Events
18 Nov 2019
Artist talk and book presentation
Benji Boyadgian und Basak Senova
6.30 pm
Benji Boyadgian, The Discord (detail)
photo: Kayane Antreassian
Benji Boyadgian, international guest artist at Villa Romana in October and November 2019, and curator and designer Basak Senova have been working together on several projects since 2014. In a conversation they will touch on the role of research, process and materiality in Boyadgian´s practice and present individual projects.
The Temporary Ruin (2010 ongoing) documents a valley at the southern tip of Jerusalem between the green line (1948 - 1967) and the wall (2003) in anticipation of the construction of a new Israeli settlement. Refractions (2017) explores questions of perception of duration through interactive sculptures. Clogged (2016 ongoing) writes a story for the ruins of an aqueduct that ran from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and has not been used since the 6th century. The Discord (2011 - 2017) repeats and mutates patterns derived from hydraulic tiles and their stories. The numerous fictions around these stories reverse historical and contemporary temporalities through layered, eroded and inharmonic surfaces.
The book theDISCORD was created parallel to the research on hydraulic tiles and accompanied an exhibition curated by Basak Senova and Jack Persekian in Jerusalem. theDISCORD, edited by Senova and published by the Al Ma´mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, includes essays by Ali Akay, Basak Senova, Behzad Khosravi Noori, Jack Persekian, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Sinan Logie, Timo Tuhkanen, and a conversation between Basak Senova and Benji Boyadgian. The PDF version of this book was published on ibraaz.org in 2018.
Benji Boyadgian (1983, Jerusalem) studied architecture at the L´Ecole Nationale Supérieure d´Architecture de Paris La Villette with an emphasis on urban sociology in post-conflict areas. He works in various media on perception, heritage, territory, architecture and landscape, understanding painting and drawing as his primary tools. Boyadgian's works have been exhibited in many institutions, most recently in the laboratory of the University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki) (2019), the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm (2019), Jameel Arts Center, Dubai (2019), DEPO, Istanbul (2019), Palestinian Museum, Birzeit (2019), B5L9, Tunis (2019), Al Ma´mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem (2018), Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna (2018), Sharjah Biennale 13 Offsite, Khalil Sakakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah (2017), Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (2017), Al Ma´mal and Anadeil Gallery, Jerusalem (2017), Municipal Art Gallery, Lesvos (2016), Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MuCEM), Marseille (2015).
