INTERVIEW: NAZ CUGUOĞLU

portrait of Naz Cuguoğlu; photo credit by by Zeynep Bolat

Residencies are a growing trend for artists and curators to establish an international network. But who are the organisers of these short-term projects? In Istanbul, one of the great networkers is Naz Cuguoğlu – coordinator of the maumau residency program in the district Çukurcuma. Having previously studied psychology and recently graduated in social psychology, Naz specialised in cultural psychology and volunteered in culture labs in Turkey, Nicaraguara and the US. She worked in an Istanbul-based gallery and frequently contributes reviews and interviews to publications like Istanbul art news, Artful Living, Trendsetter or KLOK. For her current project, the maumau residency, Naz organises the artists’ stay and co-curates exhibitions together with her collaborateur and maumau-founder Sine Ergün.

INTERVIEW: SAMUEL LEUENBERGER

all images: installation views "Constructed Culture Sounds Like Conculture" | w/ Darren Bader, Mia Marfurt, Adrien Missika, Lydia Ourahmane and Tabor Robak | curated by Samuel Leuenberger | at Ellis King, Dublin | courtesy and © the artists | photo credit: Gunnar Meier

Not every title of an exhibition is self-explanatory. Sometimes it just increases the confusion. Constructed Culture Sounds Like Conculture is a group show at Ellis King in Dublin that has been put together by the swiss curator Samuel Leuenberger. Along the individual fantasy-scapes and narratives constructed by the artists Darren Bader, Mia Marfurt, Adrien Missika, Lydia Ourahmane and Tabor Robak, the show discusses the value of cultural constructions creating realities, responsibilities, images, perception-patterns and emotions attached to these realities. The result is a beautiful exhibition with a subject that is so complex and far-reaching, that I asked Samuel to explain the concept of Constructed Culture a bit further.

Samuel has a keen sense of aesthetic compositions and challenges. Having previously co-curated exhibitions like the live work show "14 Rooms" (2014) in Basel or the current painting show „Six Possibilities in Painting (Int)“ at Galerie Bernhard in Zurich, he experimented with both, the presentation of various artistic media and the negotioation of different subjects. With SALTS, his own project space in Birsfelden, just outside Basel, that started as dinner club and art salon, Samuel created a space for curatorial experiments and the development of ideas. Today he runs SALTS together with associate curator Elise Lammer, organising exhibitions and inviting others to work with them.