Özlem Günyol 
Unutulmuş Gün projesi üzerine bir sohbet
Hariçten Sanat Programı / Apaçık Radyo
İzmir Karşıyaka Vapur İskelesi için ‘Kendine Ait Bir Oda’
Frankfurt’ta yaşayan sanatçılar Özlem Günyol ve Mustafa Kunt ile İzmir Karşıyaka Vapur İskelesi için ‘Kendine Ait Bir Oda’ davetiyle kamusal alanda sanat projelerini konuşuyoruz.
Unutulmuş Gün (2025)
Tuval üzerine Hint mürekkebi
250 × 800 cm
Unutulmuş Gün, Karşıyaka Vapur İskelesi’nin bekleme alanlarından birini kamusal sergi alanına dönüştüren KABO’nun daveti üzerine planlanan günlük bir yayın projesidir.
Proje, basılı gazeteleri malzeme olarak kullanır. Günümüzde tirajları büyük oranda düşmüş olan gazeteler ve onların bağlı olduğu medya kuruluşlarına ait televizyon kanalları ortak hareket ederek gündemi etkilemeye devam eder. Bu nedenle kitle iletişim araçları olup biteni takip ettiğimiz başlıca mecralar olarak yeniden odağımıza yerleşir.
Unutulmuş Gün, Nisan ayı boyuncatirajı 30.000’in üzerinde olan yaklaşık on dört gazetenin manşet ve öne çıkan birinci sayfa haberlerini günbegün tarar. Bu haberlerden kişi, ülke ve kurum isimlerini çıkarır, gündemi belirleyen ve en çok tekrar eden kelimeleri kopya kâğıdı ve mürekkepli kalemler ile her gün büyük bir tuvale aktararak sabitler.
Basılı gazeteler dünü bugüne bağlarken, Unutulmuş Gün ise dün ile bugünü bir sonraki güne taşır. Farklı yönelimlere sahip gazetelerin manşetlerini bir tür sindirim sürecinden geçirerek geriye kalanları kalıcı olarak işaretler. Matbaadan çıkan gazete baskısının elle kopyalanarak tuvale aktarımı zamansal olarak süreci yavaşlatırken, bulundukları yerlerden koparılıp alınan yüzlerce kelime boşlukta asılı kalarak yalnızlaşır. Serbest kalan bu kelimeler farklı çağrışımlara, yeni kurgulara ve yeni bağlamlara açık hale gelerek iskelede bekleyen yolcular için zihinsel bir oyun alanı yaratır, insanların günlük yaşamlarıyla kesişerek yeni anlatılar ve yorumlar üretir.
Sergi mekânının kamusal alanda bir toplu taşıma durağı olması onu günlük akış ve ritmin doğal bir parçası yapar. Aynı şekilde, gazeteler de güncel olayları, toplumsal dinamikleri ve kamusal söylemi şekillendirerek günlük döngüye eklemlenir.
Unutulmuş Gün, gazete manşet ve birinci sayfa haberlerini bağlamlarından kopararak yeniden dolaşıma sokarken güncel siyasi meseleler ve bunların davranışları üzerine istatistiksel bir kelime havuzu oluşturur. Bu yönüyle proje, günden güne kendini inşa eden panoramik bir manzara resmi olarak da okunabilir—ancak bu, doğaya değil, toplumsal hafızaya ait bir “kelimeler manzarasıdır.”
ÖZLEM GÜNYOL & MUSTAFA KUNT
The Forgotten Day, 2025
Ink on canvas
250 × 800 cm
The Forgotten Day is a daily publication project planned upon the invitation of KABO, which has transformed one of the waiting areas of the Karşıyaka Ferry Terminal into a public exhibition space.
The project uses printed newspapers as its material. Although newspaper circulation has significantly declined in recent years, these publications and the TV channels affiliated with their parent media groups continue to operate in concert to influence the public agenda. As a result, mass media reclaims its position as a central medium through which we follow and interpret current events.
