RODEO Istanbul

June 30 – July 29, 2011

Odd Time Beat

Ziad Antar, Athanasios Argianas, Cevdet Erek, Christoph Keller, Füsun Onur, Adnan Yıldız

“Odd Time Beat” results from a series of conversations with artists who use music not only as a motif but as a value for building methodological structures. Bringing together various conceptual approaches based on musical thinking, the exhibition departs from the physicality of music, and acts as an open proposal for translating a term from the mathematics of music into contemporary art discourse.

The term “odd time beat” refers to deviations (4/8 notes into 5/8, 7/8, or 9/8) from the traditional formats. Odd time beats are tools for experimentation. Using these patterns, rock and jazz transform classical music rhythms to create new musical forms, and the Ottoman palace music combines Persian, Central Asian and Byzantine cultures. From a methodological view, odd time beats are used to transgress existing formats, following a disciplined way of experimenting; they provide conditions to break rules.

When rythms are delayed, the memory gets weaker. Odd time beats create formal gaps and free zones which enable the production of new values. Accidents are essential for artistic research, and losses liberate the work. Then, how do the pieces that challenge our perception and break our rhythm come to existence? What kind of artistic research is used for this? Who has the potential of decoding the forms of fiction that we perceive as ‘ryhthm’ in our everyday reality?

Working in collaboration with Rodeo, Adnan Yıldız positions the first rendition of this project as a pilot presentation. Yıldız is interested in developing “Odd Time Beats” further in order to investigate the conceptual relationships between artistic practices related and musical thinking.

Cevdet Erek, Exercise, pencil on wall, 2011. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Cevdet Erek, Exercise, pencil on wall, 2011. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Cevdet Erek, Exercise, pencil on wall, 2011. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Cevdet Erek, Exercise, pencil on wall, 2011. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Füsun Onur, Opus 2 – Variation, 11 canvases, dimensions variable, 2003. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Füsun Onur, Opus 2 – Variation, 11 canvases, dimensions variable, 2003. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Füsun Onur, Opus 2 – Variation, 11 canvases, dimensions variable, 2003. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Füsun Onur, Opus 2 – Variation, 11 canvases, dimensions variable, 2003. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011

Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine, photo-etched brass strip of the length of the artist’s height, mild steel, walnut, 100 x 160 cm (39 3/8 x 63 in), 2010. Installation view, Odd Time Beat, Rodeo, Istanbul, 2011