FrOZen

FrOZen is supported by European Cultural Foundation through Collaborative Grant Programme. Project organizers - Koza Visual Culture and Arts Association, Istanbul, Turkey and 5th Floor Cultural Group, Gyumri, Armenia.

The political situation in the Caucasus region and Turkey remains stagnated. Moreover, steps backward are followed - the Monument of Humanity in Kars (border city in East Turkey) a work by famous Turkish artist Mehmet Aksoy was to give a message of peace and friendship to Caucasus and the rest of the world. 35 meters high the statue is highest one in Turkey. However at his visit to Kars on January 8, the Turkish Prime Minister commented on the monument saying it is a freak and weird, insistently requiring from the mayor to turn it down and put up a park at the location... Who is deciding on the low and high artistic value? Where is the public of the city? Why it does not say its word? Why one person decides on the artistic value of the work and dictates it ?(...)

The following mediums of visual arts within the project are chosen to be a platform for community work: photography, painting, installation, performance, video... The main topics of the workshops are derived from the urban scenes, public places that can serve as a source for inspiration. Thus not only the community but also the urban spaces will be animated, reconsidered and reevaluated for the community.

The art works created by the artists and the community are organized within an exhibition and will be presented to the public in Gyumri, Kars, Diyarbakir. The catalogue of the art works will be published and spread, in cooperation with Gabi Schluttig. Project documentary will be made by Harald Schluttig.