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Beginning May 27, we will be closed as part of Oberlin College’s Sustainable Infrastructure Program.
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Learn MoreJuly 14 - December 23, 2022
In Ellen Johnson Gallery
July 14 - December 23, 2022
In Ellen Johnson Gallery
As Prussian troops prepared to crush the 1849 socialist uprising in Dresden, anarchist Mikhail Bakunin proposed that paintings from the National Museum be placed in front of the barricades, reasoning that Prussian soldiers wouldn’t dare destroy the works to breach their defenses. Inspired by Bakunin’s never-realized proposal, artist Ahmet Öğüt has created site-specific “barricades” featuring works from museum collections in Dresden, Cologne, Amsterdam, and other venues.
This summer, Bakunin’s Barricade is on view for the first time outside of Europe as part of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. The Allen Memorial Art Museum hosts the installation, which questions the function of art in times of social and political change. While speculating how far museums really would go to advance social justice, Bakunin’s Barricade offers a fulcrum point against the backdrop of recent global conflicts.
Born in Turkey in 1981, Öğüt’s artistic practice includes video, photography, and installation. After studying fine arts at Hacettepe University in Ankara, he earned a master’s degree in art and design at Yildiz Teknik University in Istanbul. As a sociocultural initiator, artist, and lecturer, Öğüt often uses humor and small gestures to comment on serious social issues. He has exhibited widely, with recent solo shows at Kunstverein Dresden and Kunsthal Charlottenburg, and group shows in the 2021 Asia Society Triennial, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Seoul Museum of Art. Öğüt represented Turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009.
Launched in 2018, FRONT International comprises a series of contemporary art exhibitions across Northeast Ohio, with artist commissions, performances, films, and public programs. This second iteration, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, builds on the successes of the first to stimulate new and sustained cultural conversations within the region.
John G.W. Cowles Director
July 15, 2022 at 12:00 p.m.
To celebrate the opening of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial of Contemporary Art, artist Ahmet Öğüt will sp...
July 16, 2022 at 12:00 p.m.
To celebrate the opening of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial of Contemporary Art, museum director Andria Derstine will...
July 23, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
As part of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial of Contemporary Art, museum director Andria Derstine will speak about the ...
October 11, 2022 at 3:00 p.m.
The installation of Ahmet Öğüt’s Bakunin’s Barricade at the Allen presents a promising moment for thinking ...
September 8, 2022 at 5:30 p.m.
How do political acts of resistance manifest physically, as visual forms? For Ahmet Öğüt’s project, Bakunin&rsquo...
October 1, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
As part of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial of Contemporary Art, museum director Andria Derstine will speak about the ...
October 28, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.
Biba Duffy-Boscagli ’23 leads an informal discussion on Ahmet Öğüt’s, Bakunin's Barricade. This event is p...
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