Tactics of Invisibility, a co-production by the Vehbi Koç Foundation and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, has been conceptualised as an exhibition in three parts. The project, launched in 2008 with preparatory research, was first realised in T-B A21 in Vienna in April 2010 and adapted to Tanas, Berlin in September of the same year. As planned, the project's journey concluded with the final stage of the exhibition held in Arter, Istanbul.
Curated by Daniela Zyman and Emre Baykal Tactics of Invisibility aimed to generate a discussion on different angles of the central concept it tackled. While encompassing multilayered strategies to understand or cross the threshold between the visible and invisible the works in the exhibition drew attention to the repressed or the silenced; they expressed the implications of exclusion from the regime of visibility, concealment as a means of reflection, and the uncanny state between presence and absence; and revealed what is beneath the surface, in addition to rendering the invisible visible.
The exhibition proposed a differentiated viewing shaped around these strategies, and incited the participation of the audience along the same line.
Having brought together the works of artists from different generations, Tactics of Invisibility investigated the potential of the interaction of their productions, as opposed to offering an art historical inventory or adopting a chronological approach. In line with the vision of both institutional organising partners, the project was also conceived in a manner to facilitate the production of new works. The works of Nevin Aladağ, Cevdet Erek, Ayşe Erkmen, Hafriyat and xurban_collective featured in the exhibition were thus commissioned for Tactics of Invisibility and realised with the support of the two organisers to premier at the exhibition. The exhibition, which began its journey in T-B A21, was restructured according to its new contexts taking into account spatial specificities as it traveled to Tanas and Arter.
Tactics of Invisibility was the first joint initiative in Arter's exhibition programme.