curating war

Artists are persecuted in times of war. However, art can also profit from war. The exhibit „curating war“ takes a closer look at art production and the art market, their complicity with the arms trade and war, but also their resistance against them.

A hand holds the image of a man: the police officer Ayhan Çarkın. In her video, belit sağ not only tells the story of mass murderer, but also of an art gallery that wants nothing to do with it. Her piece „Ayhan and Me“ will be shown in Vienna in September, in an exhibit conceived and curated by Ezgi Erol.

Art finds many ways to talk about war, but art can also make profits from it. With a simple cartridge case, *Hito Steyerl* draws attention to the fact that the main sponsor of the 13th Istanbul Biennial increases their capital with the arms trade – what does that mean for the artwork on display? Ana Hoffner takes a look at the living room of art collector and heiress to the Thyssen fortune, Francesca Habsburg, founder and director of the Thyssen-Bornemysza Art Contemporary Collection. Both Habsburg‘s inheritance and the funds used for the collection originate from an equity participation in ThyssenKrupp, which produces submarine parts for the arms industry.

When is art able to break with warmongering, when does it become a part of the system? Which narratives about war are valid? Curator Ezgi Erol puts the relationship between art and war up for negotiation with a number of international artistic positions, on display in the DESSOUS Gallery in Meidling.

Ezgi Erol is a freelance curator, artist and sociologist. She works on the cutting edge of art, politics and activism.

Curator: Ezgi Erol

Exhibited artists: Baran Çağınlı, Alice Creischer & Andreas Siekmann, Ana Hoffner, Fatoş İrwen, İhsan Oturmak, belit sağ, Songül Sönmez, Hito Steyerl

Idea & concept: Ezgi Erol

Project assistant: Dilan Şengül

Set up: Piotr Reisig, Johann Schoiswohl

Graphic: Toledo i Dertschei

Production: WIENWOCHE

Photo credits key visual: © Hito Steyerl & Andrew Kreps Gallery

Foto: Matthew Septimus