- 06.07.2022, from 6.30 pm / Exhibitionadmission free
- 07.07.2022, 6.30 pm / Performance, artist talk afterwardssolidarity pricing system (you choose): € 5 / € 10 / € 20 / € 30
- 07.07.2022, from 7.30 pm / Exhibitionadmission free
- 08.07.2022, 5.30 pm / Performancesolidarity pricing system (you choose): € 5 / € 10 / € 20 / € 30
- 08.07.2022, from 6.30 pm / Exhibitionadmission free
- 09.07.2022, from 2.00 pm / Exhibitionadmission free
- 09.07.2022, 6.30 pm / Performancesolidarity pricing system (you choose): € 5 / € 10 / € 20 / € 30
- 09.07.2022, from 7.30 pm / Exhibitionadmission free
“The Golden Cage” is a poetic examination of non-human artifacts, animals, ruins, water bodies, and organisms spread across a highly nationalised terrain. It refers to a set of confinements amidst never-ending catastrophes in the region known as the Fertile Crescent. It explores interconnected political geographies, fragile ecologies and the question of civilization by thinking about neolithic archaeological sites in the area. Since 2018, artist Hakan Topal has developed the project by focusing on the Northern Bald Ibis – the most threatened migratory bird in the Middle East: surviving examples are kept confined in cages to protect them from the ongoing Syrian War. In “The Golden Cage”, as the embodied symbol of the state, the cage is enacted through a fictional administrative text full of cracks and breakages. It is an epic story to create new associations around history, borders, migrations, and untranslatability.
Duration: Performance approx. 70 Min.
Language: English, German, Armenian, Kurdish, Arabic
Cast & Credits
Concept & Realization: Hakan Topal
Performance: Isaak Kudaschov, Ozan Koparan, Dorsey Bushnell, Lussineh Schahramanyan, Sarya Atac, Fady Merey, Bijan Kaffenberger
Biography
Hakan Topal
Hakan Topal (born in Turkey) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. He was the co-founder of international art collective, xurban_collective (2000-12) and exhibited his collective and individual artworks and research projects extensively, in institutions such as the Turkish Pavilion at 49th Venice Biennial; the 8th and 9th Istanbul Biennials; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; MoMA PS1; Platform, Istanbul; the 9th Gwangju Biennial and ICP Museum, NY. Trained as a civil engineer (B.S.), he continued his studies in Gender and Women’s Studies and Sociology (M.S.) at Middle East Technical University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research. He is an Associate Professor of New Media and Art+Design at Purchase College, State University New York.