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ArteEast Announces 2016 Residency Unlimited and Sculpture Space Artists in Residence

Posted: May 18, 2016

Split Screen. Özgür Demirci. Video Installation - 18'55" - 2014.  View from Adam Mickiewicz Museum

Split Screen. Özgür Demirci. Video Installation – 18’55” – 2014. View from Adam Mickiewicz Museum

ArteEast Announces 2016 Residency Unlimited and Sculpture Space Artists in Residence

ArteEast, in partnership with Residency Unlimited and Sculpture Space, is pleased to announce Dalia Baassiri and Özgür Demirci as Summer 2016 Artists-in-Residence.

Dalia Baassiri is a Lebanese visual artist and graphic designer, and the recipient of 2016 ArteEast Residency at Residency Unlimited and Sculpture Space, a new 14-week residency that links our partners’ Brooklyn, NY and Utica, NY spaces. A graduate of Lebanese American University and Chelsea College of Art and Design (MFA), Dalia has exhibited extensively in group exhibitions, and has been the recipient of The Bench Artist Award (Maraya Organization), a Lebanese Web Design Award, and the Fabriano Prize. Through Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Dalia’s work has also been showcased at the Beirut Art Fair, Art Dubai and Art14.

Dalia’s primary tool of expression has been drawing alongside with painting and photography, but more recently, her practice has moved into an exploration of sculptural forms. The focus of her residency will be the development of her new installation, inspired by the garbage crisis in Lebanon: an exploration of the dynamics of possessing, keeping, and discarding, and the life span of objects and their impact on our lives. This project is an expression of Dalia’s ability to bring an artistic view to mundane activities; as she notes, “I am exploring my experience of the world by highlighting the overlooked activities and allowing them to infiltrate and shape my practice.” Dalia’s ArteEast residency will take place from June 1-September 18, 2016.

Özgür Demirci, recipient of the 2016 ArteEast Residency at Residency Unlimited, is a Turkish multidisciplinary visual artist and member of the B.I.T Collective. His recent work includes the solo exhibition “Dedicated” in Istanbul’s Öktem & Aykut Gallery. Özgür’s art shows a unique and comprehensive view of the sociological phenomenon in interclass Europe. His attention to detail and use of personal and social memories brings authenticity to his work that not only connects with the audience but brings a historical context to his art as well.

The focus of Özgür’s six-week residency at Residency Unlimited will be his site-specific installation, “The Anthology of Promises”, a social memory-based project that compiles the election promises of Turkish political parties starting from the 12 September 1980 Military Coup to the present day. The ArteEast Residency will allow Özgür to research American political history and to conceptualize new ideas, based on “The Anthology of Promises”, for cross-cultural dialogues rooted in shared experience of the loss of social memory around chronic political disappointments and failures, and the re-creation of a space for memory. In Özgür’s words, “the words and promises that have been given in the past to solve problems have been forgotten by society. It is possible to describe social memory with projects based on history. This project aims to connect the American and Turkish political history to present a way to communicate with the public and creating a cross cultural dialogue”. Özgür’s ArteEast residency will take place from August 1-September 18, 2016.

Both Dalia’s and Özgür’s residencies are made possible through ArteEast’s Residency Initiative, in partnership with Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, NY, and Sculpture Space in Utica, NY.

The ArteEast Residency Initiative is a cornerstone of our efforts to ensure that talented artists in the MENA region have access to premier international career-building opportunities, with an emphasis on reaching artists who otherwise have limited access. Each of ArteEast’s sponsored residencies concludes with an ArteEast ‘Connect’ extension in New York City, through which we facilitate introductions between our artists-in-residence and arts professionals and supporters in New York City who can foster their continued success and visibility.