Wilde Belästigung

Courtesy of the Artist and Rampa Istanbul

Nilbar Güreş sees textiles as a material laden with transformative meaning - personal and otherwise. In 'Skin & Horse Hair, Navy Blue, Villager & Heads, Orange Tits & Violet' she has intervened in the architecture of the exhibition space, dressing a decidedly phallic column in women’s skirts.

Each skirt symbolizes a different woman, a different lifestyle, a different class. Reversing the class system, the fanciest skirt hangs at the bottom and a villager-women’s at the top. In between each skirt the artist placed indigenous skirts or garments which traditionally did not veil sexual organs but instead where intended to accentuate and decorate. Commenting on (particularly Turkish) class issues and taboos of female sexuality and the body, this installation also recalls the purity and power of indigenous thought in regard to gender and sexuality.

Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977, Istanbul) is an artist living and working in Vienna and Istanbul. She recieved her MA in Painting and Graphics from Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and her BA in Fine Arts from Marmara University, Istanbul. Selected solo exhibitions include The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, 2016; JesuitenFoyer, Vienna, 2014; Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, 2014; Osmos, New York, 2013; Galerie Martin Janda, Wien, 2013; Rampa, Istanbul, 2013. Recent group shows include 20th Biennale of Sydney, 2016; Contemporary Art Programme Cappadox, Uçhisar, 2016; Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2016; Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, 2016; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2016; Muzeul National de Arta Contemporana, Bucharest, 2016; Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, 2016; Gasworks, London, 2016; Galleri Syster, Luleå, 2016; SIART Biennial, La Paz, 2016; Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, 2015; MAXXI, Rome, 2015; Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, 2015; Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, 2015; Museu de Arte Murilo Mendes, Juiz de Fora, 2015. Güres received the Otto Mauer Award in 2014 and 5th Belvedere Contemporary Art Award in 2015.