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Venue
Moni Lazariston / Bazaar Hamam / Warehouse C, Thessaloniki Port Area / Museum of Byzantine Culture / Courtyard of the Archaelogical Museum of Thessaloniki
Artist
CARAVANSARAI 2
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Francois Daireaux, Surface Baku |
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Sitki Kosemen, Ottoman Empire |
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Denizhan Ozer, Labyrinth |
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Shalva Khakhanashvilli, Euronews |
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Eduard de Pazzi, Diptique |
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CARAVANSARAI
A symbol of mobility, hospitality and exchange, traditionally the Caravansarai was the meeting point of caravans and merchants coming from the East and West via the ancient Silk Road. It was a materialisation of the cultural link, bringing together different regions that were geographically far from each other, yet so close at the same time – mainly due to commercial ties, but most importantly due to human relationships through the centuries. This link, broken by history several times, is a thread of common national memories extending from Istanbul to Bishkek and Tashkent, through Tbilisi and Baku.
The aim of the Caravansarai project is to support the creation and development of cultural and artistic infrastructure coming from different countries by attracting potential from all the regions - proposing multiple possibilities for their international presentation. In the meantime, this Programme intends to support artistic creations and the development of an artistic network linking together the Baltic Sea (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Eastern European States (Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova) and Black Sea States (Turkey, Bulgaria, Rumania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia) with the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), the Caspian Sea and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).
In order to restore the traditional status of the Silk Road (mostly known as a trade/ financial route) as a path linking together Europe and Asia by means of cultural and artistic exchanges, the Caravansarai Project intends to move along a “New Silk Road” linking together Kiev, Chisinau, Tbilisi, Baku, Tashkent and Almaty with Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Paris, Strasbourg and Brussels.
The Caravansarai project places emphasis on local initiatives, while taking into account national and regional particularities, and proposing – through diverse partnerships – to support artistic creation for its expansion into international distribution circuits.
The continuation of the Caravansarai Project in the year 2007 looks more than exciting, passing through Istanbul (Karsi Sanat), the Tashkent Festival (House of Photography, Academy of Arts), Tbilisi (State Museum of Arts), Thessaloniki (Biennale of Contemporary Art), etc.
Concept
Culture travels across the continent through the same ancient paths created by the nomads and merchants. The territories are crossed from East to West, through Central Asia and the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Balkans. Travelling via this road, known as the “Silk Road”, was often interrupted by the political unrest of the 20th century. Some new cities were developed in the valleys and people settled in the urbanised zones of the cities, thus changing their traditional activities. New national roads were built, linking formerly inaccessible regions. However, although there is an active circulation of transport and goods, artistic exchanges are still waiting to be recognised by the international community as an important tool for re-establishing the interrupted dialogue between different communities and promoting intercultural cooperation between different places.
The theme chosen for this year’s presentation is “the city”, under the title Urbanconnections, which should allow the wider public to react to the different views on how to live together/apart in urban space.
Caravansarai – a space within space
Like the very first “Station” project, created during the exhibition titled “On the Other Side of History” (produced by Apollonia, curated by Anne Tronch and held in 2002 at the Ferme de Buisson, Paris), the “Caravansarai – Thessaloniki Station” will create a space within space. The part of the "Heterotopias" curated by Maria Tsantsanoglou is titled "Beholders of Other Places" and includes around 30 artists showing works that have to do with real places where people are obliged to function by certain rules or systems (airports, clinics, virtual spaces, borders, etc.). The Caravansarai – Thessaloniki Station is a “stop” in the line, which is however connected with the other places of the exhibition, thus functioning as an “exhibition within the exhibition” as it shows the movement process, which is indeed something that has to do with different places.
The Caravansarai artists are:
Alexandre Shishov, Alexandre Yterce, Anastasia Shadieva, Anton Solomukha, Anzor Selidjanov, Astrid Johannessen, Babi Badalov, Bruno Fournier, Danae Stratou, Denizhan Ozer, Eduard de Pazzi, Ernest Kurtveliev, Florence Gonot, Francois Daireaux, Gul Ilgaz, Guram Tsibakhashvili, Iliko Zaitashvili, Irene Paskali, Jacques Crenn, Johanne Helard, Khaled Hafez, Koka Ramishvili, Kuba Bakowski, Lanrenne Alexandre, Linbov Tiova, Midori Sakurai, Murat Germen, Nadir Ede, Natalya Lyakh, Oksana Shatalova, Przemo Wojciechowski, Shalva Khakhanashvili, Sitki Kosemen, Tamila Ibrahimova,Yun Aiyoung
Shalva Khakhanashvili
Co-ordinator of the Caravansarai Project
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