SALON/istanbul @ Magazijn 153: Ahmet Polat, Josephine Colsen, Sara Vrugt, Painted Series and a video installation of Deniz Buga

In the hallway of Magazijn the black and white pictures of Ahmet Polat  

Left: men's wear by Safak Tokur // Right: Lamp by Josephine Colsen 

Sara Vrugt 's ‘Look at you 07’ (2012), Japanese silk and dmc-yarn embroidered on silk/cotton voile.  While travelling overland from The Netherlands to Iran these miniature embroideries have been made by Sara as tactile log posts. The encountered people presented as strangers show that the artist is the stranger in the end, a question of perspective. Those moments in which the traveller is an outsider, a gharedji, shows our helplessness when it comes to truly understanding the other.  

The work of Sara Vrugt focuses on the combination of fashion design and art. She uses clothing as part of an autonomous language. By using textile as a medium and the human body as an instrument she aims to investigate, question and push the boundaries of her discipline with her collections, textile installations and community projects. Thanks to the sculptural and theatrical qualities her work is categoriale in divers art disciplines. The reflective and critical position she holds towards her immediate environment and society is a returning aspect in her work.

Ahmet Polat (Roosendaal, 1978) is a Dutch-Turkish photographer living in Istanbul. Polat has studied at the St. Joost Academy in Breda. Ahmet Polat, recipient of ICP’s, International Center of Photography, “Young Photographer” award, is a photographer whose work questions preconceived notions. His upbringing was the fusion of West and East. Born of a Dutch mother and Turkish father, he integrates both cultures. In the past years he has worked on commissioned projects for cultural institutes like the Rijksmuseum and international publications like the New York Times.  His work has been exhibited in Turkey, France, Vienna, Germany, Malaysia, Holland and Belgium as well as published in French and Turkish Vogue, Paris Match, Marie Claire, and Vice magazine. March 2012 his latest book “Kemal’s Dream" is published. 

Safak Tokur was born in Sinop in 1975. After finishing at the Painting Department of Istanbul Anadolu High School for Fine Arts, he entered the Textile Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Mimar Sinan University and graduated in 2001. He was one of the finalists in the 1996 Beymen Academia competition. In 1997, he participated in the National Shoe Design Competition and won an honorable mention award at the category of men’s shoes. In 1998, he was among three designers in the category of youth clothing of the Beymen Academia. In 2001, Tokur attended the 2001 Asia Makuhari Grand Prix in Tokyo and became the Turkish finalist. 

In Magazijn Deniz Buga shows a dizzily video, where he filmed himself turning, and turning like a Turkish Sufi dancer, a hard thing to practice. Sufi dancers can turn for an hour without  stopping, what's physically impossible... 
Deniz Buga was born in 1982 in Istanbul. He studied social sciences in Bosphorus University, Istanbul. He wrote film articles for national magazines, worked in film sets and finally shot his first short films: Brothers (2003) and Sleep (2005) both made their screenings at Oberhausen Film Festival. Along with partners, he founded Studio 4 Istanbul, an independent production company, thus getting actively involved in the Turkish independent film scene. In 2006, he was accepted into MFA Film Production Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and moved to New York where he specialized in writing, directing and cinematography. Deniz Buga is currently a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam.