Works

TRITON

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TRITON, 2018

installation boat remains
4.5×632 cm

Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. His special attribute was a twisted conch shell, which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Triton is also a border security operation conducted by Frontex, the European Union’s border security agency. It was undertaken after Italy ended the search and rescue operation; Mare Nostrum. The project TRITON rewrites a part of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with the pieces belonging to a refugee boat, which the artists’ found on the shore of Dikili in 2016.

The billows rise, while the Union lifts the mace
On Our Sea, and furrows its smooth face.
Already Triton, at his call, appears
Above the waves; a tyrant robe he wears.
The sovereign bids him protectionist sounds inspire,
And give the waves the signal to rise higher.
Triton (2018) Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt

The billows fall, while Neptune lays his mace
On the rough sea, and smooths its furrow’d face.
Already Triton, at his call, appears
Above the waves; a Tyrian robe he wears;
And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.
The soveraign bids him peaceful sounds inspire,
And give the waves the signal to retire.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I, Trans. Samual Garth

Installation view; Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat, Istanbul
photos 1,4,5: YKY, Istanbul
2,3: Günyol&Kunt

Toward the Horizon

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Toward the Horizon, 2017

Hahnemühle Stella 200 g/m2 paper mounted on 4 mm alu-dibond, indian ink 291×583 cm

A large scale drawing project that comprises of 188,333 times 60 cm long lines. 60 cm is the approximate distance of a single step. The total length of the lines used to create the work demonstrates the distance between Tunisia and Lampedusa Island of Italy which is 113 km.

Installation view; Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V., Berlin
photos: Jens Ziehe, Berlin

That which remains…

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That which remains…, 2017

salt water paintings
seawater (crystallized salt) on Arches aquarelle grain satiné 300 g/m2, 16 pieces, each 56×76 cm with wooden frame

Words from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights such as OPINION, PRIVACY, THOUGHT, CHOICE, EXISTENCE, LIFE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, SECURITY, PROTECTION or MOVEMENT are picked and rewritten with seawater from the Aegean Sea. The seawater used in the work is from Dikili and Çeşme in Turkey, Lesbos and Chios islands in Greece. Dikili is the town where migrants were brought back from Greece to Turkey under the European Union deal with Turkey, which came into effect in March 2016.

Installation view; Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V., Berlin
photos 1-6: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
7,8: Günyol&Kunt

Reds, Yellows & Blues

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Reds, Yellows & Blues, 2017

video installation
digital video loop

The video work consists of three monitors showing different tones of the three primary colors. The tones of those colors are taken from the national flags of the world according to the themes that they represent in the national flags. These are; blood & war (reds), desert & the sun (yellows), sky & sea (blues).

Installation view; Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V., Berlin
photos: Jens Ziehe, Berlin

The Distance

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The Distance (Kuşadası-Samos), 2017

fine art print on Hahnemühle photo rag ultra smooth 305 gr/m²
102.2×102.2 cm

A square, blue-colored piece of paper made of 922 vertical and 922 horizontal lines, each 92.2 cm long. The total length of the lines demonstrates the closest distance between Kuşadası (Turkey) and Samos Island (Greece). In the work, the paper has a grid spacing of 1 mm intervals, like those commonly used in graph papers. Therefore, although the lines that create the work demonstrates a specific distance, it also appears as an empty piece of paper awaiting to be filled before the viewers. The title “the distance” also emphasizes the distance of the artists’ reality to the reality of the “situation” itself, that is, the freedom of travel through the migration routes without having any troubles. That is to say, the distance, even the same distance, is not the same distance when it comes to going through it.

photos 1,2: Işık Kaya

Fireworks

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Fireworks, 2015-ongoing

digital video, loop

The video highlights the ironical transformation of the use of fireworks, which are normally associated with celebrations and an aesthetic experience. The fireworks in the video are no longer exploding in vertical direction but in horizontal direction and what is there to see is not the beauty of these explosions but protection shields that emerge instantaneously where these explosions take place.

Installation view; Dirimart, Istanbul
photos: Işık Kaya

Video installation at Dirimart, video: Işık Kaya

Right

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Right, 2015

fine art print on Hahnemühle photo rag ultra smooth 305 g/m² 41.2×60 cm

All instances of the word “right” graphically overlap, as it is used in the Constitution (36 times in total). As a result, the work pushes the rest of the Constitution to the background and concentrates on the foundational function of a constitution, which is to secure the basic rights and freedom of all individuals.

photos: Işık Kaya

The Portrait

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The Portrait, 2015

fine art print on Hahnemühle photo rag ultra smooth 305 g/m²
120×144 cm

Günyol and Kunt address the inequality in the distribution of wealth as emphasized with the slogan “we are the 99 percent” by looking at the other side of the equation. The Portrait (2015) is a piece that brings together in a photographic print the wealthiest 100 people listed in Forbes magazine’s World’s Billionaires list for 2015. […] The portrait, a composite image made by printing of 100 photographs on top of each other, presents an anonymous character […] ghost images of all those people blend into a single image, as if it is an identikit.[…] One can see a human figure on this photograph only looking from a certain distance, which evokes the distance between the characters that make the portrait and the rest of people representing the 99 percent.

Rana Öztürk, minute by minute (Istanbul: Dirimart Publications, 2015).

Installation view; Dirimart, Istanbul
photo 1: Işık Kaya

June 2013

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June 2013, 2015

fine art print on Hahnemühle canvas 340 g/m²
140×300 cm

The facade of the Atatürk Cultural Center building in Taksim Square of Istanbul was covered with posters during the Gezi Park protests in 2013. The variety of the posters was a reflection of the collective existence of differences. In this work, sound waves of a recording taken during the Gezi Park protests and the image of the facade covered with posters are superimposed on one another. The dimensions of the work are proportional to the facade of the AKM building.

photo: Işık Kaya

Constitutive Lines

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Constitutive Lines, 2015

fine art print on Hahnemühle photo rag ultra smooth 305 g/m²
134×200 cm

The work reduces national flags into lines like in the first steps of their designs. It includes all the flags that have linear separations in their designs.

Installation view; Dirimart, Istanbul
photos 1,3: Işık Kaya