Never Neutral

Opening 6 May 18:00

7 May – 5 June 2010

Chris Marker, Enrique Metinides and Dara Birnbaum

1st fl. (previously URA), Misir Apt.

Istiklal Caddesi, Beyoglu, Istanbul

Never Neutral is an exhibition of works by Chris Marker, Enrique Metinides and Dara Birnbaum that explore the shifting and complex use of documentary composition within visual art practices. As opposed to theatre based non-fiction film which utilises actors and sets, documentary has come to present "life as it is" (Dziga Vertov). Beyond these methods are artistic practices that accept and enjoy the responsibility of personal viewpoints and sensibilities that bleed into acts of documentation.

Sans Soleil (Sunless), 1983, by Chris Marker, combines original and stock footage to stretch the genre of the documentary form into a sensitive reflection on memory and human existence. This influential film conveys many places and multiple world views, but in the end it is coloured by Marker's own concerns about the permeability of time and life. Although Sans Soleil uses the vocabulary of a documentary, its passage over many continents and time periods, as well as Markers' specific empathy for humanity, separate his film from being a documentation in a very intimate way as it is imbued with his personal values.

Photographs ranging from the early 1960s through the 1990s by Enrique Metinides were taken as journalistic shots, many of which were published in Mexico City's newspapers such as La Prensa, Alarma and Crimen. Metinides published his first photograph at only 12 years old, and as for many photographers or filmmakers, the camera became his "second eye". Throughout his career he was attracted to accidents, crimes, disasters, and human suffering. While he officially captured these events for the media, his personal interest was to compose scenes that grew out of and embedded the event. His ability to incorporate bystanders as members of the crowd, as well as responding to the camera, implicated himself within the images, giving them a life beyond the realm of the immediate press.

In an early video work by Dara Birnbaum, Cannon: Taking to the Streets, 1990, the artist positions her experience of expressing a political voice during the first Bush era. Breaking with traditional documentary format and using tools from low and high ends of video technology, Birnbaum replays events of student activism in the United States. She cuts, edits and adds special effects to VHS reels taken by other participants of the 1987 event "Take Back the Night" a march held at Princeton University held to voice concern over sexual harassment. Birnbaum's re-compilation of others' footage depicts the march itself and the strong reactions it solicited, in a format that allows documentation material to appear in public as a concentrated, cohesive statement.

Curated by November Paynter and Mari Spirito with Special Thanks to - Simone Subal, Peter Blum Gallery, New York; Amelia Hinojosa, Kurimanzutto Gallery, Mexico City; Karina Daskalov, Goodman Gallery, New York; Rebecca Cleman, Electronic Arts Intermix, New York; Lisa Spellman; Attila Pelit; Cengiz Tanc; Mihda Koray and Robbie-Lee Valentine.

image caption: Enrique Metinides

Sin titulo / Untitled Hotel (Hotel Regis terremoto, Ciudad de Mexico), 1985

Courtesy the artist and Kurimanzutto, Mexico City