Berlin-based IPA Fest starts in Istanbul
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
This file photo shows a performance from IPA 2011.
This year the Berlin-based International Performance Association (IPA) will reach new heights as it holds its performance arts festival abroad for the first time. The first IPA festival to be held outside of Germany will take place in Istanbul from July 29 to Aug. 12.The IPA Istanbul Festival will be organized by the Istanbul-based arts and culture team behind KOZA Visual Culture and Arts Association and will be supported by Maumau Art Residency with contributions from venue partners Salt Galata, Pasajist, Gallery NON and DEPO.
The actual festival will be held between Aug. 5 and 10 and host performances from 20 artists while workshops and a ‘summer camp’ will be held prior to that between July 29 and Aug. 4. The workshops and camp will host 46 students.
As a new addition to Turkey’s art scene the IPA Istanbul Festival aims to be a platform for encouraging the practice of performance art by uniting performance art lovers and emerging artists from all over the world to participate in an exchange of ideas and experiences.
At the festival art lovers and aspiring artists can enjoy a series of performance art events, including indoor and public space performances and a ‘summer camp’ where budding artists will meet with leading performance artists for training at workshops and panel discussions.
The festival hopes to open a new dimension in Turkey’s performance arts scene as well as in the international arena with participants sharing their experiences and knowledge about performance art.
About IPA Istanbul
The IPA summer camp and festival project creates a platform for artists where they can share their experiences in performance art. Summer camp attendants will share their adventures and even mishaps in the field while learning from experienced artists. The aim is to bring all levels of artists, from veteran performers to aspiring young talent, together.
“The existing festivals in Turkey usually focus on stage performances, however, IPA is only about visual arts and a part of plastic arts,” said festival coordinator Burçak Konukman.
IPA gives everyone the chance to discover Istanbul’s art scene and also experience performance art in the country, Konukman said. “This may change the approach to performance art in Turkey.”
Prominent artists
Prominent artists of the festival Festival performances will be held at Gallery NON, Salt Galata, Pi Artworks and Pasajist. Prominent performance artists such as Rio Vaara from Finland, Jürgen Fritz from Germany, Lynn Luu from Britain, and Dominik Lipp, Manuela Centrone, Nora Jacobs will perform.
A conference for the festival will be held Aug. 11 and focus on teaching performance art with artists Vaara, Luu, Lipp, Fritz, Klara Schilliger, Lara Schilliger, Valerian Maly, Daniel Haller and Laura Laeser sharing their experiences on both teaching and performing the art form.
Turkish artists İlyas Odman, Burak Konukman, Güler Aşık, Itır Demir will also be at the festival..
The program of the festival is available at www.i-pa.org
About Roi Vaara and Juergen Frtiz
Much of Frtiz’s work is site specific. The German artist’s conceptual approach is characterized by an impressive concentration and precision. He uses simple materials such as bamboo sticks, a bell or marbles with which he creates inspiring pictures. Performances with simple musical instruments have become an essential component of his work in recent years. Since 2008 he has performed with traditional musicians from Europe and Asia. Vaara is one of the most internationally recognized performance artists in Scandinavia. He was born in 1953 in Moss, Norway, but grew up in Helsinki, Finland, where he has caused constant controversy in the art world since the early 1980s. His critical point of view is not to attract public sensation, but to challenge the way we look at things. He studied at the University of Art and Design from 1972-75 in Helsinki and then studied art research at Jyväskylä University from 1976-77 in Finland. Vaara has been creating performances since 1982. Until now Vaara has presented more than 300 different performances, which have taken place in more than 200 international exhibitions.