ALAgroup and Zafer Aksit: Emergency as Creative Potential
The ALAgroup (ALA Libera delle Arti) hosted a Skype conversation with Istanbul-based artist Zafer Aksit, discussing his 2010 work 'In case of emergency' installed in the Nevada desert. The work features a dowsing rod emerging from sand with instructions for use, questioning whether emergency can override disbelief. Participants drank Turkish coffee, read each other's coffee grounds creatively, and listened to protest songs from Italy (G8 Genoa) and Turkey (Gezi Park). The conversation explored how art can transform individual and collective impotence—such as refugees, mass migrations, and earthquake victims—into 'in-potence' through disobedience and political resistance. The event was part of ALAgroup's educational platform founded in 2012, continuing work from 2010 with esterno22.
Key facts
- ALAgroup (ALA Libera delle Arti) organized a Skype conversation with artist Zafer Aksit.
- Aksit's work 'In case of emergency' was first installed in 2010 in the Nevada desert.
- The work features a dowsing rod emerging from sand with instructions for use.
- Participants drank Turkish coffee and read each other's coffee grounds.
- Two protest songs were played: one from Italy's G8 Genoa and one from Turkey's Gezi Park.
- The discussion focused on emergency as both a reality and a symbolic dimension of human condition.
- Emergency was described as imponderable events like illness, mourning, war, separation, job loss.
- Art was proposed as a means to transform impotence into 'in-potence' through disobedience.
- ALAgroup is a contemporary art education platform founded in 2012.
- The event continued work started in 2010 with esterno22.
Entities
Artists
- Zafer Aksit
Institutions
- ALAgroup (ALA Libera delle Arti)
- esterno22
- Artribune
Locations
- Istanbul
- Turkey
- Rome
- Italy
- Nevada
- United States
- Genoa
- Gezi Park