YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

Bilsart presents Enes Alba’s exhibition entitled “Young and Beautiful” between July 31– August 10, 2024.

This curation consists of three video works by Alba. They are images from the artist’s daily life, presented through poetic narratives. What these works, one of which are performance videos, have in common is that they all feel private and intimate. In chronological order, “6 AM RAW FOOTAGE”, one of the artist’s first video works from 2020, shows raw footage of a “hot guy” taking shower in the morning intercut with mainstream news footage collected on the exact same day, about Australian bushfires. The news footage alienates the viewer from the “hot guy” and the whole erotic concept immediately. Elements of fire and water are juxtaposed as well as their sounds, which are quite similar.
“Not I” is actually a play, a monologue by Samuel Beckett. In this performance work, the artist reads the monologue in front of a dark backdrop. Unlike the original version, a drag make-up in this version reminds us exactly how queer the play is. Translated into artist’s own contemporary Turkish, the play is a classic of modernist literature and a powerful exploration of identity, language and the human condition. The themes of isolation, alienation and longing for acceptance in this difficult-to-understand play are actual experiences of queer individuals and hold up a mirror to both those who do not conform to societal norms and expectations and those who want to be understood.
“Making a Nest” is a film that begins with concert footage of Turkey’s diva Bülent Ersoy and artist’s own footage before and after he moved out of Turkey. An honest and open style aims to invite the audience into the artist’s private life for a short time. Dealing with everyday issues such as friendship, migration, falling in love, hypersexuality, the video also serves as an emotional diary in a poetic narrative.

Click here for the press kit.

ABOUT ENES ALBA

Enes Alba (b. 1997, Istanbul) is a contemporary artist and photographer; currently lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. He is doing master’s, MFA in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University. He focuses on intimacy, skin and gender and has developed a wide repertoire of queer portraits and lifestyle photography. In his own words, his artistic practice should always be “sexy and political”.