FROM ANOTHER HILL

Have you ever felt like your personal space is being invaded, especially in big cities, as if there is no such space at all? It happens to me so often; for example while at the bank trying to make a transaction a man stares at the screen; or while walking on the street, someone hits my shoulder in public transport and continues their way without even saying they’re sorry, or when I go out at night. This situation has always made me uncomfortable so I made a sculpture in the form of two bicycles that are constructed on a single bicycle frame, both fixed to the front wheel. This is similar to the analogy of two goats on the same bridge, unable to move, thus stuck in immobility. Since I started to cycle actively, I’m quite free, much healthier and more sensitive to the environment that surrounds me. Somehow, I linked this simple machine which sets me free with the idea of personal space.

Istanbul is the most crowded, chaotic, exhausting, yet one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Today, this city, trapped in concrete and metal, has become astifling city where people are separated from nature, unhappy and depressed. Asan artist who lives and works in Istanbul, I’m inevitably affected by this situation.“Construction” represents an image of humanity searching for self-boundariesand possibilities of existence within the urban scape. This figure, separated intotwo parts and rising, is the representation of humanity, one that’s trapped in thecity built by himself, a city that eventually transforms into concrete and iron -thevery materials that surround the city itself.

To take the road, to be on the road, to wander in the midst of uncertainty withan indefinite destination... Could a journey ever end? Istanbul; many roads have been built and are still being constructed towards her, she harbours her own paths within; the city where paths are lost, erased and redrawn over time.

I’ve been travelling for a long time, searching for a place where I feel I belong.These journeys made me face the fears and future anxieties that threaten myexistence as an artist. “Two Headed Grinder” offers a playful manner to deal withthe inevitable situation modern man puts himself in as s/he individualizes in the name of freedom; the sculpture invites the audience to a safe sheltered space.This kinetic sculpture constitutes a new world that doesn’t contain any fear orevil.

I’ve contextualized my sculpture through the relationship between the individualand the society; the notion of living amongst others, by placing Istanbul in the center. Inherently, the sculpture’s form implicates uneasiness. It transformsinto a timeless image, an image that we struggle to define the time and space itbelongs to. I’ve focused on the sculpture’s scale, and its significance regardingits relation with the viewer. Its large scale ensures that it transforms into anintegrated object; an unfamiliar, abstract mass in space.

A pictogram figure, encapsulated in a fiction reminiscent of a tooth in a wheel,the city silhouette is wrapped up in a vicious circle; the figure is unaware of thethreats of the religious buildings, skyscrapers, shopping centers and plazasthat form this circle he falls within. The sculpture emphasizes on the illusion of comfort within artificial realities intended for the distrustful environment largecities humans live in.

Istanbul is the home of the Istanbulites, their universe and a true cosmos. Theobelisks are the historical symbols of Istanbul’s urban memory; they are thecultural guards of the city reaching out to the skies... The project is addressed inthis context as the city’s roots and identities are fragmented and altered everyday; as the city’s memories are constantly emptied out and reshaped, Istanbul isrepresented in the form of an “obelisk”, and the individual who can no longer takeshelter in it is forced to leave. Home is where a person lives in comfort and trust,a place where one can sleep peacefully. In the composition, the image of thepillow carried under the figure’s seat symbolizes this desire and longing for sucha place. As Gaston Bachelard expresses in “Poetics of Space”;“Are the towers ofour souls razed for all time? Are we to remain, to quote Gerard de Nerval’s famousline, beings whose “towers have been destroyed”?

Composed by singular sensations, Istanbul is a mosaic of fragmented perceptions... Every domain of fiction about Her is a border, a frame. Every frameis a part of this fictive organism. The fiction of singularity is an invitation to asense of belonging, to find a place, step in...

This sculpture is an ode to a scene from the Turkish movie called “Oh Beautiful Istanbul”, directed by Atıf Yılmaz in 1966 in which Sadri Alışık and Ayla Algan playthe main characters.

The deep gap between the grace of what is offered as sacred/ideal/sublimeand the oppression/violence in today’s society, as well as the contrast betweenour inner and external worlds are matters that I constantly observe and wonder;these matters form the basis of my practice that integrate a selection ofimages that bear different emotions. I concretize wounded, implausible idealsand dreams with images of demolished buildings. In my sculptures, images of ruins reflect all that’s built with the intention of persistence; metaphors of temporariness of life, and things that are not expected to revive, lingering in a ghostly stateIn this sense, “What Remains” resembles a ‘night gown’ -an imagethat references sleep and dreams; that implies the intimacy of this worldly sensitivity overflowing to all perceptions of our reality.

“Existence” is the reflection that is both light and shadow; which, sever itsself and meaning from its context that is existence as a transcendental form in avariable process of time and space .-the city is where the continous search for ‘self’ takes place, where the dialecticmotion of the body is space, where existence is…

“Urban Phenomenon” invites the audience to “look” at the city, humanity and lifewith “new eyes”. Wood is a material that was once used as a natural shelter thatprotected the life of many beings. It transforms into a sculpture and invites theaudience to a new perception. The art object leaves the spectator in the flow oftime. The spectator is the source of meaning of the art object, s/he must find thisessence; assimilate...

