Anthology of Promises

2022 – 2023
IZMIR

How much have “past promises” shaped the future? Promises made in order to influence and govern society mostly failed to go beyond the representation of a short moment in history. We are faced with one of the results of the loss of collective memory: A future without an unexamined past. The rhetoric used by the problematic mechanism to resolve issues has resulted in a pattern where that rhetoric is consistently forgotten, which means the same mistakes are repeated over and over again.

This research-based project on collective memory focuses on promises made by political parties and figures over a long period of time. Different video works featuring campaign promises made during general and local elections by political parties and their representatives within the specified time frame. This memory space tracing a lost past allows the viewer to take in a reading of social history based on evidence.

Özgür Demirci

Özgür Demirci continues to work with diverse materials. His body of work consists of videos, objects, and installations, site-specific and otherwise. Demirci graduated from Yıldız Teknik University’s Combined Arts department in 2008 and completed his master’s degree in C:Art:Media at HDK-Valand Academy of Arts and Design in 2010. He obtained his PhD from Dokuz Eylül University Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2022.

Among his selected exhibitions are “Anthology of Promises” at Pilot Gallery, “Susuz Yaz” Eldem Space for Art, Ajman Film Biennial, The 19th Media and Art Biennial WRO 2021, Tatsuna International Film Festival, The 9th Athens Video and Poetry Festival, Proyector Video Festival, The 17th Athens Digital Art Festival, Trumbauer Family Collection, Kasa Gallery, The 8th Makedox Film Festival in Skopje, 36th Istanbul Film Festival, En Masse: Books Orchestrated, The Center for Book Arts in New York, PAS, Galeri Miza in Tiran, Kassel Dokfest, Kasseler Kunstverein in Kassel, “Dedicated” at Öktem&Aykut Gallery, Stay With Me, Weserburg Museum in Bremen, “Check Point” at Depo in İstanbul, “Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Boats” at SALT Istanbul.

This page is published on 1 June 2022.
Last update: 8 June 2022