The Silent University Resource Room
Ahmet Ögüt


6 February - 4 May 2013
Open to the public wednesday - Saturday 12-6pm or by appointment.


The Silent University Resource room is an open archive that will be hosted by different arts and community organisations. The Resource Room houses contributions by artists, researchers, educators and community organisations in the form of essays, publications, films and references. The Resource Room serves as a platform to highlight the broader themes and concerns of the Silent University, which are Silence, Alternative Platforms for Learning, Alternative Economies, and Migration. Contributions to the Resource Room are welcome, please get in touch if you would like to contribute louise@theshowroom.org or on 020 7724 4300

Announcement for Silent University Followers and Contributors based in London

We are pleased to confirm that the first Silent University Open Day will take place at The Showroom on 12–3pm Saturday May 25. The day will be formed from your proposals and suggestions. If you would like to propose something to take place during the open day, a workshop, talk, presentation, collaboration, use of the library, presentation etc please send your proposal to us no later than April 15, explain what you would like to do, how long you would need, what you would need (i.e any materials, projections etc) we will then construct a timetable and publicise the event.

The Open Day will be an opportunity to expand the reach and discussions of the Silent University around the themes of Silence, Alternative Platforms for Learning, Alternative Economies, and Migration.

The Silent University is an autonomous knowledge exchange platform initiated by artist Ahmet Ögüt working with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who, although from a professional background, cannot gainfully practice their profession due to the limitations of the asylum process. Limitations also apply to access to education, access to currency, and volunteering.

The Silent University’s goal is to challenge the idea of silence as a passive state, and explore its powerful potential through performance, writing, and group reflection. These explorations attempt to make apparent the systemic failure and the loss of skills and knowledge experienced through the silencing process of asylum seekers. By inventing alternative currencies, in place of money or free voluntary service, the Silent University aims to address and reactivate the knowledge of its participants, making the exchange process mutually beneficial.

During February 2013 The Showroom will host The Silent University's Resource Room. The Resource Room includes contributions in the form of essays, books, films and catalogues from a mixture of different international artists, practitioners, institutions and collectives that resonate with themes of the project. These themes include: alternative currencies, knowledge exchange platforms, artist-led and institution-led models of learning, migration and associated policy, silence and performance. The Resource Room is constantly growing, with new additions being brought in its different iterations.

The Silent University recently activated its website
thesilentuniversity.org, which serves as an exchange platform between individuals wanting to teach and receive courses. So far 33 users have registered to the website, lending more than 270 hours of their time. These users include a programme manager/researcher, a solicitor, a senior lecturer in social policy, a community organiser and educator, a documentary director, a few artists, curators, journalists and students, an academic researcher, a professor, an employment adviser for refugee professionals, a writer and refugee arts project coordinator, a database officer, a project consultant, a web designer and a camera operator.

For more information on past activities organised around the Silent University please go to:
Tate and Delfina Foundation

Bio
Ahmet Ögüt received his BA from the Fine Arts Faculty of Hacettepe University, and his MFA from the Art and Design Faculty of Yildiz Technical University. Ögüt was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2007-2008. Recent solo exhibitions were held at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2012); SALT, Istanbul; Fondazione Giuliani, Rome; Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (all 2011); and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2010). Recent group exhibitions: 7th Liverpool Biennial (2012); 12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul; and 4th Moscow Biennial, Moscow (2011). In 2009 Ahmet Ögüt co-represented Turkey with Banu Cennetoglu at 53rd Venice Biennale. Recent awards include the 2011 De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs (Netherlands) and the 2010 Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Contemporary Art (Germany).


The Silent University started in 2012 in London in collaboration with Tate and Delfina Foundation. It was inaugurated at Tate Modern with a series of events in November and December 2012 including a symposium, a screening program, a Resource Room and a reader. In 2013 it will continue its activities in collaboration with The Showroom and Delfina Foundation in London and will also extend beyond the UK by travelling to Stockholm, where it will be hosted by Tensta Konsthall.


Delfina Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming, with a special focus on international collaborations with the greater Middle East & North Africa. To date, Delfina Foundation has hosted nearly 100 artists, curators and writers from 18 different countries