Turkey ? Saitama? - Yuji Maeyama
(Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama)

What sort of image do most Japanese people have of Turkey ? They might think of mosques under the setting sun, the fantastic crags of Cappadocia, the world's most enthusiastic Japanophiles, bitter memories of last year football World Cup, the TV commercial star Ilhan Mansiz, Turkey's difficult position and anguish in the recently war with Iraq, or Istanbul at the meeting point between East and West.

'People are always saying that Istanbul links Europe and Asia, but for those who live there the Bosphorus Bridge is just a bridge.' This comment by Turkish artist Esra Ersen leaves quite a deep impression. The 'meeting place between East and West' is a typical stereotype regarding Turkey. Stereotypes are what outsiders think about a certain country, people or group based on their own criteria or hidden desires. They may be reflection of malicious thoughts filled with prejudice or the simple-minded goodwill of trying to understand a different culture or group. But needless to say, they are a barrier to deep understanding even if they spring from goodwill.

In recent years it has become quite difficult to hold contemporary art exhibitions under the name of a single country, and they are probably on the decrease worldwide. Now that the flow of various things and information has made it much easier to transcend national boundaries and the activities of artists have become more international, it has become difficult to base an exhibition on a national framework. Many artists consider group exhibitions that represent countries like national football teams to be meaningless and refuse to take part. There are of course various reasons for declining to take part, but even the participating artists have strong misgivings that visitors to such an exhibition will understand the works through the filter of the 'country' and interpret them according to stereotypes. In the same way, Japanese artists are often associated in people's minds with Zen Buddhism, Sony, and animated cartoons.

At contemporary art exhibitions focusing on single country, the conflict with stereotypes certainly gives rise to many problems, but this does not mean that they no longer have a role to play. For the visitors to this exhibition who only have the kind of images of Turkey described at the beginning of this essay, or for the many elementary and junior high school students who may come to it, the works they encounter might deepen their consciousness of Turkey 's existence as a national framework. They will consider what Turkish artists are actually thinking and think seriously about Turkey as a country. Without an exhibition, the opportunity for this kind of mental stimulation is unlikely to arise. And if the artists and art museum go against the stereotypes and succeed in destroying them, it should be all the more fruitful.

This exhibition began as a response by the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama to quite a vague proposal for a contemporary art exhibition by the representative from the Turkish Foreign Ministry in charge of 'Year of Turkey' when he visited the museum last year. To prepare for the exhibition, three Turkish curators selected the artists and I added my own views. At first, two themes were suggested. One was 'jetlag', signifying the temporal, spatial and psychological distance between Turkey and Japan. The other was 'landshake', referring to fluctuations of the earth. This was partly a reference to the earthquakes that are a tragedy common to both Turkey and Japan and have left scars on the national consciousness, as is suggested in the works of Huseyin Alptekin. It is also a broader allusion to the various revolutions and radical changes that have taken place in Turkey. But when I met the artists and looked at the works and materials, the idea of 'place' sprang to mind. The first work that suggested this theme was Nasan Tur's "Don't Forget the Fragrance of Mint". This artist, who is actually a head taller than his mother, created a work in which makes himself smaller by image processing, depicting his desire to return to his childhood and seek comfort at his mother's breast. This is the place where he feels most at ease, but to which he can never return.

I noticed the two Turkish words 'neresi' (where) and 'burasi' (here) when casually looking through a travel guide at a hotel in Istanbul. To get a true sense of 'here,' indicating one's 'place,' it is first necessary to ask various questions, such as 'where am I now?,' 'where am I going?' and 'where should I seek my place?' Then the reply 'I am here' becomes a question rather than a statement. Of course you are 'here' in a sense, but another part of you questions this and your feelings waver. Making this into a question was proposed at the preparatory meeting with the curators in Turkey.

Secil Yersel's series of works reflecting her grandmother's life also strongly conveys a sense of 'place'. Her grandmother is gradually reducing her belongings and simplifying her life. Two pictures hang on her wall, one of her late husband and the other of herself when she was young, and there is a carpet for praying. For this elderly lady, this small sunny place is 'here'.

Fusun Onur's soundless installation on the theme of sound seems to be linked somehow to her magnificent old house by the Bosphorus, whose interior is itself rather like an installation. Similarly, Leyla Gediz's paintings spring from various elements including her personal memories and the city where she lives.

'Here' does not just signify location but also one's place in one's country, city or society. The historical -memories used by Gulsun Karamustafa in her works have deep roots in the social system and land of Turkey, seeming to question where her country has come from and where it is now. In the works by Esra Ersen, Cevdet Erek and Yetkin Basarir that take Istanbul as their theme, the artists make use of stereotypes, deliberately distorting them or showing the perspective of those who live in this tourist city so that we outsiders look at them from a different viewpoint. As can be seen from the Hotel Tokyo in Istanbul, Huseyin Alptekin's Istanbul is a city undergoing constant fluctuation, where even a sense of 'here' has been undermined. And what kind of 'here' will be revealed in Omer Ali Kazma's new work on the theme of the Turkish football team?

Finally, at the risk of reproducing a stereotype, I would like to mention that a sense of humor is apparent throughout this exhibition. This humor is usually accompanied by irony. When I put this to Esra Ersen, who had come to Japan early for a new project, she said cheerfully, 'Humor and irony are always necessary when confronting difficult situations.'

(Translated by Richard Sams)