“Fluid Forms” is a sculpture from the series “Morphosis”. “Morphosis” iscomposed of sculptures seeking the formal equivalences of perceptive capacity,sexual consciousness, identity, emotions and desire; beyond a determinedstructure of bones and muscles, namely a biological restriction.The artist combines the hidden, missing or abundant aspects of the bodywithin an anatomic pattern, yet blends these patterns with movements thatare incompatible with the spine structure and/or exceeds anatomic forms andestrange the audience from the conventional perception of the body. The body,instead of being a specific form, becomes unlimited matter itself or a unity that isformed of heterogeneous parts. Thus, every sculpture finds its disorder, its truenature and identity in the anatomic order.

Societies accumulate collective memories in limited urban places. Over time,places evolve, transform and disappear. What remains is the experiencesand associations accumulated in the collective memory. Therefore, these accumulations are the very elements that create a sense of belonging in the city; they constitute the layers of the city and they’re crucial for the individualto establish cultural bonds and sustain a social life. However, due to the discontinuation of cultural legacies, the notion of belonging is weakened in each generation. Consequently, the individual is bound to a solely physical connectionto the city and is externalized from its memories, emotionally and mentally.

All in universe is in a cycle. Earth is in a constant state of perpetual motion. The probability of infinite possibilities manifest as life itself. This occurrence leaves similar yet non-identical traces behind. People, cities and things too inevitably change, transform and evolve within the dynamics of life.

Inspired by the clouds, we designed it for those who enjoy ascension in life. Distant from the chaos, close to the city center with a cozy ambiance, with its modern architecture hosting facilities for all social activities of contemporary urban life, an ideal life is now possibly yours with the Piercing Seven Skies.

Humans have constantly been forced to relocate due to various reasons. Thisadventure of separation that is defined as immigration has influenced cultureitself. The perpetual change in location implies a constant change in emotionsand their transformation. Anatolian people migrated to Istanbul to realize their dreams- a fragile city ofequally fragile dreams and hopes… As the journey continued, some of these dreams and emotions were hidden in the quilts on the ridges, or in theirsuitcases…“Migration” doesn’t imply a solely physical journey. It emphasizes the journey ofemotions, ideas and cultural values within a metaphorical suitcase.

As Istanbul expands with a prismatic formation that is increasingly dominantover its own silhouette, the city continues to imprison and oppress its historicalheritage and nature within its new structure. The roots are pushed to theunderground, as the city re-structures itself with self-articulatory constructions.Hence the image of Istanbul, which now only exists in memories, is replaced byanother image; one that is less mythological; less reminiscent of its history andlegends, streets, spirits and urban legends.

Istanbul’s history nearly dates back to sedentism; its memory almost as old as humanity itself. The practice of sculpture has always been in favor of the external,either acting as an opposition to an external power or becoming it. Surely, Istanbul is affected by every embraced layer of history, at times its value deflated,and at times pushed to the forefront, within the global urban life.The obelisk I propose to the exhibition is in dialogue with the obelisk which was initially placed during the Roman Empire era as a sign of sovereignty, which isalso the symbol of the New World. My sculpture implies a natural articulation toother monuments that are scattered around the city that belong to different eras,it also emphasizes lack of today’s knowledge.

As the tired minds and bodies of urban life retreat to their homes, the waythey correlate with parts of their home, the texture and pattern of its walls,the windows that are opened for fresh air, and the floor we walk on... To whatextent does our “home” belong to us? I question the effects of ordinary houseelements and their effects on our individuality, the correlation in between and itstransformation with a minimal attitude.

Salacak beach overlooking the Maiden’s Tower … One of the legends related tothe Maiden’s Tower is Damalis. According to the Greek legend, Damalis, who is the beautiful wife of King Hares of Athens, loves the Salacak beach. The King,who is deeply in love with her, is devastated when Damalis dies, and decides to bury his wife there, and renames the beach as Damalis Beach; and over time, the tower’s name becomes Damalis Tower. According to the legend there’s also astatue of Queen Damalis on the rocks. Since the past, all storytellers who try and grasp women of Istanbul through legends, choose the waters of the Bosphorus as their metaphorical storybook. The hair of a woman seems representative ofthe imaginary world, it also attributes to the flowing currents of the Bosphorus.The black, doubled up page that unites with Damalis, is in contact with the Maiden’s Tower that oversees both continents. Damalis, its silhoutte halved,continues to revive both on the pages of the storybook as well as its location.

In my work, Galata Tower, which is one of Istanbul’s most important historicalsites is fictionalized based on the flight experiment supposedly realized by Hezarfen from Galata Tower towards Üsküdar. In the sculpture, Galata Toweris transformed into a new form (a windsock), and is restored as a symbol that’s more than just a tool used for determining the speed and direction of the wind.Also, as the work’s mobile features is naturally interactive with the speed anddirections of the winds of Istanbul, this enables a stronger bond between thework and the city itself.

The city of Istanbul is reminiscent of a balloon with its borders rapidly expandingday by day. Almost every citizen of Istanbul chews and pops Istanbul like a bubblegum. As they’re waiting for the day to spit this “gum”, they’re dreamingabout that little townhouse by the sea they’ll move to when the time comes. Each bubblegum is a trace left on Istanbul, or maybe a scar.  The prints on the bubble gum machines are satellite images taken in 1966, 1970and 1982 from Maslak, where Elgiz Museum is located today. The expansion ofthe city is examined with these satellite images. The interaction of the audienceis aimed as they are invited to take and chew the gums.

As the spirit of the city and its ongoing transformation turn into metal heaps,materials once in close contact with the history and texture of the city have yet take another turn. These materials coincide in a state of constant reconstructionin the deconstruction process and even the waste components are transformedinto a textural language.

The lights of the big city at night and the reflection in the water merge with thestars in the sky, and there is a feeling of oneness.