Convention 1954, during an armed conflict; it is forbidden to use art works for military purposes.6 In that sense, although Bakunin’s idea would work and the barricade wouldn’t be passed; the ones who build the barricade will be found guilty. This would be the barricade put in the middle of law and arts and that blocks Ahmet Öğüt’s idea or constrain the art work within modern gallery settings.

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http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13637&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html