Merdiven Art Space welcomes the new season with two different exhibitions simultaneously opening its doors. Hosting Ahmet Öğüt’s solo show in the gallery space, Merdiven introduces an ostentatious group show titled “Winter is Coming” to the audience at the #mebusan25, the nearby independent building. The exhibitions, included among the parallel events of the 16th Istanbul Biennial, bring together the pioneering artists of Turkey’s contemporary art scene and bring dynamism to the route between Fındıklı and Karaköy.
“THE MISSING T” by Ahmet Öğüt
The exhibition titled “The Missing T”, which is also the title of the work by the conceptual artist Ahmet Öğüt, who consolidates his presence as days past in the international platform is introduced to the audience from September 5 to October 5 at Merdiven Art Space. Öğüt conceived a piece from his multi-directional practice ranging from video to photography, drawing to printed media, especially for Merdiven Art Space. The exhibition, consisting of a site-specific installation, focuses on socio-political phenomenons revealed when the glowing image of a famous vacation destination in minds is scratched. The artist deals with Tulum, a city in Caribbeans; renowned with its turquoise sea and white beach, from a different perspective inspired by the obsidian stone of the Mayans.
The work suggesting to look nearby for the cities from different continents, sharing the same destiny and having a polished image makes the audience think about the realities behind the ornated mask. The video revealing difficulties experienced by Mexican officers protesting in order to demand personal security and their basic rights, as a result of contradicting with the administration collaborating with illegal organizations in Mexico, describes the confusion regarding the questions of who are the victims and who has the authority, by means of the interviews made with people. The neglect and abuse against the local people in the city, promoted as the ideal vacation destination with its sea, beaches and sun, by the tourists, is brought into the gallery space by means of extraordinary methods with his installation transforming the gallery space into a “so-called” beach, thanks to his authentically symbolic and satyrical style.
“WINTER IS COMING” - A Pop-up Project by Merdiven Art Space
Halil Altındere | Şener Yılmaz Aslan | Osman Bozkurt | Fulya Çetin | Mehmet Dere | Erdal Duman | Leyla Emadi | Fırat Engin | Didem Erbaş | Berat Işık | Ferhat Özgür | Kerim Zapsu
“Winter is Coming,” a pop-up exhibition project conceived by Merdiven Art Space, is realized in a derelict building transformed with a perspective alternative to the spaces which are hard to rent and use. Located in Meclisi Mebusan Street, No 25, #mebusan25 which is to be demolished in the context of urban transformation, embraces the artists with its post-modernist identity carrying the traces of near past in all senses from architecture to bureaucracy.
The artists inspired by the fact that how the quote “Winter is Coming”, which has become one of the most iconic mottos of popular culture, has gained a different context when used by a politician, deal with the concepts such as authority, decadence, control addiction and loss of control. The works focusing on the symbols of power, buoyed by the abandoned and tumble-down atmosphere of the space, offer an inventory of national memory from past to today. Each artist, who makes the reversing, failing, toppling, smashed and upside-down phenomenons the subject of their works in their unique styles discuss the parallels and contradictions between social and individual expectations.
Both exhibitions bringing together the successful contemporary artists whose artistic practices never lack criticism with the audience under the non-profit structure of Merdiven Art Space can be visited between Tuesday and Saturday, from 11 am to 6 pm.
