Such Claims on Territory Transform Spatial Imagination into Obscure CAN ALTAY

The Turkish artist Can Altay was invited by ar/ge kunst and Lungomare to a residency-project which started at the end of 2014 and which continues until summer 2016. Since the beginning of this project Altay has been conducting a profound study of the given situation in Bolzano being particularly interested in the close-by mountain Virgolo.
Altay is stimulating a public debate about the relationship of the city to this mountain which being vividly used in the past is practically abandoned today. Starting from a local phenomenon the artist widens the focus of his project posing questions regarding the possession and use of land and infrastructure which are of general relevance.
His artistic practice consists of designing a process which is set up of single ‘fragments’ – impressions, interpretations and comments of the present.

After analysing the Virgolo from a rather distant point of view which allowed the artist to understand its complexity, Altay decided to engage directly with the mountain from November / December 2015 onwards. He therefore developed the new episode “Such Territorial Claims Transform Spatial Imagination into Obscure (Third Fragment in Two Parts)”. While its first part is held on the mountain itself the second creates a visual connection with it from distinct points in the city.

Split Horizon (Virgolo Edition)
Intervention in public space
From December 2015 to May 2016, Bolzano

“Split Horizon (Virgolo Edition)” consists of a viewing device that moves along a trajectory. The 15 locations where the objects is positioned for a certain amount of time are of significance for Altay’s narration and connected with the Virgolo, the mountain in the outskirts of Bolzano. All spots are representative for the spatial dynamics and urban politics of Bolzano and the history of the city. The device invites the public to follow the artist’s view on the local situation and to think about global questions which are related to public claims of space and the inhabitation of infrastructure.
After transcurring its foreseen path the device will remain at disposition for the public which is invited to take it to new locations.

always 2.30-4.30 p.m., Bolzano
02.12.2015 Piazza Walther
06.12.2015 Mediaworld
13.01.2016 Eurac
27.01.2016 Piazza Tribunale
10.02.2016 Tower of the Museo Civico
24.02.2016 Funicular to Renon
09.03.2016 Private Apartment (Via Cappuccini 14, 3rd Floor)
16.03.2016 unibz Roof Terrace F6
23.03.2016 Bridge over Talvera
30.03.2016 Semirurali Park
06.04.2016 Bolzano Train Station
13.04.2016 Cappuccini Garden
20.04.2016 Walkway between via Aslago and via S. Vigilio
04.05.2016 Loreto Bridge
11.05.2016 Private Terrace (via Andreas Hofer 19, 4th Floor)

Limited Experience
Choreographed walk in public space
14.11.2015, 3.30 p.m., fence of the ex-Tennis club, Virgolo
In 2008 the property, that hosted the former Virgolo Tennis Club, was bought by a network of entrepreneurs (BBG Srl) interested in future real estate investments. Since that moment a fence impedes the access to what has been one of the recreational areas of the city of Bolzano. With “Limited Experience” Can Altay invites twelve people to move along the boundary between private property and public space, to share and challenge the experience of limitation.
This exercise tests the limits of a boundary imposed by the current town planning regulations.