FLY TO BAKU Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan 17–29 January 2012 Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12 Cover singoli.indd 3 02/12/11 11.31 Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 2 01/12/11 18.02 FLY TO BAKU Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan CURATED BY HERVÉ MIKAELOFF Aga Ousseinov Aida Mahmudova Ali Hasanov Altai Sadiqzadeh Eliyar Alimirzoyev Enver Askerov Faig Ahmed Fakhriyya Mammadova Farid Rasulov Huseyn Haqverdi Irina Eldarova Leyla Aliyeva Mammad Mustafayev Melik Aghamalov Mirnadir Zeynalov Niyaz Najafov Orkhan Huseynov Rashad Alakbarov Rashad Babayev Sanan Aleskerov Tora Aghabayova Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 3 01/12/11 18.02 Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 4 01/12/11 18.02 FOREWORD by Leyla Aliyeva Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Founder of Baku Magazine My homeland, Azerbaijan, is going through an unprecedented period of revival and nowhere is this more obvious than in the field of contemporary art, an area I am deeply passionate about. All my life I have enjoyed exploring contemporary art, from strolling round Tate Modern in London when I was growing up to investigating all the amazing works that we now have on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Baku. I love to draw and some of the most inspiring places I have visited in Baku are the studios overlooking the Caspian Sea, alive with artists creating new ideas and exuding excitement and ingenuity. Although today the revival of contemporary art is the focus of this exhibition, we have a long history of creativity and artistic endeavour in Azerbaijan. From the eleventh century, Baku has been an important trading post along the Silk Road, which shaped the city’s traditional culture in Zoroastrian, Christian and Islamic traditions. In the second half of the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth century, Azerbaijan underwent a cultural renaissance that drew on, among other influences, that golden age of the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. Although there were periods where Azerbaijani art was more of an underground phenomenon, Azerbaijan is a country full of artists now hungry for inspiration, creativity and recognition. That is why I am so excited to be part of showcasing these amazing works to an international audience. Many of the works that you will see are by young artists and many have been created for this exhibition and so are on show for the first time. I hope that you will enjoy discovering this inspirational Azerbaijani art. So let the artists take you on a journey. Fly to Baku with us. Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 5 01/12/11 18.02 Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 6 01/12/11 18.02 FOREWORD by Simon de Pury Chairman, Phillips de Pury & Company During the summer of 2011, my wife Michaela and I went to Baku. This was our first trip to Azerbaijan’s capital, a city with a vibrant art scene. We went to visit many artists’ studios and were struck by their quality and originality. Thus the idea was born to organize an exhibition that would highlight the main talents of Azerbaijani contemporary art. We felt the best approach would be to ask a prominent and highly respected curator to select and curate an exhibition. We were pleased that Hervé Mikaeloff enthusiastically embraced this project. This catalogue and exhibition are the result of his exploration. We are very happy to stage this show in our magnificent premises at Howick Place in London since it is our pride at Phillips de Pury & Company to always be the first to present the best contemporary art from any part of the world. Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 7 01/12/11 18.02 Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 8 01/12/11 18.02 PREFACE by Hervé Mikaeloff Curator of ‘Fly to Baku’ “Fly to Baku: a trip to the heart of Azerbaijani contemporary art.” Advised by Michaela and Simon de Pury and invited by Leyla Aliyeva and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, I went to Baku during the second half of 2011 for an exploration of the art being made in the capital of Azerbaijan. Used to emerging artistic scenes, I was surprised by the dynamism of the people and the energy in the arts. Azerbaijan is a Caucasian country located on the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Independent since 1991, Azerbaijan has been able to establish itself as one of the most innovative countries in the region. Central Baku is composed of an old fortified town, registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage list with the Maiden Tower (Qiz Qalasi) and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, since 2000. Opened in March 2009, Baku Museum of Modern Art presents more than 800 works by Azerbaijani painters and sculptors. The museum was designed as a total art work by the artist Altai Sadiqzadeh. The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, created by Zaha Hadid, should soon host an international conference centre, and be home to a library and spaces for