12 January 2021 12am

Erdem Taşdelen gives a virtual tour of his ongoing solo exhibition, A Minaret for the General’s Wife, speaking to the histories, myths and speculations that drew him to the Kėdainiai Minaret and how exhibition-making within the pandemic environment pushed the artist to creatively rethink ideas of presence without live bodies.

While A Minaret for the General’s Wife remains closed for in-person visitation at this time, please stay tuned to our website for updates on gallery hours. For more information on the exhibition, visit Erdem Taşdelen: A Minaret for the General’s Wife.

 

Leading Support for Public Engagement is generously provided by the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.

Cinematography & Editing by Vuk Dragojevic with Captioning by Tiffany Schofield.

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Erdem Taşdelen is a Turkish-Canadian artist who lives and works in Toronto. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions internationally and across Canada, most recently at venues including Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga; AKA artist-run, Saskatoon (2020); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (2019); VOX Centre de l’image contemporaine, Montreal (2018); Pera Museum, Istanbul; Or Gallery, Vancouver (2017); Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg (2016). Taşdelen has been awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Visual Arts by the Canada Council for the Arts (2016), the Charles Pachter Prize for Emerging Artists by the Hnatyshyn Foundation (2014), and was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2019.

A Minaret for the General’s Wife is commissioned by Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art, Toronto, and SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre), Toronto.  SAVAC is supported by the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. For more information visit savac.net.

A Minaret for the General’s Wife is made possible with Leading Support from RBC Insurance and Support from SAHA Association, Istanbul.