From an interview with Aleksandra Kostic:

A: How would you describe your artistic world? What kind of an artist are you? Which tools do you use?

S.A: I am a video artist , I have  been producing projects consisting of video films, sound installations and music videos by working with teenagers in Turkey, Germany, Denmark , France, Sweden, Iran, Azarbeican, Armenia etc. and  also  I am working with people who have experienced life on the brink of death to such a degree that they have nearly lost their ability to even imagine a future for themselves. Such as women who are living in women shelters under big death threat, or girls who are attempted suicide .

A: What ideas do you represent? What is important for you? What is the message you are trying to transmit to the audience?

All my works are actually tightly woven together and also they are all base of sociological issues. Being an artist in Turkey, you are not exactly free to do everything that you want. You have some responsibilities .In most of my work ,it's about questioning and judging the time you live in, what is the situation, what's your position according to the changing situation in Turkey. I can say all my works to generate questions. How should it be done? How should it be? While these  wars and massacres continue, how can we express our or my response or lack of response through art ?

A: What about your recent project ?

It's called 're-locate'. We're working on that, and it will open on September 13^th.

in Istanbul. The theoretical framework of the Re-Locate project is based on the population exchange between Anatolia and the Balkans and it focuses on the flexibility of the borders, cultural similarities, controversies, the lack of communication between cultures, as well as various methods of developing new communication models.

This Project proposes an experimental workshop practice that is based on mobility and translocation. The suggested mobility tries to encompass the physical transitivity of the cities and borders, as well as the flexibility of historical, identitarian, and ideological borders.

For this Project we are collaborating with some non--profit organisations from Plovdiv, Athens, Skopje and Pristina. There are eight artists from Turkey, and from each cities (Sophia, Athens, Skopje and Pristina) one artist taking apart in this project .

 I am in the backstage,  While the journey and the cities are experienced with a great pace, it is documenting how the artists work, how they affect each other during the process, how they position themselves according to the changing conditions, how this is reflected in their projects, how they create a transition space between each other, as well as how the project is re-shaped all the time... The kitchen is where all these are documented...

We can also say that, it is documenting the documents, in a way. It even includes notes on artists' notebooks, their conversations, the games they play in the bus..It includes all these. It is really difficult to catch every single thing. That's why it is so important to collaborate and act together with the assistant. It is also crucial to prepare the artists and let them know what a mobile atelier is and how the process can unfold. The other important part is to provide motivation...

It is also like coaching keeping the group together in the face of dispersions or in-group conflicts, providing motivation and stabilizing the conditions to keep up working. The conditions can change rapidly. Sometimes, an artist starts with a project, but she cannot keep up with it, then you have to convince her that her plan B might work or she can come up with something new by using her observations over there.

You have to remind people that this is different than getting prepared for an exhibition; it is an experimental process in which one has to document all possible ways... Before going to the countries where we will realize our projects, we contact the institutions that we are going to work with and tell them artists' projects in detail. This makes us gain some time.

In the future, we are going to continue all these projects in the Arab countries in 2013, and probably some other projects in Europe .

 some videos to see:  through, www.youtube.com , search by: seldaasal2
'I dream but...'  2009  http://vimeo.com/20458871
Com'on come here, I can not hear you!'  2008   http://vimeo.com/27264430
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2Mvv2cWhg&feature=channel_page

Project for Istanbul Biennial 10th.


 
Diyarbakır / Benusen 2008
http://vimeo.com/13854855
http://artprojectforyoungsters.blogspot.com/p/hey-world-hear-my-voice-diyarbakr-2008.html






EXHIBITIONS  (by selection)