"DE FACTO" MIXED EXHIBITION IS AT MERKUR
AHMET ELHAN, ALPER AYDIN, ANTONIO COSENTINO, BENGÄ°SU BAYRAK,
BERKAY CAN YILMAZ, BEYZA TURAK, DÄ°LARA AKAY, EDA GECÄ°KMEZ
FERHAT ÖZGÜR, GÜLÅžAH BAYRAKTAR, LALEPER AYTEK, MEDÄ°NE IRAK, MEHMET ALÄ° BORAN, ÖZGE ENGÄ°NÖZ, RAFET ARSLAN, SALÄ°HA YILMAZ, TEMUR KÖRAN
CURATOR BERAL MADRA
This group exhibition invites the viewer to re-evaluate their intellectual, mental and spiritual state in the global order called post-history and post-truth, with the works of a group of artists who carry out the Relational Aesthetic productions of Contemporary Art in Turkey.
After experiencing all kinds of disasters that negatively affected life in the last century, people are looking for a solution for a balanced environment of peace and tranquility that focuses on human life and nature in the face of similar negativities that continue in this century.
Answers to the following basic questions can be found in this exhibition: “What messages do artistic and cultural productions give for the present and the future? “How do they guide public epistemology and education through the study of relevant artistic and cultural material? “, “How do these works form an active position in the global art and culture environment?” Especially for the anxiety and despair created by today's wars and crises, these questions in the encounter of art production with the audience can also give clues about how people should behave in the face of problems.
Relational Aesthetic art and cultural products determine success in global economic competition and create a communication and information exchange that can exploit the boundaries between economic and political polarizations in the world. The images and objects in painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation and performance techniques in this exhibition have become important players in the international cultural scene. In this respect, these visual art productions, defined as Relational Aesthetics, are a DE FACTO phenomenon that opens a field of communication, cooperation, equality and reciprocity between the different political, economic and cultural manifestations of the regions, with their free, broad and open intellectual-visual discourse.
Beral Madra, December 2023
*De Facto or de Fakto, a Latin phrase meaning "in fact", "factual", "actually" or "in practice".