27 Jun 2014

Plurivocality - Visual Arts and Music in Turkey at Istanbul Modern

PLURIVOCALITY- Visual Arts and Music in Turkey
June 27 - November 27, 2014

Within the scope of its 10th year, Istanbul Modern presents 'Plurivocality', an exhibition investigating the interrelations between auditory and visual arts through a selection of contemporary artwork in Turkey. ''Plurivocality'' opens up a field of inquiry that has never been explored by an exhibition before in Turkey. It also serves as a resource for understanding the cultural and sociopolitical role sound and music play in Turkey and the influence of various trends in music on the contemporary art practices.
The title ''Plurivocality'' highlights not only the variety of conceptual references in the works and the plurality of music genres in the exhibition, it also refers to the unlimited sources of sound and music that surround us today. Exploring the close bond the visual arts have established with sound / music from past to present, 'Plurivocality' reveals the special personal and social roles music plays in artistic processes. The exhibition focuses on sound and music within the visual and artists that deal with the auditory in the context of the visual arts. It features works by artists who treat the visual and the auditory not as distinct disciplines, but rather as two fields that work in tandem. The paintings, sculptures, videos and installations in the exhibition render sound / music visually as a theme, concept and issue. They use different forms of sound and pieces of music as metaphors, cultural references and means of expression.
''Plurivocality'' proposes to rediscover the notion of sound and various pieces of music that have offered contemporary artists from Turkey plural contexts, a multitude of references and a natural resource for interaction with different audiences. A research area at the entrance of the exhibition hall, 'Repertoire' explores the intersections between music and the visual arts in Turkey throughout its history. Mapping the outcomes of the collaborations between prominent actors of both disciplines, 'Repertoire' is an initiative that aims to examine Turkey's sociocultural history from the late Ottoman era to the 1980s via its reflections in the visual arts and music. This repertoire shared by visual artists and musicians emphasizes that the dialogue between the visual and auditory production fields has been in progress for centuries and that this kind of interdisciplinary and inter-period work is a method that has been inherited from the past.

Artists
Nevin Aladağ, Fikret Atay, Semiha Berksoy, Hussein Chalayan, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Burhan Doğançay, Cevdet Erek, Borga Kantürk, Servet Koçyiğit, Füsun Onur, Ferhat Özgür, Sarkis, Erinç Seymen, Merve Şendil, Hale Tenger, Vahit Tuna, :mentalKLINIK

Curators
Çelenk Bafra, Levent Çalıkoğlu

'Repertoire' Research
Birnur Temel, Yasemin Ülgen Saray