Initiated for the first time in 2017, the British Council has been putting out the ‘Museum without Walls’, an exhibition experience independent of time and space. The third exhibition of the platform entitled ‘Dancing with Witches’ and curated by Mine Kaplangı will be online and accessible through any device with an internet connection in 16 January 2019. The launch event of the exhibition will take place on the same day at the Pera Museum and will include panel talks focusing on topics such as being a curator in the digital age, the usage of digital media as a new space for art and accessibility of arts.
Accessibility in digital media with Jo Verrent
In the launch event of the exhibition which aims to present a unique experience in a digital environment, British Council Director of Arts Marketing Ryan Nelson, will moderate a panel about being a curator in the digital age and the usage of digital media as a new space for producing art with Mine Kaplangı. Ulya Soley and Elif Kamışlı, who curated the first two editions of the ‘Museum without Walls’ online exhibition platform will accompany Kaplangı during the panel. On the second panel of the event, which is going to be moderated by British Council Turkey Arts Manager Su Başbuğu, Jo Verrent the famous author and disability activist who also funds disabled artists to let them produce new artworks through Unlimited Festival, will have a talk on accessibility in the digital media.
More than just an exhibition
According to the data gathered by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, there are over two million men and close to 2.8 million women in Turkey with at least one disability. This number constitutes 15 per cent of the total world population. As stated in a research by the British Council, even though internet use for the 16-24 age group is 84 per cent and for the 24-34 age group is 79 per cent across Turkey, it is seen that 27 per cent of people with disabilities have not used internet in their life. ‘Museum without Walls’ brings together a selection of curated visual art work and aims to create a new exhibition experience that all internet users, including people with disabilities, could easily access. The exhibition design offers visitors the freedom of strolling freely and experiencing it without the time of physical. The platform will also include audio description and sign language translation of the text and works.
Artists from Turkey and United Kingdom come together
The exhibition focuses on the symbolic power of womanhood and witchcraft. It draws inspiration from the works that pioneered the search for women rights and equality, particularly in English literature.
The exhibition will include art pieces from the British Council Collection which emphasize and follow the trails of how women’s agency was hidden or covered during the writing of the Western art history, and also works from contemporary Turkish artists. Along with more than 20 artworks chosen from the Collection’s different historical periods, this year the exhibition will showcase from various contemporary Turkish artists for the first time. Some of the participating artists are Fatma Bucak, Canan, Nilbar Güreş, Gözde İlkin, İstanbul Queer Art Collective, Erinç Seymen and Pınar Yolaçan from Turkey and artists Anya Gallaccio, Paula Rego and Grayson Perry’s from the British Council Collection, accompanied by William Blake’s ‘The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy’ (also known as ‘Hecate’) (1795).
Programme:
Date: 16 January 2019 Wednesday,
Venue: Pera Museum Auditorium
16.00-16.15 – Opening Speech
16.15-16.30 – The presentation of ‘Dancing with Witches’ by Mine Kaplangı, Curator
16.30-16.45 – Break
16.45-17.45 – Panel: Being a curator in the digital age and digital as a new exhibition space
Moderator: Ryan Nelson, Director of Arts Marketing, British Council
Speakers: Elif Kamışlı, Ulya Soley, Mine Kaplangı
17.45-18.00 – Break
18.00-18.45 – Panel: Accessibility and the arts in digital media
Moderator: Su Başbuğu, Arts Manager, British Council Turkey
Speakers: Jo Verrent, Author and disability activist who also fund disabled artists to let them produce new artworks through Unlimited Festival