Articles by Elizabeth Wolfson

The “Black Gash of Shame”—Revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Controversy

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 15, 2017

The “Black Gash of Shame”—Revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Controversy

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 15, 2017

Elizabeth Wolfson recounts the early controversy surrounding Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the delicate balance that must be achieved when memorializing war’s heroes and victims.

The Storyteller: An Interview with Hera Buyuktasciyan

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 24, 2012

The Storyteller: An Interview with Hera Buyuktasciyan

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 24, 2012

Istanbul-based artist Hera Buyuktasciyan’s projects draw on the stories people tell–some tragic, others triumphant–about family, community, and their relation to individual self-worth.

The Power of Simple: An Interivew with Ha Za Vu Zu

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 21, 2012

The Power of Simple: An Interivew with Ha Za Vu Zu

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 21, 2012

Elizabeth Wolfson talks to Ha Za Vu Zu, an artist collective whose performances play on the thin boundary between performer and audience.

Double Or Nothing: An Interview with Serkan Ozkaya

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 17, 2012

Double Or Nothing: An Interview with Serkan Ozkaya

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 17, 2012

What do Michelangelo’s “David” and a piece of fusilli pasta have in common? Read Elizabeth Wolfson’s interview with Turksih artist Serkan Ozkaya to find out.

Writing about Art and the Nation: Turkish and Other… Whaaa?

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 14, 2012

Writing about Art and the Nation: Turkish and Other… Whaaa?

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Aug 14, 2012

During her guest blog run, Elizabeth Wolfson will explore how we use national identity markers in thinking about artistic production in Turkey as well as more generally.

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Cengiz Tekin

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jul 12, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Cengiz Tekin

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jul 12, 2011

If Şener Özmen (the subject of last month’s Turkish and Other Delights post) is the godfather of Diyarbakır’s contemporary art community, then his long-time collaborateur, artist Cengiz Tekin, is its …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Şener Özmen

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jun 14, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Şener Özmen

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jun 14, 2011

While preparing to travel to Diyarbakır, the largest city in southeastern Turkey, I discovered that telling Turkish people who live outside of that region that you’re going to visit Diyarbakır …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Aslı Çavuşoğlu

by Elizabeth Wolfson | May 10, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Aslı Çavuşoğlu

by Elizabeth Wolfson | May 10, 2011

A small black and white newspaper photograph hangs on the wall of Aslı Çavuşoğlu’s studio, located in an old warehouse in Istanbul’s Karaköy district. The photograph is crowd shot, taken …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | PiST///

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Apr 12, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | PiST///

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Apr 12, 2011

  PiST///Interdisciplinary Art Space is storefront gallery space and artist project co-directed by artists Didem Özbek and Osman Bozkurt. Opened in 2006, PiST/// is located in Istanbul’s Pangaltı neighborhood, a …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Burak Arıkan

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 22, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | Burak Arıkan

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 22, 2011

Burak Arıkan is a busy guy. When we met in Istanbul two months ago to discuss his work, he had recently returned to the city from a net art conference …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: Nazım Hikmet Richard Dikbaş

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 8, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: Nazım Hikmet Richard Dikbaş

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Mar 8, 2011

In talking to dozens of artists, curators, and critics over the past few months, over and over I have heard the same term used by those located within the community …

Inside the Artist's Studio

Inside the Artist’s Studio: Brandon Anschultz

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 25, 2011

Inside the Artist's Studio

Inside the Artist’s Studio: Brandon Anschultz

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 25, 2011

Full disclosure: I have spent many happy hours in Brandon Anschultz‘s studio, located near Lafayette Square in St. Louis, MO, drinking wine, laughing hysterically at his sharp wit, and admiring …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | biriken

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 24, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | biriken

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 24, 2011

biriken is the five year old interdisciplinary, collaborative project of Melis Tezkan and Okan Urun. Working at the intersection of performance art, installation art, and traditional theater practice, Tezkan and …

Flash Points

Flash Points: Intimacy and Art

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 15, 2011

Flash Points

Flash Points: Intimacy and Art

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 15, 2011

If deprived of intimacy—without the closeness of another human’s body and touch—a human child has little chance of survival past infancy. In societies where the majority of people have all …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | An Interview with Vasıf Kortun (Part II)

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 11, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | An Interview with Vasıf Kortun (Part II)

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 11, 2011

Following is the second half an interview Elizabeth Wolfson conducted with Vasif Kortun. Read part one here. — Ed. Perhaps more than any other individual, Vasıf Kortun has redirected the …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | An Interview with Vasıf Kortun (Part I)

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 10, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights | An Interview with Vasıf Kortun (Part I)

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Feb 10, 2011

Perhaps more than any other individual, Vasıf Kortun has redirected the trajectory of recent Turkish art history. As Chief Curator and Director of the 3rd Istanbul Biennial in 1992, Kortun …

Inside the Artist's Studio

Inside the Artist’s Studio: Ben Durham

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 28, 2011

Inside the Artist's Studio

Inside the Artist’s Studio: Ben Durham

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 28, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights columnist Elizabeth Wolfson is filling in for regular Inside the Artist’s Studio writer Georgia Kotretsos this month and next.  — Ed. Ben Durham lives and works …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: Extramücadele/Extrastruggle

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 25, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: Extramücadele/Extrastruggle

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 25, 2011

Extrastruggle is an enormous project which began in 1997. It works on imaginary demands from imaginary customers. Just like a graphic designer designing a logo for a client, it designs …

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: An Introduction

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 11, 2011

Turkish and Other Delights

Turkish and Other Delights: An Introduction

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Jan 11, 2011

Art21 is pleased to announce our newest column on the blog — the first of several new endeavors for 2011. Turkish and Other Delights is a column devoted to exploring …

Flash Points

Music and Art

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Dec 7, 2010

Flash Points

Music and Art

by Elizabeth Wolfson | Dec 7, 2010

Examples of the influence of music on art are as iconic as they are profuse: Jackson Pollack madly swirling paint around him as Dizzy Gillespie blares on the hi-fi; Andy …