Who is my neighbour? What is a neighbour? What does neighbourhood mean in the 21st century? Artists from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey explore these issues with their works exhibited in "Neighbourhood X.0" Exhibition, which is organised in the framework of the project ArtUP!

The exhibition presents media art works such as video installations, online games, experimental documentary films and interactive videos by Can Altay (Turkey), Personal Cinema (Greece), George Drivas (Greece), Genco Gülan (Turkey), Oktay İnce (Turkey), Anna Lascari (Greece), Jenny Marketou (Greece), Ivan Moudov (Bulgaria), Zeyno Pekünlü (Turkey), Raycho Stanev (Bulgaria), Alper Şen (Turkey), Krassimir Terziev (Bulgaria) and Borjana Ventzislavova (Bulgaria), and scrutinizes the theme of "Neighborhood" with observations, interpretations and images. It also aims at presenting the multi-dimensional character of media art works created in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece as well as in other countries. The 13 media artists participating in the exhibition remind us that the concept of "Neighbourhood" does not have only positive connotations in 2012. Today, the concept of "Neighbourhood" still and once again may contain wars, poverty leading to migration and a stereotyped conception of “the Other”.

On the other hand, in the works of participating artists, the global phenomenon of "Neighbourhood" of the 21st century also contains meanings different from its classical definition. For example, a view into the systematic garbage smuggling from Switzerland to Germany, the struggle of Bulgarian actors-extras for the film Troy that took place in the Mexican coast, or an international perspective into neighbourhoods as seen through user-generated videos on YouTube. Thus, the question arises: "Are our neighbours only people and states?"

Curator: Ege Berensel
Assistant Curators: Pavlina Mladenova [for Bulgaria] and Katerina Gkoutziouli [for Greece]

The exhibition will run from September, 27 to November, 3, 2012 at the Goethe-Institut Ankara. “Neighbourhood X.0” can also be viewed online at the "virtual space" of the ArtUP! web platform, from September, 27: www.goethe.de/artup

For more information and press material please visit our website: www.goethe.de/artup