For his edition, Elburuz Fidan uses the archive material FTG_1181 “A Parrot in a Cage” of the Turkish State Archives. From his artistic and imaginative engagement with the found image, a black and white photography, Fidan has extracted an open window, the eye of a parrot and a diagram as motifs for the three caps in his edition. They are symbols for and analogies to queer materialities and the formability of memory and archives. Following on from Sarah Ahmed’s concept of “queer use”, Fidan examines the ways in which existing materials, fragments and marginalized objects can be linked and reworked. In doing so, he explores questions of missing or lacking preservation in order to produce counter-knowledge. As the signet of the Department of Parrots, they stand for glamour, transformation, openings and loopholes in order to manipulate archived material and its logics and flaws. Where the archive otherwise follows fixed logics, bundles documents and creates order, the photograph of the parrot as an indeterminate document becomes an opportunity to escape these logics.
Elburuz Fidan studied at the HfK Bremen and the HfBK Hamburg. He is currently a PhD Fellow at the Binational Artistic Programme at HfK Bremen and the HDK Váland, Gothenburg. His works have been shown at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen (2023 and 2024), FAK Förderverein für Aktuelle Kunst, Münster (2024), Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Frise Künstlerhaus Hamburg, Frappant Galerie, Hamburg (all 2022) and Kampnagel, Hamburg (2021).
Elburuz Fidan
Department of Parrots, 2024
Organic cotton caps, 3 motifs
One size, adjustable triglide buckle
Edition of 13 + 2 AP each
Euro 45,– / 40,–*
incl. 19% VAT
*for members
Black Cap: A Queer Gaze
French Navy Cap: Repetition‘s Accident
Bright Blue Cap: Absence of the Parrot