La exhibition, curated by Gianni Mercurio and Emin Mammadov sees works by Kanan Aliyev, Ulviyya Aliyeva, Zeigam Azizov, Orkhan Mammadov and Zarnishan Yusifova, contemporary Azeri artists, inspired by the phenomenon of fake news, which today present themselves as major threats to democracy, free speech and progress, exploring the challenges and implications of living in a post-truth era where social media can be a double-edged sword.
On average we check cell phones 150 times a day and more than 2 billion people use Facebook. We live in a fake news bubble, information spreads via the web more than through official sources and the debate on fake news concerns everything except their truthfulness or falsehood. Yet it would be useful rather to welcome the points of view of others and invite the other party to dialogue. We should stimulate and participate in the debate, remembering that social media platforms generally pose in the same way. It is up to us to modify this model.
Hence, in a period of international instability, in which the world is changing as never before, this exhibition could not be more relevant. "Virtual reality" deals with issues concerning politics and today's reality.
The multimedia projects, installations and sculptures that the artists in this exhibition offer us are interesting for reflection.
Zeigam Azizov in his "Headlines" focuses on the influence of titles. The work is a textual and visual essay and is in part a media response to the complex relationship between images and time. “Headlines” demonstrates how headlines have become a language for addressing global multicultural movements and conveying ideas while creating a whole new picture of the world.
Zeigam Azizov was born in Salyan in 1963. He currently lives and works in London, UK.
Zarnishan Yusif (Yusifova) focuses on the relationship between social media and human relations in a sort of cyber installation. His work "Bubble Reflection" highlights the relationship and influence of the media on human beings and their mind where the anthropomorphic figures are perfectly aligned almost militarily represent a hypnotized humanity, inhabitants of a planetary Metropolis whose empty heads passively welcome a virtual reality.
Zarnishan Yusifova was born in Baku in 1985. She lives in Baku.
Orkhan Mammadov through an inst form he poses two immersive audiovisual experiments that blur the boundaries between physical and digital space. “Circular Repetition” the work features more advanced machine learning algorithms based on artificial intelligence.
Orkhan Mammadov was born in Ganja, Azerbaijan in 1990. He currently lives and works between New York, Prague and Baku.
Kanan Aliyev and Ulviyya Aliyeva present two works. “Globe” an apparently immobile work that changes its direction with a slight interference. In their second project, “The Slinky effect”, Slinky jumps on people's heads to represent the social network news flow that we are constantly inundated with. The figures communicate only through these flows without turning their gaze, they are beings now without empathy, with a gray and uniform appearance.
Kanan Aliyev was born in Baku in 1983. Ulviyya Aliyeva was born in Baku in 1986.
Curators
John Mercury
Independent curator, lives in Rome.
Gianni Mercurio has been working for 30 years as a curator and essayist in the field of modern and contemporary art. Specializing in American art, he collaborated with the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku in 2013, the year in which he curated the exhibition “Andy Warhol, Life, Death and Beauty”. He has curated solo exhibitions on Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Segal, Roy Lichtenstein and group exhibitions on pop-art, hyperrealism and American graffiti. He has worked as guest curator at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the MOCA in Lyon, the MACRO in Rome, the MAXXI in Rome, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku and other museums in Italy, Austria, Spain, Belgium and Finland.
Emin Mammadov
Artistic advisor of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. He lives in Baku.
In 2012 he was awarded the title of Knight of Azerbaijani Art. Emin Mammadov has curated several exhibitions in Azerbaijan and Europe including, in particular, “UNDER ONE SUN. The Art of Living Together” for the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the 2017 Art Biennale, as well as the exhibitions “Beyond the Line” and “Vita Vitale” for the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the 2015 Art Biennale. Between 2016 and 2018, she curated the international traveling exhibition "Live Life" in London, Paris, Berlin, Tbilisi and Moscow.
Executor: Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Baku, Azerbaijan
Commissioner: Ambassador Mammad Akhmadzada
Participating artists: Zeigam Azizov, Orkhan Mammadov, Zarnishan Yusifova, Kanan Aliyev, Ulviyya Aliyeva
Coordinators: Narmina Khalilova, Farhad Boyukzada, Paolo De Grandis, Carlotta Scarpa, PDG Arte Communications
Venue of the exhibition: Palazzo Lezze, Campo Santo Stefano, San Marco 2949
Opening to the public: 11 May – 24 November 2019
Opening hours: 10.00 – 18.00 – Closed on Mondays (except 13 May, 2 September, 18 November 2019).
Cover photo by Ugo Carmeni
