Mirror

Mirror

The Mirror Project

The Mediterranean region has always generated and orchestrated a unique understanding of imagination through unexpected associative processes, especially through the theme of water as an overarching motif. The project operates as an analogy to observing a broken mirror with its fragments. In this context, the main curatorial objective of the project is to incorporate the mirroring of various elements to one another: the city of Agrigento, the element of water, films, photographs, music, and the audience creating a strong and unified experience at Teatro Pirandello Agrigento, with a scheduled program spanning a month. This experience will also be captured in a book that reflects and intertwines these elements, narrated through the perspective of a stray cat named ‘Surfaro’. 

Curated by Basak Senova and Jonatan Habib Engqvist, the "Mirror" project consists of three interconnected chapters. The first chapter is the experimental exhibition held on the stage of Teatro Pirandello in Agrigento. It combines a film screening with photographs, inviting the audience to step onto the stage to experience the photographs in a unique exhibition setup and watch the films as opera audiences. The second chapter is a book that mirrors art and the city of Agrigento. It processes observations through the eyes of a stray cat hovering around the city. The third chapter entails the dissemination of the film programme and the book to partner institutions in different cities across Europe: Istanbul Modern (Istanbul), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), Kunsthaus Dahlem (Berlin), Liljevalchs Konsthall (Stockholm), National Museum of Modern Art (Zagreb), The Art Rooms, ARUCAD (Kyrenia) and CVAR Centre of Visual Arts and Research (Nicosia); Cyprus, The Reykjanes Art Museum (Reykjavik).

The participating artists of the project are Ali Cherri (LB/FR), Almagul Menlibeyeva (KZ/DE), Cristiana de Marchi (IT/LB/AE), Egle Oddo (IT/FI), Emilija Škarnulytė (LT), Francesco Bellina (IT), Hera Büyüktasciyan (TR), Herrana Addisu (ET), Icelandic Love Corporation (IS), Isa Rosenberger (AT), Jesper Just (DE), Johan Thom (ZA), Larissa Sansour (PS/UK) – Søren Lind (DK/UK), Marcus Neustetter (AT), Marja Halender (FI), The ZoNE (AT), Maria Lantz (SE), Nisrine Boukhari (SY/AT), Oya Silbery (CY), Rojda Tugrul (TR/AT), Ramesch Daha (AT), Superflex (DK), Theresa Traore Dahlberg (SE), Wael Shawky (EG), and William Kentridge (ZA).

All editions of the photographs will be produced in Agrigento and donated to the Agrigento City Museum upon the conclusion of the exhibition at Teatro Pirandello, Agrigento.

The Mirror project is executed in collaboration with The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting], a PEEK project awarded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and hosted by the Institute of Art Sciences and Art Education at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. DOI: 10.55776/AR721

I curatori: Basak Senova e Jonatan Habib Engqvist

Basak Senova is a curator and designer (MFA in Graphic Design and PhD in Art, Design and Architecture) who has been writing about art, technology, and media since 1995, initiating and developing projects and curating exhibitions. From 2020 to 2022, she directed the Octopus Program, a research-based educational platform, as a visiting professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is currently a senior postdoctoral researcher at the same institution with her PEEK project The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting]. Senova curated the Turkish and North Macedonian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and 2015. She also curated UNCOVERED (Cyprus, 2011–2013); the second and fifth editions of the D-0 ARK Underground Biennial of Contemporary Art (Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2013, 2019); the Helsinki Photography Biennial and Jerusalem Show VII: Fractures (2014); Lines of Passage (Lesbos, 2016); and the inaugural exhibition B7L9 in Tunis (2019). She chaired the Art Gallery for SIGGRAPH 2014 (Vancouver) and led the CrossSections project, curating exhibitions across Europe (2017–2019). She concluded the Octopus Program in 2022 with exhibitions in Tunis and Vienna and has continued curating shows in Tbilisi, Palermo, Berlin, Pretoria and Istanbul.

Jonatan Habib Engqvist is a curator, author, and occasional educator. He is co-editor of Ord&Bild, and has curated experimental projects and exhibitions on four continents, including biennials and international festivals such as Art D-0 ARK Underground, the VR Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Cycle Music&Art Festival in Berlin/Reykjavík, Survival Kit Riga, Sinopale in Turkey, Momentum Biennale in Moss, Norway, and the Reykjavík Arts Festival. He was the founding director of the Curatorial Residency in Stockholm, director of visual arts at Iaspis, curator at Moderna Museet, and has worked at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. His writings have been widely published in multiple languages in books and exhibition catalogues around the world.