Berlin says... / Berlín dice.., 2009
Vídeo digital, 6´32", Courtesy the artist
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k., Berlín, Alemania
The work Berlin Says... is part of the series City says..., which Nasan Tur (b. 1974 in Offenbach / Germany, based in Berlin), apart from Berlin, also realized in Istanbul, Belgrade, Vienna, Ljubljana, Milan and Stuttgart. In Berlin says ... the artist explores the interactive structure of language, cultural codes and symbols in public space. He brings together more than one hundred graffiti tags from Berlin house walls and sprays them on an inside wall of his studio, one slogan on top of the other, until at the end a homogeneous red surface emerges. The single letters and the content of each statement are becoming less and less visible. With this performance, the artist does not only question the communicative value of these statements, but also addresses the use of certain expressions in different systems and social classes as well as the shift of meaning in the course of time. In his videos, photographs, installations and interventions, Nasan Tur deals with political and social issues in a humorous way. The focus is mostly on approaching cultural differences and on reflecting the processes of social marginalization.
Nasan Tur Born in Germany (1974), and graduating from the Hochschule für Gestaltung HFG-Offenbach, Germany (2003), Nasan Tur’s work reflects the social conditions in which it is produced, often exploring political ideologies, subliminal messages, and the symbols of power and dissent that are present throughout the urban landscape. An exploration of the tension between public action and inaction is intrinsic to his practice, with a participatory element often implicating the subjectivity or presence of the viewer. The boundaries of communication, as well as the tentative, or fragile nature of perception, are both driving forces behind the practice of the artist, and many of the situations that that he creates.