art exhibitions. Its audacious architecture will complete a cultural centre that will turn Baku into a major destination. Rooted in a thousand-year-old past, the contemporary art of Azerbaijan reflects clearly the country’s cultural character – one that is full of life, colour and contrasts. The combination of abstraction and figurative art also reveals the deep influence of the international and Soviet avant-gardes of the beginning of the twentieth century. Thanks to the help of Emin Mammadov, artistic advisor of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and founder of Q Gallery, I had the opportunity during my visits to Baku to meet or to see works of more than a hundred artists. For the exhibition in London, we have decided to show a hundred works, most of which have been specially made for the exhibition by the twenty-one artists. Paintings, installations, videos, photographs, performances – the exhibition is like a snapshot of the contemporary art scene, with its wealth, its abundance, its contradictions and its authenticity. It will lift the veil off this new emerging and highly promising artistic scene so all visitors can fully appreciate the diversity of Azerbaijani contemporary art. I want to sincerely thank all the artists who agreed to participate in this exhibition and who have made this unveiling possible. Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 9 01/12/11 18.02 INTRODUCTION by Emin Mammadov Artistic Advisor to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and Director of Q Gallery, Baku Azerbaijan has the unique destiny to become a bridge between East and West in a number of ways – economically, politically and, of course, culturally – and now Azerbaijan, which has gained and consolidated its independence, has a unique style in the arts. In the 1960s and 1970s, during which time the western world was being introduced to the professional world of modern art, Azerbaijan, like all other Soviet republics, was behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, even during those years, an echo of these new trends in contemporary art materialized in Azerbaijan in the form of dissident art. Its core was the so-called Absheron School, which is now considered by experts to have been a cultural phenomenon of global importance. The artists of this school – including Kamal Ahmed, Tofiq Javadov, Javad Mirjavadov, Ashraf Muradov, Rasim Babayev, Gennadiy Brijatyuk and others – criticized the system and protested against the existing regime. A notable feature of this dissident Azerbaijani art was that the lion’s share of its followers were painters (including some graphic artists and sculptors), whereas in Europe, artists, moving away from classical techniques, were exploiting the latest technology. The period of the 1980s and 1990s became a starting point for the development of modern conceptual art in Azerbaijan. The most recent period of contemporary art in Azerbaijan, from around the year 2000, marks the emergence and development of conceptual art and it is the past decade which has given the country a fundamentally new direction of visual art. Conceptual art in this context is the art of new technologies and serious intellectual ideas which are far in advance of contemporary perception. Its best-known exponents around the world are for the most part members of the middle and older generations of artists now. However, the current conceptual art of Azerbaijan which developed over the past ten years, has been created mainly by younger artists. Since 2007, Azerbaijan has presented its contemporary art in its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and it has been from that foundational base that the contemporary art of Azerbaijan has emerged. Participating in the Venice Biennale for the third time in 2011, Azerbaijan exhibited works of mature, well-known Azerbaijani artists whose creative activity has achieved international renown, such as Altai Sadiqzadeh, Mikail Abdurrahmanov, Aydan Salakhova, Zeygam Azizov, Khanlar Gasimov and Aga Ousseinov. Despite the fact that the last four live abroad (in Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America), they all share an unbreakable connection with Baku, which has contributed significantly to the personalities of these artists and has made a very particular imprint on their work. Participation in the Biennale presents a new and valuable experience for curators and artists and creates new contacts that can take our contemporary art to new levels. Azerbaijan_UK_Jan12.indd 10 01/12/11 18.03 Any commentary on modern art of Azerbaijan must, in my opinion, include a mention of the creation of the Museum of Modern Art in 2009. This project was initiated by Mehriban Aliyeva, First Lady of Azerbaijan, and the museum is now seen as the flagship of Azerbaijani contemporary art. The entire museum, with its unusual architecture and free exposure of paintings and sculptures, is itself the product of avant-garde art – the artist Altai Sadiqzadeh originated the concept of both the architecture and design of the museum, the selection and installation of the collection, and this exhibition.