KÖKEN ERGUN

THE FLAG
2006
Video installation, two-channel video projection, sound, 9′01”

UNTITLED
2004
Video, no sound, 8′54”

The Flag is the second part of Ergun’s video series about the state-controlled national day ceremonies of the Turkish Republic. Shot during the April 23rd Children’s Day, which marks the establishment of the new Turkish Parliament, and hence the official demise of the Ottoman Empire back in 1920, this split screen film documents a pompous patriotic performance devised by elders to be performed by children. Hosted by the mayor and governor of Istanbul, with the participation of a high ranking general, the ceremony features poems and oaths read out loud by primary school children, while patriotism becomes a hard-lined nationalism. One of the poems, “The Flag”, is recited passionately by a girl who vows to “destroy the nest of any bird who doesn’t salute (her country’s) flag in flight” and “dig the grave of anyone who doesn’t look at the flag the way (she does).”

In the video Untitled the artist is shown repeatedly putting on different types of headscarves until, frustrated, he finally bursts into tears.
“Amidst growing discussions on the headscarf issue, the president of Turkey was hosting the annual Republic Day Ball at the Presidential Palace. He sent only one-person invitations to the members of the Parliament, which was ruled by the Islamic Democratic Party. This was his strategy to prevent their wives, who would naturally wear headscarves, from attending the reception. I was outraged by this conservative secularism and wanted to express my personal protest, embodying the pressure on the contemporary Islamic body.” (K.E.)

KÖKEN ERGUN (1976, Istanbul, TR) studied acting at the İstanbul University and completed his postgraduate degree in Classics at King’s College London, followed by an MA degree in Visual Communication Design at the Bilgi University. After working with the US theatre director Robert Wilson, Ergun became involved more with contemporary art, specifically video and performance. He has exhibited internationally at institutions including Platform Garanti, Istanbul, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Arts, Helsinki, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Arts Taipei, Art in General, New York, Digital ArtLab, Tel Aviv, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam. His video works have been screened at film festivals, including Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Sydney and Zagreb Film Festivals. He is the recipient of the Tiger Award of the Rotterdam Film Festival for his short film The Flag.