citism and its tractatus
logico-philosophicus

1. Citism is an art project.
1.1 Citism started in the summer of 2005 as part of a curatorial workshop conducted by Basak Senova from Istanbul. What seemed to be an exercise later developed into artistic practice.
1.2 The idea started with acknowledgement of the problems concerning urbanity and the urban culture.
1.3 It was developed by a group of young people with the aspiration to create a contemporary art project for the city.

2. “What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts.”
2.1 By mapping out the characteristics of the city, we tried to discover the codes of the urban language.
2.2 Except by its Zip Code, the City is recognized by a different code: the cultural one. It is dynamic ... it is the left-over, the mass-mixing, the boiling crowd, the cultural exchange within an active place.
2.3 Citism is an effort to detect the typical Code of the City which may provide an opportunity to represent this code in an artistic form.
2.4 Citism provides a different context for the city, by taking place in a gallery space. By displacing the atmosphere, it emphasizes the existence of the small things particular to urbanity. Yet, such small things can be recognized as the Code of the City.

3. “The logical picture of the facts is the thought.”
3.1 The idea is to depict an abstract representation of the City: by sound, by visuals, and by the City itself as a living space.
3.2 The first step (fact) of Citism is an exhibition (the concept).
3.3 The exhibition does not include the gallery space only. It also occupies the public space around it.
3.4 The exhibition consists of three parts (facts) of urbanity.
3.5 Boris Petrovski’s distorted images represent the first part.
3.5.1 The vague images on the metal sheets correspond with the illusion of the distortion that we receive from the motion of the city.
3.6 The second part considers the sound of the city.
3.6.1 Antonio Dimitrov’s manipulated loud sound indicates the interactive occasions of the City.
3.7 The third part is the visual one.
3.7.1 Neda Firfova’s works amplify the urban glimpse of the whole exhibition.

4. The aim of Citism is to develop an artistic practice which will constantly re-discover the urban code and urbanity through various types of projects.

5. “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”
5.1 Whereof you cannot speak about Citism, thereof you must be silent.
5.1.1 Whereof you can speak about Citism, thereof you must speak up.


1 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Pholosophicus, translation in English www.gutenberg.org, proposition 2
2 ibid. proposition 3
3 ibid. proposition 7

Curatoarial statement

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