Elturan Mammadov

Born in 1990 | Oghuz, Azerbaijan

Contact: elturan9@gmail.com
Instagram

Other links:
https://www.behance.net/tecilifoto
https://bit.ly/3GByxyf


Education: 
2016: Mohsen Makhmalbaf Film School (Rome) 
2016: Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (Turkey)
2014: Kharkiv International Aerospace University (Kharkiv)


Elturan Mammadov is a contemporary artist mainly focused on (predominantly street) photography, as it was a starting point of his career. Later in artistic practice, Elturan was involved in working with different media such as installations, sound, and videos. The main starting point of the artist's works is the local culture and the aesthetic accepted by the majority of the population in Azerbaijan. Elturan’s use of music/sound and some other elements in their work is also directly connected to the mentioned themes since the artist chooses the ones reflecting the “local taste” and the local consumption.

One of Elturan’s early works where the artist experiments with collage art (photomontage, to be more precise) is “Assorti Hits”. In this project, the artist has used the CD covers belonging to musicians performing at low-budget weddings usually held in tents in remote regions. The CDs used in the work are blatantly kitsch and Elturan placed them on top of relevant background images. The artist says “...I wanted to rehabilitate these musicians into a more aesthetically modern environment.”

The more subtle form of this humorous approach exhibits itself in some other works of Elturan Mammadov as well. In the “Human Habits” photo series, the viewer is given realistic images as a tool to observe daily life in Azerbaijan through the prism of absurdism together with Elturan. Some of these images are pretty ironic and showcase the juxtaposition of life's realities and the promise of the perfect and luxurious life continuously imposed by today’s capitalist setting via consumerism-driven industries and mass media. Although the series alone focuses on sometimes amusing, and sometimes bittersweet moments of life, it can be interpreted as a comment on social issues when considered together with Mammadov’s other works.

Sound installation “Top 20” by the artist was a part of a group exhibition “300 words on resistance”. The playlist was a compilation of the most listened-to songs in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was a historical conflict zone between Azerbaijan and Armenia since it was occupied by Armenian forces by used violent forces against the civil population. The work aimed to show the strong tendency towards escapism in human nature through art and entertainment.

Exhibitions

SOLO SHOWS:
2020: "Drastic Measures" | "ARTIM Project Space" | Baku, Azerbaijan (curated by Farah Alakbarli)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2019: "Tbilisi Photo Festival" | "Tbilisi MoMA" | Tbilisi, Georgia (curated by Anna Shpakova)
2017: "Neither War, Nor Peace" | "ARTIM Project Space" | Baku, Azerbaijan (curated by Farah Alakbarli)
2017: "Between the Sea and Mountains" | "Yay Gallery" | Baku, Azerbaijan (curated by Björn Geldhof and Farah Alakbarli)
2016: "300 Words on Resistance" | "YARAT Contemporary Art Centre" | Baku | Azerbaijan (curated by Suad Garayeva & Björn Geldhof)
2016: “To Be Surprised, To Surprise” | “ARTIM Project Space” | Baku | Azerbaijan (curated by Sergey Bratkov)
2015: "Candy Mountains & Oil Coasts" | "PERMM" | Perm | Russia (curated by Nailya Allakhverdieva and Farhad Farzaliyev)
2015: "The Union of Fire and Water" by Almagul Menlibayeva | Venice Biennale 2015 | "Palazzo Barbaro" | Venice | Italy (Commissioned by YARAT and curated by Suad Garayeva)
2014: “ASTAR” (“A Time for Dreams” 4th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art) | “MMOMA” | Moscow | Russia (curated by Nailya Allahverdiyeva)
2013: “ЗАВОД” | "Baku Air Condition Plant building" | Baku | Azerbaijan (curated by Faig Ahmed)
2013: “Inner City” | "Natavan Gallery" | Baku | Azerbaijan (curated by Oksana Yushko and Arthur Bondar)
2012: “Dickens 2012” photo exhibition by British Council | Park Bulvar AVM | Baku | Azerbaijan (curated by Susan Parkhill)

FILMOGRAPHY
2020: Art Director at “The Island Within” by Ru Hasanov- (Awards: The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director)

CURATED PROJECTS
2018: Rasul Guliyev “I See” | "Absheron Gallery" | Baku, Azerbaijan

Source:
http://cargocollective.com/elturan

Do not jump too much, it can be harmful, 2020
Print on vinyl
121 x 296 cm


Top 20 of unidentified heights, 2016 
Digital print on cotton blanket, sound installation with 20 earphones
500 x 500 cm



“KHACH”, 2021



“KHACH”, 2020


8 Bit, 2013 
Installation
Various Dimensions