Reciprocal Visit
Reciprocal Visit is an experimental project initiated by Apartment Project, comprising photographs, films, writings, interactions, and talks by participants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including photography, video, music, performance, painting, and sociology. The material is produced while participants are travelling, at places where they stop, visit, or stay.
The project is conceived by Selda Asal, founder of the initiative and a video artist, and curated and organised by Serra Özhan. Participating artists include Endam Acar, Selda Asal, Volkan Aslan, Fatma Çiftçi, Zeren Göktan, Deniz Gül, Gözde Ilkin, Ceren Oykut, Gökçe Süvari, and Sophia Tabatadze. The first iteration of the collective project takes place during a journey through Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran in April 2009.
Between nations and states, understood as spaces of identity, borders are not only physical but also political. These political borders transform geography into walls, determining movement through nationality and visa regimes. Such barriers prevent passage between countries such as Turkey and Armenia, or Armenia and Azerbaijan, regardless of geographic proximity.
At the same time, cultural practices persist that undermine these state-imposed divisions. One such practice is the tradition of the reciprocal visit. Unlike Western Europe, and similar to many Arab countries and Turkey, this tradition remains active in Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Neighbourly visits, including those between people who may not know one another, are considered customary and necessary, often accompanied by small gestures such as bringing sweets.
Reciprocal Visit sets out to enact and receive such visits despite political hostility between states, using this shared cultural practice to challenge physical, political, and intellectual borders. The tradition of reciprocal visiting becomes the conceptual foundation of the project.
The collective undertakes an open-ended experimental process shaped in real time through travel by bus and train. Ideas emerge from shared experiences, conversations, and encounters, resulting in photographs, films, texts, performances, and discussions generated along the journey. Participants work collaboratively while responding to the specific conditions of each place they pass through or inhabit temporarily.
The project’s title refers both to the group’s itinerary through Georgia, Armenia, Georgia again, Azerbaijan, and Iran, and to the reciprocal visits of artists from each of these countries. A second iteration later brings artists from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to Turkey in July 2009.
In collaboration with Parkingallery, Sazmanab facilitates the Iran segment of the project and supports the realisation of each artist’s work during their visit. In Tehran, Sazmanab hosts meetings at its venue and organises a public presentation at Azad Art Gallery.
Presentations and screenings by Endam Acar, Selda Asal, Volkan Aslan, Fatma Çiftçi, Zeren Göktan, Deniz Gül, Gözde Ilkin, Ceren Oykut, Serra Özhan, Gökçe Süvari, and Sophia Tabatadze are followed by contributions from Pooya Abbasian, Ghazaleh Hedayat, and Behrang Samadzadegan.
Venue: Sazmanab, Azad Art Gallery [Tehran]
Public session: Thursday, April 16, 2009 – 4–8 PM
