The School of Earthquake Diplomacy is the educational project that Navine G. Khan-Dossos will exhibit at “The School of Schools”, the 4. Istanbul Design Biennial, from September 22nd to November 4th 2018. The Athens-based artist has developed two laboratories starting from two catastrophic events in Turkey and Greece in the summer of 1999: in a few days two violent earthquakes hit the two nations, causing thousands of deaths. “I was looking for a project that would in some way unite Turkey and Greece, which is the country where I live and work. It is easy to talk about conflicting relationships, but the 1999 earthquake was instead a calamity capable of generating a great cohesion and empathy between the two countries, which share the same tectonic plate. This is very significant on a cultural, political and geographical level.”
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Instead of proposing projects or reconstruction strategies, Navine G. Khan-Dossos has chosen to work on reflection and memory – direct or indirect – of the events, to conceive a collective work. During the workshops, the participants created circular paintings on paper, using the technical symbology used for the relief of earthquakes and transforming them into geometric and colored patterns. “I have reasoned about the trauma of the earthquake and how it manifests in people’s consciences. The participants’ experience may not be direct, but lived through stories. My proposal is a meditation school based on sensations and their translation into drawings.” Navine G. Khan-Dossos tries to make clear feelings and signs of everyday life that remain hidden in the subconscious.
- Project:
- The School of Earthquake Diplomacy
- Artist:
- Navine G. Khan-Dossos
- Event:
- 4th Istanbul Design Biennial
- Opening dates:
- 22 Semptember – 4 November 2018