Throughout April, The Forgotten Day scans the front-page headlines and prominent lead stories of approximately fourteen newspapers, each with a daily circulation of over 30,000. From these stories, it removes the names of individuals, countries, and institutions, and transfers the most frequently repeated and agenda-setting words onto a large canvas using carbon paper and ink pens—day by day—fixing them in place.
While printed newspapers connect the past to the present, The Forgotten Day carries both the past and the present into the future. By digesting the headlines of newspapers with differing political leanings, the project distills and permanently marks what remains. The manual transfer of printed news content onto canvas slows down the temporal process, while the hundreds of words extracted from their original contexts remain suspended—isolated—in space. Freed from their sources, these words become open to new associations, narratives, and interpretations, creating a mental playground for passengers waiting at the terminal. The work intersects with people’s daily lives, generating new stories and meanings.
The public nature of the ferry terminal as a transportation hub renders the exhibition space a natural part of the city’s daily rhythm and flow. In a similar way, newspapers embed themselves in the daily cycle by shaping current events, social dynamics, and public discourse.
By detaching front-page headlines and stories from their original contexts and placing them back into circulation, The Forgotten Day forms a statistical word pool around current political issues and behavioral patterns. In this sense, the project can also be read as a panoramic landscape painting constructed day by day—a “landscape of words” belonging not to nature, but to collective memory.
ÖZLEM GÜNYOL & MUSTAFA KUNT
The Forgotten Day (2025)
Ink on canvas
250 × 800 cm
The Forgotten Day is a daily publication project planned upon the invitation of KABO, which has transformed one of the waiting areas of the Karşıyaka Ferry Terminal into a public exhibition space.
The project uses printed newspapers as its material. Although newspaper circulation has significantly declined in recent years, these publications and the TV channels affiliated with their parent media groups continue to operate in concert to influence the public agenda. As a result, mass media reclaims its position as a central medium through which we follow and interpret current events.
Throughout April, The Forgotten Day scans the front-page headlines and prominent lead stories of approximately fourteen newspapers, each with a daily circulation of over 30,000. From these stories, it removes the names of individuals, countries, and institutions, and transfers the most frequently repeated and agenda-setting words onto a large canvas using carbon paper and ink pens—day by day—fixing them in place.
While printed newspapers connect the past to the present, The Forgotten Day carries both the past and the present into the future. By digesting the headlines of newspapers with differing political leanings, the project distills and permanently marks what remains. The manual transfer of printed news content onto canvas slows down the temporal process, while the hundreds of words extracted from their original contexts remain suspended—isolated—in space. Freed from their sources, these words become open to new associations, narratives, and interpretations, creating a mental playground for passengers waiting at the terminal. The work intersects with people’s daily lives, generating new stories and meanings.
The public nature of the ferry terminal as a transportation hub renders the exhibition space a natural part of the city’s daily rhythm and flow. In a similar way, newspapers embed themselves in the daily cycle by shaping current events, social dynamics, and public discourse.
By detaching front-page headlines and stories from their original contexts and placing them back into circulation, The Forgotten Day forms a statistical word pool around current political issues and behavioral patterns. In this sense, the project can also be read as a panoramic landscape painting constructed day by day—a “landscape of words” belonging not to nature, but to collective memory.
Installation view; Karşıyaka Ferry Terminal, Izmir
photo 3: Gülşen Acar, video: Fatih Bilgin
The following people are involved in producing the project:
Elifnaz Demir, Toprak Begtaş, Talha Demiral, Özlem Bayrak Begtaş, Güneş Arık, Eylül Demirhan, Lara Bekler, Selim Kaya, Duru Başer, Afra Fakir, Derya Bulut Uhri, Arya Biçer, Sultan Gökdemir, Erdem Dağlı, Ayşegül Özer, Cemre Dağlı, Gülşen Acar, Ayça Su Değirmenci, Rıdvan Derya, Ali Haydar Bayır, Yunus Çakırtaş, Havva Korukoğlu, Berk Şenol, Nilüfer Tunay, Melisa Geçalp, Kaan Kuşuluoğlu, Zahid Alhaj, Furkan Beyçiç, Zeynep Sarı, Duygu Yaşlı, Gamze Nur Koç, Berkehan Demir, Mine Uşak, Mehmet Şahutoğulları, Merve Aydar
Call (2024)
sound installation
on the exhibition promenade (Uçhisar, Cappadocia)
List of Birds (not in order in the video):
White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala)
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)
Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga)
Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)
Basra Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis)
Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius)
Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)
Mountain chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus)
Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris
Lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)
Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita)
Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug)
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
It is October in Frankfurt. Afternoon in the city. A loud noise, as if screaming, is coming from the distance. We look up in amazement every time. Thousands of African geese are in a rush to return at the end of summer…
Every year, millions of birds carry out their seasonal migration through Anatolia in the Africa-Europe or Africa- Asia direction. Nevşehir Gülşehir and Avanos Kızılırmak basin, located on the international bird migration route, are also among the important stopover sites for migratory birds.
