Sentient Matter
November 18th - January 9th 2022
Image: How to Fly, David Blandy, 2020 & Tutorial: How to make a short video about Extinction, David Blandy, 2014
See all the artworks in the exhibition here: Diana Barquero Pérez, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, David Blandy, Elmas Deniz, HUNITI GOLDOX, Johanna Linsley, Emmy Mikelson, Tina Ribarits, Liz Rosenfeld, Sadie Weis
Curated by Tuçe Erel & Tina Ribarits
Since the late 20th century, (social) sciences have challenged our understanding of human nature, loosened the divide between “human” and what we are accustomed to calling “na-ture”, and proven that there is life and agency beyond the biological world as we know it. Serpil Oppermann calls this “storied matter”, which “in the form of active creativity, emerges through the interplay of natural-cultural forces, trajectories, and flows, forming constellations of matter and meanings.
Elements, cells, genes, atoms, stones, water, landscapes, machines, among innumerable others, are embodied narratives, repositories of “storied matter.”(1) The research-based group exhibition Sentient Matter features ten artistic positions that explore this “subjectified universe”(2) around us – a mate-rial world interconnected with both human and the myriad of more-than-human entities – ani-mated, potent and impactful but also bearing the inscriptions of human (un)kindness.
The project brings together video, audio and instal-lative works that engage with these concepts in a speculative, humorous and poetic manner. The exhibition is accompanied by talks (online and offline), a performance by Johanna Linsley and a curators’ tour and a workshop by artist duo HUNITI GOLDOX.
(1) Oppermann, S. (2018) “Storied Matter”, in Braidotti, R. and Hlavajova, M. (eds) Posthuman glossary. London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 411–414.
(2) Le Guin, U.K. (2017) “Deep in Admiration”, in Tsing, A.L. et al. (Hg.) Arts of living on a damaged planet: Ghosts and monsters of the Anthropocene. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press. M-15–21
PUBLIC PROGRAM
20.11
15h – 21h Soft opening 17h Artist’s talk 19h Ghost Dog Rise, live performance by Johanna Linsley
28.11.
18h Online event Conversation with artists David Blandy, Emmy Mikelson and Kerem Ozan Bayraktar
11.12.
17h – 18h Curators’ tour with Tuçe Erel and Tina Ribarits
12.12.
18h Online event Lecture performances by artist Diana Barquero Pérez and artist duo HUNITI GOLDOX