Rebels of the Dance
2002 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
10 min 52
Fikret Atay
In the video Rebels of the Dance , two boys are filmed dancing to traditional Kurdish songs inside of the confined space of an ATM. Shy, proud and joyful, the two boys appear to be influenced by a third person – the artist and his camera. Their play of eyes creates an atmosphere reminding one of the close scrutiny and state control of the Kurdish population. While Atay films, the music grows and intensifies, and the ATM machine becomes a simple decor for the scene, losing its proper function. As if in a state of triumph, music and dance take on the role of a new language of power, juxtaposing local identity with an international dimension of the city and country. This simple performance gives meaning to the geographical and political situation of Batman, whose oil resources are rich, although its citizens rarely reap benefit from its natural wealth. *This title is a variation of a televised transmission representing 90 folk dancers “Sultans of the Dance” which was a big success in Turkey.
It is said that the artist Fikret Atay secretly stole his parent’s camera to film the city of Batman and its citizens in East Turkey. His first experiments later transformed themselves into his first videos such as Fast and Best (2002) and Rebels of the Dance (2002). The city of Batman is a mid-sized Turkish city situated on the border with Irak. Its geographical and political situation inevitably contextualizes the work of Atay and inside of this context is Atay’s focus on the city’s citizens, its communities and traditions, whether linguistic, family orientated, musical or religious. Camera in hand, Atay makes short videos of everyday life. Despite the fact that they are direct and spontaneous, the images conserve an ambiguity, at times mysterious from a outsider’s point of view. In this regard, Atay translates reality while adhering to a larger grain of complexity. Fikret Atay was born in Batman, Turkey in 1976. He lives and works in Batman, Turkey.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Illusions of home, and the hyper-capitalism behind technology, explored in show by Hong Kong artist who finally feels at home … in Finland | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Art + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more A still from Everything is a Projection (2023), a video in which Hong Kong-born, Finland-based artist Sheung Yiu explains what it felt like to rediscover childhood comic books and how he tried and failed to preserve their essence...
© » LENS SCRATCH
Collective Week: Kinship Photography Collective - LENSCRATCH Fine Art Photography Daily Subscribe / Contact / About Home Photographers Browse All Browse Alphabetically Browse by Genre Browse by Subject Browse by Place Browse by Process Features Publisher’s Spotlight The States Project Alaska Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Content Aware DEVELOPER Mixtapes Art and Science Competition: The Heart of the Matter Book Reviews Geometry In the Dark Insecta Magic Night The Natural World/Nature Women and Earth The Art of Healing Lenscratch Student Prize Winners 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 Notes from a Curator Exhibitions Interviews Articles Photographers on Photographers Resources Artist Residencies Calls For Entry Lenscratch Library Portfolio Reviews Photo Festivals Online Magazines Print Magazines Sites of Interest Organizations and Institutions Photography Charities Grants Submit About Submissions Submit to Lenscratch Exhibitions Submit To Art and Science Award Submit to Student Prize Submit Your Project Shop Home Photographers Browse All Browse Alphabetically Browse by Genre Browse by Subject Browse by Place Browse by Process Features Publisher’s Spotlight The States Project Alaska Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Content Aware DEVELOPER Mixtapes Art and Science Competition: The Heart of the Matter Book Reviews Geometry In the Dark Insecta Magic Night The Natural World/Nature Women and Earth The Art of Healing Lenscratch Student Prize Winners 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 Notes from a Curator Exhibitions Interviews Articles Photographers on Photographers Resources Artist Residencies Calls For Entry Lenscratch Library Portfolio Reviews Photo Festivals Online Magazines Print Magazines Sites of Interest Organizations and Institutions Photography Charities Grants Submit About Submissions Submit to Lenscratch Exhibitions Submit To Art and Science Award Submit to Student Prize Submit Your Project Shop Collective Week: Kinship Photography Collective by Kassandra Eller December 12, 2023 ©Kimberly Anderson, We Still Have The Seeds In the past few years, the term artist collective has become common, especially in larger cities where hubs of creativity form...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
The Secret Life Of Haw Par Villa: How tours are bringing the arts to life | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints January 8, 2022 By Dia Hakim K (1,270 words, 4-minute read) Ever since the pandemic hit, the notion of travel in Singapore has manifested in a variety of forms...
© » KADIST
Abraham Oghobase
2018This series of photographs is inspired by the artist’s travels to Jos, Nigeria...
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS
Long Life, Low Energy: Designing for a Circular Economy | Tate Liverpool An exhibition from the Royal Institute of British Architects about the climate emergency and its relation to architecture Tate Liverpool and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) are forming a new partnership on Liverpool’s waterfront...
© » KADIST
Drinks at 6pm, Screening at 7pm This filmic portrait of Guy de Cointet , the French-born, California-based artist, compiles interviews with friends and colleagues such as John Baldessari , Larry Bell , Richard Jackson , Morgan Fisher , Paul McCarthy , Robert Wilhite , Christophe Bourseiller , Violeta Sanchez, and Gus Foster ...
© » ARTNEWS REVIEWS
Black Figures, Modern Art Enter the Met’s European Painting Galleries – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All November 20, 2023 10:31am Pablo Picasso joins El Greco in the Met's new European paintings presentation, which expands the purview to include modern art...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
Join Purchase College’s Creative Hub for Graduate Studies in Art Skip to content Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery installation: Lane Sell, “Navelstring” (2023), silkscreen, painting, cyanotype, and assemblage The MFA in Visual Arts at Purchase College, State of New York (SUNY), is a small, selective interdisciplinary program that fosters the artistic, intellectual, and professional growth of students through independent studio work and rigorous academic studies...
© » SLASH PARIS
En d’infinies variations — Centre culturel canadien — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook En d’infinies variations — Centre culturel canadien — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back En d’infinies variations Exhibition Mixed media Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Skin Deep, 2014-2020 (Détail) Photography with an augmented reality component Courtesy de l’artiste En d’infinies variations Ends in 4 months: December 7, 2023 → April 19, 2024 The world accelerated as one industrial revolution after another produced societal and aesthetic changes...
© » KADIST
Mungo Thomson
2010In Thomson’s Untitled (TIME) , every front cover of TIME magazine is sequentially projected to scale at thirty frames per second...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/3WYM5PKXHWASWGOE63KE5FXY5E.jpg)
© » ROYAL ACADEMY
My sketchbook: colourful drawings by Bob and Roberta Smith RA | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts Bob and Roberta Smith RA’s sketchbook My sketchbook: colourful drawings by Bob and Roberta Smith RA Read more Become a Friend My sketchbook: colourful drawings by Bob and Roberta Smith RA Published 18 September 2023 Take a look inside the sketchbook of Bob and Roberta Smith RA and learn how to create a visual poem...