When thinking about the theme of Changing Skies, migratory birds that physically experience the changing skies come to our minds. What a vital importance to migrate -to be able to migrate- has on all living beings. Migration means physical displacement, but also includes the journey between life and death. Sometimes relocation could be made following the climate in order to survive, sometimes trying to cross borders for other vital reasons, and sometimes to proliferate transfering your life energy to other living beings. In any case, the concept of migration emerges as an area of great struggle between life and death. For example, migratory birds; to survive first of all, they should be able to continue their way without being targeted by hunters. Then, if they are lucky enough, the wetlands where they stay should not have been dried due to agricultural irrigation or drainage, the pastures should not have been turned into agricultural areas, or the feeding areas invaded by concrete.
Call (2024) will distribute the sounds of migratory birds, which are in danger of extinction on a global scale and pass through Anatolia, along the walking route of the festival area at irregular intervals. The sounds of these birds, each of which will be presented by a single speaker, will be played at irregular and sparse intervals in line with their rarity. While the project leaves the hearing of bird sounds to chance, it underlines “disappearance” by allowing a rumour to arise whether they are heard or not.
Cappadox 2024
Değişen Gökler / Changing Skies
in memory of Fulya Erdemci
23.05 – 13.06.2024
Uçhisar / Cappadocia
curated by Kevser Güler
Video documentation: Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Mete Kaan Özdilek
Call (2024)
sound installation
on the exhibition promenade (Uçhisar, Cappadocia)
in memory of Fulya Erdemci…
It is October in Frankfurt. Afternoon in the city. A loud noise, as if screaming, is coming from the distance. We look up in amazement every time. Thousands of African geese are in a rush to return at the end of summer…
Every year, millions of birds carry out their seasonal migration through Anatolia in the Africa-Europe or Africa- Asia direction. Nevşehir Gülşehir and Avanos Kızılırmak basin, located on the international bird migration route, are also among the important stopover sites for migratory birds.
When thinking about the theme of Changing Skies, migratory birds that physically experience the changing skies come to our minds. What a vital importance to migrate -to be able to migrate- has on all living beings. Migration means physical displacement, but also includes the journey between life and death. Sometimes relocation could be made following the climate in order to survive, sometimes trying to cross borders for other vital reasons, and sometimes to proliferate transfering your life energy to other living beings. In any case, the concept of migration emerges as an area of great struggle between life and death. For example, migratory birds; to survive first of all, they should be able to continue their way without being targeted by hunters. Then, if they are lucky enough, the wetlands where they stay should not have been dried due to agricultural irrigation or drainage, the pastures should not have been turned into agricultural areas, or the feeding areas invaded by concrete.
Call (2024) will distribute the sounds of migratory birds, which are in danger of extinction on a global scale and pass through Anatolia, along the walking route of the festival area at irregular intervals. The sounds of these birds, each of which will be presented by a single speaker, will be played at irregular and sparse intervals in line with their rarity. While the project leaves the hearing of bird sounds to chance, it underlines “disappearance” by allowing a rumour to arise whether they are heard or not.
