Nevin Aladağ’s works from Raise the Roof are on view in the group exhibition “Shifting the Silence. Die Stille verschieben” curated by Eva Huttenlauch and Matthias Mühling at Lenbachhaus in Munich, Germany.
"Shifting the Silence" is the title of Etel Adnan's last book, published in 2021. The German translation "Die Stille verschieben" was published posthumously in 2022. Recognizably writing at the end of her life, Etel Adnan offers melancholy, poetic, and very personal thoughts on major themes of life.
The exhibition proposes appropriating a central concern of "Shifting the Silence": reflecting on the difficulty of fully verbalizing works of visual art and making them tangible. Linguization—i.e. the translation of artworks and aesthetic experiences into words and language—poses a challenge in many respects. Language is not only a means of communication, it is also limited and sometimes even a handicap when it comes to conveying complex impressions and perceptions. Etel Adnan suggests "shifting" silence—in other words, expanding the boundaries of what can be said and not rationalizing the poetic nature of the many forms of expression in the arts, but accepting it as an intrinsic value.
Performed in 2007 in the former East–West Berlin border zone, Raise the Roof features four female dancers moving independently to music unheard by the viewer, their stiletto heels amplified to create a powerful rhythm. The work explores control, freedom, and a distinct form of female resistance. Four pieces from the performance restaged by the artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale will be on view on December 9 in the new group exhibition opening on the terrace floor of PİLEVNELİ.
Photo: Lukas Schramm, Lenbachhaus
Video: Biennale Arte 2017
