“Art has the power of its undefinability”. An interview with Banu Cennetoglu

Abstract

This new feature of "Looking-in-between" focuses on two works by the artist Banu Cennetoglu, respectively called "False Witness" and "The List".The starting point of the first work is the visit to an asylum seekers registration center, Ter Apel (The Netherlands). The second presents a list of 6,336 refugees who died within the European borders since 1993, a list which the artist intends to disseminate in the city of Amsterdam. Art work ? Plan ? What can be said of the creation process when the artist's eye focuses on the most crude reality ? We have been particularly interested in this artist's visual approach and in the originality not only of her look at but also and above all of her attitude dedicated to the mediation and the possibility of a dialogue between the artist and the public. In this respect, "questions" seems to be the keyword. A questioning motivating the artist, her will to do and the way she does it. A questioning that is intended to be submitted to the observer when confronted to an artwork. The link between the words "art" and "politics" for Banu Cennetoglu -if it exists -is given by the relation to uncertainty, not considered as a problem but as a tool, or even a force for the artist concerned by the reality.The visual dimension of Banu Cennetoglu's works -as the artist indicated us during the interview -being essential, we invite the reader to visit her personal website (http:// www.banucennetoglu.com) 1 .About "False Witness" Banu CENNETOGLU (B.C.) : False Witness started to take shape in my mind after I saw the "Asylum Seeker Registration Center" (prior to the attribution of the status of refugee) in Ter Apel, Holland.The process involving the asylum seeker once he or she is inside is parallel to the architectural structure of the building.