Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayolova

YARAT Contemporary Art Space has presented a group exhibition SAFEZONE, Azernews reports.

The group exhibition united young and talented artists Lali Binyatova, Nadir Eminov, Islam Hasanalizada, Katya Igoshina, Parviz Kazimli, Leylakhanim Ganbarli, Ilkin Guliyev, Maxim Tatarintsev.

The opening ceremony took place at ARTIM Project Space.

The inspiration for the exhibition comes from the concept elaborated by Michel Foucault in his lecture "Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias" (1967). Heterotopia (hetero-other, topos – places) is described as a particular contradictory and transforming space inside the space that is considered "other".

According to Michel Foucault, utopias are sites that fundamentally have no actual location and represent society in its ideal form. However, some places are contrary to utopias: "probably in every culture, in every civilization, real places—places that do exist and that are formed in the very founding of society—which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia".

One of the categories is "heterotopia of crisis", which speaks about reserved spaces for members of a society who may be in a state of crisis. In this context, gallery space is represented as a heterotopia for the artists. Trying to find an anchor in the current crisis, the artists construct imaginaries to recover the present by exploring their own private stories. They use the artistic medium as a tool for expression, reflection, and catharsis.

In the shared uncertainty and rising threat to safety, the notions of shelter and home have acquired ephemeral characteristics: people lose the roof over their heads in the blink of an eye.

SAFEZONE explores ambivalent notions of home and shelter, referring to a place between reality and a parallel utopia that the artists interpret in different contexts, such as memory, displacement, purification, virtuality, and time.

They offer various forms of refuge, whether in a physical place or far beyond that, becoming intermediaries in "safe zones".

The exhibition will last until February 5, 2023.

Address: 5, Kichik Qala str., Icheri Sheher

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