MERIÇ ALGÜN RINGBORG Becoming European

November 9 – December 8, 2012

Rue de l’Abbaye 2a B 1000 meessendeclercq.com The young Turkish artist based in , Meriç Algün Ringborg (, 1983) got herself noticed in the last with a piece highlighting her personal situation in a dreamlike way: born in Istanbul, she lives in Stockholm.

For her exhibition in Brussels, she is showing in the Wunderkammer Becoming European which takes the form of a list of dates recorded meticulously. The period covered runs from 21 December 2007 to 3 June 2012. These dates correspond to different stays by the artist in a country of the European Community. The gaps left correspond to times when she left the European area, for example, to spend time in Istanbul. This way of working is both indicative of the modus operandi of the European administration in relation to non-European residents but can be interpreted as a symbolic representation of any administration since one instantly perceives a kind of rigour and repetitiveness inherent in any management system. Nevertheless, from a formal viewpoint, she displays an economy of resources that is appropriate for the minimalism and can be observed in some works by artists of the '60s (for example, poems by Carl Andre). The colours of the stamps represent different legal statuses: for tourist, red for temporary resident, purple for awaiting legal status, black for permanent resident.

With this seemingly simple work, Algün Ringborg opens up various issues. The accumulation of numbers (which look like dates once examined more closely) is obviously an absurdity that seems Kafkaesque. These dates correspond to moments in life, events that we cannot know, unless we adopt them and relate them to our own personal story.

Beyond the aridness of the information, this work can also be interpreted with the illusion and hope that any medium to long term travel in a country arouses. At the same time, any departure is accompanied by a fear or at least apprehension about leaving one's roots behind. One leaves one's roots to try and connect with those of other people, those of one's new country, even if in the case of where many of its citizens are living elsewhere in .

The artist questions her status as an immigrant. What rights does she have? How much freedom does she enjoy? Beyond that, other issues arise, more political, concerning Turkish accession to the European Union, the impossibility of finding a European consensus on the issue of immigration from Africa or Eastern Europe or, a more worrying development, the radicalisation of public opinion in many countries.

Detail of Becoming European, 2012

Installation view of Becoming European, Meessen De Clerq, 2012 41,5 x 58 cm (each, unframed) Triptych Edition of 3 BIOGRAPHY Born in 1983 in Istanbul (Turkey) Lives and works in Stockholm (Sweden)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013 Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm (Sweden) (upcoming) Frutta Gallery, () (upcoming) 2012 Prompts and Triggers: Meriç Algün Ringborg Line No.2 (Holy Bible), curated by Defne Ayas, Witte de With, (The Netherlands) The Concise Book of Visa Application Forms, curated by Anna Ingvarsson, Gävle Konstcentrum Library, Gävle (Sweden) Which No One Will Ever See, MFA Solo Exhibition at Galleri Mejan, Stockholm (Sweden) 2010 The Concise Book of Visa Application Forms, Gallery Naïve, Stockholm (Sweden)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 Epilogue: Fiction is My Rogue, curated by Anne Barlow. Romanian Cultural Institute, Stockholm (Sweden) (upcoming) When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes, curated by Jens Hoffmann. Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (USA) (upcoming) Signs Taken in Wonder, curated by Simon Rees and Bärbel Vischer. MAK, (Austria) (upcoming) 2012 Incremental Change. Galeri Non, Istanbul (Turkey) (upcoming) Babarians of the Upper-Class, curated by Sabine Winkler. Ratskeller – Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, (Germany) (upcoming) Show Off, curated by Jacob Fabricius. Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia () Detective, curated by Adam Carr. Andreas Huber,Wien (Austria) When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes, curated by Jens Hoffmann. CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (USA) Memory of Present, by coup de dés, Lietzensee, Berlin (Germany) Stockholm Music and Arts Festival, curated by Maria Lind. Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm (Sweden) Show Off, curated by Jacob Fabricius. Malmö Konsthall (Sweden) Graduation Exhibition: The Library of Unborrowed Books, Konstakademien, Stockholm (Sweden) An Incomplete History of Incomplete Works of Art, curated by Adam Carr. Francesca Minini, (Italy) Germans, Speak German! CCA, () 2011 Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 2011, curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann Solo presentations in the context of Untitled (Ross) and Untitled (Passport) and part of the group show Untitled (Passport) (Turkey) Travelogue as Allegory, Konstakademien, Stockholm (Sweden) 2010 Danföredanföredanföredan, Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm (Sweden) Open Studio Exhibition, Villa Iris, Botin Foundation, Santander () lob(E)scape, curated by Darya Pyrkina. “Qui Vive?” 2nd International Biennale for Young Art, Artplay, Moscow (Russia) The Spring Exhibition / Forårsudstillingen, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, (Denmark)

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2012 LOCATION: DATE: TIME: Hard bound book. Self-published. Edition: 500. Pages: 72 ISBN: 978-91-980180-0-4, 2012 2011 Ö (The Mutual Letter) Booklet. 42 pages. 25.000 copies Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 2011 catalogue and companion

EDUCATION 2012 MFA, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm (Sweden) 2007 BA, Visual Arts, Sabanci University, Istanbul (Turkey)