Text: Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt
List of Birds:
White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala)
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)
Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga)
Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)
Basra Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis)
Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius)
Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)
Mountain chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus)
Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris
Lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)
Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita)
Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug)
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
Cappadox 2024
Değişen Gökler / Changing Skies
in memory of Fulya Erdemci
23.05 – 13.06.2024
Uçhisar / Cappadocia
curated by Kevser Güler
Free Solo (2019-2022)
Performance / Installation
118 pieces; acrylic paint on polyurethane, magnesium powder, plywood
Free Solo is a climbing wall project for which the duo creates replicas of the accessible parts of numerous statues and monuments in Frankfurt, Istanbul, and Çanakkale. According to the artists, while monuments bring people together in celebrations and/or protests, many people also tend to climb them during these gatherings, and this desire – the desire to rise beyond physical existence by benefiting from the power of the monument at that time and place – constitutes the starting point of the artwork. (from the press release of Upfalling Ones exhibition)
Installation view; Upfalling Ones exhibition opened on 20.3.2024 at Dirimart, Istanbul
Photos: Nazlı Erdemirel
Neither Up nor Down (2019-2023)
paint on polyester, 317×417 cm
The project consists of a 1:1 scale model of a cross-section of the staircase that once led to the world’s tallest flagpole on a 3-hectare pedestal-like square in Baku, and takes a humorous look at the race to be the world’s tallest.
From 1982 to 2010, Kaesong, North Korea, held the record for the tallest flagpole at 160 m. Baku, Azerbaijan, took the record in 2010 with a height of 162 m, but lost it less than a year later to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, with a 165 m flagpole. In 2014, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, took the record with a 171-meter flagpole, and in September 2021, construction began on a new 191-meter flagpole in Baku to reclaim the world record. While scheduled for completion in 2022, a 202-meter flagpole was erected in Cairo, Egypt, in late 2021. Since then, the construction of the new flagpole in Azerbaijan has not been completed (July 2023).
Stairs, like flagpoles, have the main function of moving (things) up or down. With the flagpole as a representation of power, these stairs create a vertical, almost sacred path to that power. They bring people to the base of the giant flagpole. But the closer you get to the pole, the smaller you become with each step.
“Neither Up nor Down” disrupts the way power is represented through verticality by shifting the perspective to the horizontal. With a 1:1 scale model of the staircase parallel to the ground, this staircase is shown as dysfunctional; one can neither go up nor down, separating it from a path to power.
Photo: 1,2,3,4,7,8, Nazlı Erdemirel
Installation view; Upfalling Ones exhibition opened on 20.3.2024 at Dirimart, Istanbul
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Flag_Square.jpg(opens in a new tab)
Higher than the Ground, Lower than the Sky (2022-2024)
Electrostatics paint on iron
Each; 420 x 45 x 20 cm
Higher than the Ground, Lower than the Sky consists of fixed ascending stairs indicating the pedestal heights of public space sculptures in different cities. Pedestals serve the function of lifting things placed on them, yet in the installation, their heights converge with the bodies of the stairs, the tools of the up-and-down movement. Therefore, the installation both diverts an object with daily use from its function and gives it a new function. The irregularly arranged steps of the stairs draw a portrait of the hierarchal order in the public space, while the possibility of moving the steps when necessary shows that this hierarchy can be reconstructed at any moment. Higher than the Ground, Lower than the Sky also allows it to be read as a measuring object indicating the invisible layers rising from the ground.
Installation view; Upfalling Ones exhibition at Dirimart, istanbul
Photo 2,3,4,6,7: Nazlı Erdemirel
Possibilities for a Sculpture (I-XVI), 2024
Polyester felt and rubber
Variable dimensions
Possibilities for a Sculpture which focuses on monumental public space sculptures in different geographies, depicting the human figure in various forms. Transforming the sculptures’ poses into written instructions and arranged in the size of the projection of the sculptures’ pedestals, these carpets are placed on the gallery floor, aligning it with the upper points of these pedestals. Each viewer reading the instructions creates a temporary version of these sculptures, while the objects placed on the carpets or the people standing on them turn into temporary new sculptures of these pedestals.
video and cover image: Fuko Creative
Installation photographs: Nazlı Erdemirel
Installation view; Upfalling Ones exhibition at Dirimart, istanbul
