Exhibitions Releases

Special exhibition of Diana Thater at Borusan Contemporary

21 July 2017 Fri

A Runaway World, an exhibition in which the famous artist Diana Thater looks at the danger of animal poaching through contemporary art...

"A Runaway World, an exhibition in which the famous artist Diana Thater looks at the danger of animal poaching through contemporary art, will be on view at Borusan Contemporary September 16, 2017–February 18, 2018, in parallel to the Istanbul Biennial.

A Runaway World, an exhibition by famous contemporary artist Diana Thater, will be on view at the Perili Köşk between the dates September 16, 2017–February 18, 2018, is curated by Borusan Contemporary Art Director Kathleen Forde and Director and Art Director of The Mistake Room, Cesar Garcia. The exhibition is made up of five video-based installations.

The first iteration of A Runaway World, which will take place during the Istanbul Biennial at Borusan Contemporary, was organized by The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA in the Spring of 2017. The upcoming exhibition presents an expanded version of the works at The Mistake Room, exploring the plight of animals that live in imminent danger of poaching.

Kathleen Forde says of the exhibition, “We are very pleased to be presenting a larger version of Diana Thater’s A Runaway World in Istanbul. Diana’s installations are vivid contemplations about the planet’s future and an urgent call for action. Three of the five works are already on display, articulate the artist’s approach to environmental issues. The previously exhibited works, As Radical As Reality (2017) and A Runaway World, were commissioned by The Mistake Room for an exhibition of the same title in the spring of 2017. Forde continues, “The new installations are made up of videos of elephants who are hunted for their tusks, of Northern White Rhinoceros, a species hunted to extinction for their tusks, and images of the land on which this species lives. Thater and her team gained unprecedented access to these creatures, who live in areas that are surveilled by guardians. The videos have been configured in X-shaped screens, which produce a disturbing, immersing experience for the viewers,” Kathleen Forde remarks on presenting the works to the audience in our home base.

Borusan Contemporary prepares for another exhibition to take place at the same time—an exhibition that presents striking examples of new media art included in the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection through new exhibition Tree, Shadow, Sea, Moon curated by Necmi Sönmez. As with Sönmez’s previous collection-based exhibitions, this Tree, Shadow, Sea, Moon also takes its cue from literature; the poem “Bir Şehir Bırakmak” (Leaving A City) by Oktay Rifat, a distinguished and dissident figure in the modern poetry of Turkey:

Tell the tree
To bring me its shadow for the road
I also want the street and sea through the window
And rolls from you
Shaped like the moon

The exhibition will feature works produced in diverse digital media including video, installation, photography, video sculpture, light objects, and sound installations, looking at different positions in contemporary art. The author of the point of departure for the conceptual framework, poet Oktay Rifat himself painted and created imagery based on words. This exhibition aims to bring poetic images and visual imagery through divergent paths, focusing on unknown, unexperienced, unpredictable combinations. It will address both admirers of poetry and visual arts and seek to emphasize the virtue of creative thought.

“Tree, Shadow, Sea, Moon” will be presented at Borusan Contemporary, September 16, 2017–February 18, 2018.

The exhibitions will be on view until Sunday February 18, 2018.

Visiting hours: Borusan Contemporary is only open on the weekends, 10am–7pm.

Borusan Contemporary
Borusan Contemporary is a multi-platform program of exhibitions, events, educational activities, new commissions and site specific installations rooted in Borusan Contemporary Art Collection. These activities are defined by their specific focus on media arts broadly defined, i.e. artists who work with time, light, technology, video, software and beyond. Most of the program takes place at Perili Köşk Istanbul, and co-exists with the offices of Borusan Holding, in essence creating a unique museum in an office paradigm. The entire building including the galleries, office space, café, Borusan ArtStore and outdoor terraces with breathtaking views of the Bosphorus are open to the public on the weekends.

Rumelihisarı Mah. Baltalimanı Hisar Cad. No: 5 Perili Köşk, Sarıyer, İstanbul

www.borusancontemporary.com"