THE ATELIER
Film, 18’44”, 2018
THE ATELIER takes the viewer to a specific Turkish flag manufacturing shop in Istanbul, where the audience is introduced to a few workers making flags amidst their employers. What starts as a tour of the technical process at a modest workshop unfolds into an age-old practice of transforming a simple piece of fabric into a sacred symbol. In this work, Hasan Özgür Top takes the pulse of popular opinion by making this small, independent company’s foreign trade relations visible. A subtle yet important shift exposes economic ties with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Kurdish party in Iraq, even though supporting Iraqi Kurds stands against Turkish nationalist ideals. The Atelier also brings to light the use of the growing Syrian workforce in Turkey, and examines the production of the most significant symbol of Turkish nationalism by immigrants working in precarious conditions.
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SOLO EXHIBITION:
· The Atelier, Protocinema at Proyecto AMIL, Lima
GROUP EXHIBITION:
· Open Space, Parallel Vienna, Vienna
SCREENING:
· The Atelier, DEPO, Istanbul
· Where the Sun Rises, Swiss Art Institute, New York
· 37th Torino Film Festival, Torino
· Public Screening, Shanghai
· DAI – Planetary Campus: The Kitchen, Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin
SHORTLISTED:
· LOOP Discover, Barcelona
Project Assistant:
Deniz Edemir
Commisioned by Protocinema – www.protocinema.org
With support from SAHA – www.saha.org.tr
English Translation:
Payan Ece Özçetin
Spanish Translation:
Daniela Moscoso
EDU Translation