Exhibition"WaterWork" at Siemens Sanat
Siemens Sanat continuestosupportyoungartistswiththenewexhibition.
Xerxeswasveryangrywhen he learned of thedisaster,andgaveordersthattheHellespontshouldreceivethreehundredlashesandhave a pair of fettersthrowninto it. I haveheardbeforenowthat he also sentpeopletobrand it with hot irons.(Herodotus, Histories7.35)
Since old, theBosphorus has figured as site, metaphor,andmaterial of İstanbul as a city on theborder ofcontinents, religions, andlanguages. Formillennia,İstanbul, theoldByzantiumandConstantinople,has beenthecapital of empires, andagaintoday, itfindsitself as a majorcity in onethefastestgrowingeconomies in theworld.
Inthefluidhistorythroughwhich İstanbul is stil moving, theBosphorus, itslocation, geography, and
weather, has beenone of themainactors: inhibitingorfacilitatingmigrationfrom West to East andviceversa,tradingbetweentheEuxineandMediterraneanSeas,as locus of economiccirculation, urban gentrification,anddriftingpopulations, as symbol of divisionandcohesion. Inallitscontinuouslychangingappearances,it has remainedparadoxicallytheonlycontinuous
factor in thesuccessions of historicruptures.
On anotherlevel, thewater of theBosphorusalsosymbolizestoincessantmixing, andsulandırılmış
(wateringdown) of ethnic, political, andreligiousmovementsthatbridgeditsflow. Whethercourtplots
slowlysinkingintomarshes of politicalintrigue, thewashingaway of urban libertiesbyruralcustoms, orthedilation of ideologicalmotives in thewhirlpool ofeconomicboom.
Duetoitsgeographicalpositioning, its form andshape,theBosphoruscannot be ignored in daily İstanbul life.Itneedsto be crossedbyboatorbybridge, housingpricesdepend on itsview, andsuburbanity is definedbyitsabsence. No longer a border, it is of constantinfluence on everydaymovements, slowingdowntraveling time as a relativelyemptyinterpunctionbetweencarsandcrowds, a flatsurface as acounterpointtothehillsrisingup on bothshores. TheBosphorusallows İstanbul tobreathe.
TheresearchprojectSu İş attemptstoinvestigateandengagetheBosphorus in itsmetaphorical,
site-specific, geographical, economic, andhistoricalaspects. HowdoestheBosphorusoperate as actorwithincontemporary İstanbul, not unlikethe body ofwaterXerxeswassoeagertopunishafter a storm haddestroyedthebridge he had builttoinvadeGreecewith.
Fourweeks of in situresearchwill form thebasis ofa series of interventionswhosedocumentation is
presented in thisexhibitionentitledSu İş (WaterWork)in Siemens Sanat Art Gallery, on theshores of theBosphorus.
The final exhibitionincludesworksbyMauriceAbath,Melis Bagatir, ManuelBeltrán, ÁronBirtalan,
Serpil Çetinkaya, Merve Denizci, Alican Durbaş,Serap Gümüşoğlu, Naci Güneş Güven, ClaudiaHansen,Pim van der Heiden, RoelHeremans, FredericJanssen,HacerKıroğlu, Volkan Kızıltunç, Davut Köse,SterreKonijn, LucasKramer, Can Kurucu, Ilgın Özer,GisellaRipoll, Ronald Schelfhout, Recep Serbest,DanielSlabosky, Özer Toraman and Egemen Tuncer.
TheresearchprojectSu İş is initiatedandcuratedbyAss. Prof. Mürteza Fidan (FineArtsDepartment,
Marmara University, İstanbul), Dr. Vincent W.J. vanGervenOei (InterfacultyArtScience, RoyalAcademyof Art, TheHague), Prof. T. Melih Görgün (DesignDepartment, Mimar Sinan University of FineArts,İstanbul) andGosse de Kort MMusBArch (InterfacultyArtScience/T.I.M.E. Department, RoyalAcademy of Art /RoyalConservatoire, TheHague).