The artist’s book Out of Place brings together several works by Mîrkan Deniz. The main work Masa (English: Table) refers to the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923. It redrew the borders of Turkey and Greece while also dividing Kurdistan between Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, effectively disenfranchising both the Kurds and Armenians. During a state visit to Ankara in November 2008 to mark 80 years of diplomatic relations, Pascal Couchepin, then President of the Swiss Confederation, presented Turkey with the table on which the treaty was signed. Masa deals with the places and objects connected to this historic accord and recreates the signing table, raising questions about Switzerland’s role in the process. Other works such as Untitled (300) examine military surveillance through abstract drawings, while Barikat focuses on Kurdish resistance. Untitled (Out of Place) uses a frayed, unfinished black carpet to draw parallels between colonial relics and contemporary protests.
The book consists of four separate volumes of 48 pages each, bound together by frontal wire stitching. The works subvert the rational order of the volumes and thus transcend their boundaries, switching between different printing techniques and types of paper. The book includes essays by art historians Yasmin Afshar and Matthieu Jaccard, who contextualise Deniz’s work both historically and artistically.
Out of Place is published on the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the work Masa. Supported by Stadt Zürich Kultur, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Erna & Burgauer Stiftung, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung.
