BİR TERS BİR DÜZ
A heartfelt confession.
The fusion of spaces, the fusion of connections, technical boundaries and boundlessness. Can a connection between two spaces be found through a mistake? What was once easy to me became unexpectedly difficult. After all, who was I? A potter standing at the helm of the marbling vessel? Struggling was normal, but I found myself in the midst of uncertainty for no apparent reason. Maybe I created it myself. My concern with the materials once again changed the rules of the game. What could I do? I started playing my own game and eventually felt it didn't suit me. So, I severed it, then regretted it, and then tried to mend it. One by one, methodically, following the rules I set for myself...
This exhibition, which focuses on strengthening connections, was set up in Barın Han Gallery and the exhibition space Büyükdere 35. It is designed to cover the vitrine just like a book cover, with the presence of mistakes in the Ebru technique, both as an integral and decorative elements. While many of the marbling pieces were exhibited at the entrance, on their backsides they intent to give the audience a clue about how the works take different forms with wicker and panama woven marblings. Even though the material resulted in flawed outcomes, its appearance was always described as "decorative" or "beautiful." For six months, as I tried to deviate from its customary form, I found myself immersed in this experimentation. By transforming it into a wicker form through the intervention on paper, I began to create intertwined connections. Navigating between these layers, my goal was to immerse myself in the flaws. Perhaps the connections would intertwine; as I, the paper, and the paints searched for a way out of this endless maze.
Lütfü
99,5 X 70 cm
marbled paper technique on kraft paper
2022
54 X 71,5 cm
marbled paper technique on kraft paper
2022
89 X 72 cm
marbled paper technique on craft paper
2022
72 X 51 cm
marbled paper technique on craft paper
2022
102 X 71,5 cm
marbled paper technique on craft paper
2022
photos by Ege İslek
52 X 71,5 cm
marbled paper technique on craft paper
2022
This installation consists of 36 Ebru experiments on craft and Ebru papers that were made in preparation for the “Bir Ters Bir Düz” series. With the goal of giving an insight into the preparation of the final series, the experiments were presented ryhtmically on the 1WALL project wall, with the viewers also being able to see the back sides of the papers. Just like flipping through pages of a book, this installation is set up as a vitrine replicating the binding of a book.
14.01.2023-14.02.2023
1WALL at Büyükdere35, Istanbul, Türkiye
various sizes, site-specific installation
The framed final pieces from the “Bir Ters Bir Düz” series that showcase the “panama-knitting” technique were presented on the back side of the 1WALL project wall. This placement represents the “inner face of the book”.
The "Lost and Found" exhibition can be seen at Institut Français de Turquie İzmir from November 13, 2023, to January 13, 2024.
"Kayıp ve Buluntu" exhibition, curated by Burçak Yakıcı, will meet the audience at the Institut Français d’İzmir exhibition hall from November 13, 2023, to January 13, 2024. Hosted by the French Cultural Center in Izmir, the exhibition is directed by Billur Tansel, in dialogue with the Nejad Devrim and Mübin Ohron - Two Image Travelers exhibition curated by Burçak Yakıcı at the Arkas Art Center.
The "Lost and Found" exhibition brings together works of artists who sometimes chase the stories of objects and techniques that are on the verge of being lost or forgotten and reinterpret them with a playful approach, as well as those who engage in different quests. These works, which find expression through experimental means, bring together the audience with surfaces of topographic textures in the search for color, textures where lost and found items come together and objects acquire new dimensions, and images resulting from intentional interventions. An element found in the quest of a color, a texture, or an emotion leads the artists into a new adventure of exploration. The main common feature of the artists, whose paths intersect, is their pursuit of experimentation, even though their stories are essentially different.
Artists: Can Akgümüş, Furkan Öztekin, Işıl Kurmuş Aleksandrov, İbrahim Karakütük, LÜTFÜ
Project Director: Billur Tansel, Open Dialogue Istanbul
