Plug-In Istanbul

2014 

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November 13- 16 , 2014

Curator  İpek Yeğinsü examines the themes and motifs of the artists' work and the context in which they were made:

In her installation entitled The Fight between Eye and Ear, Asena Hayal uses Pieter Bruegel’s (1525-1569) The Fight Between Carnival and Lent in a game based on synesthesia. This lively painting representing the transition between two seasonal diets shows both situations simultaneously in one single frame; the composition is so intense and dynamic, the viewer almost feels like actually hearing the sounds and noises in the painting. The game Hayal has created with the sounds she composed and produced, consists of vocalizing the scenes described in the painting while presenting the image and the sound in each other’s absence, in a way to render the viewer suspicious of a technical problem. The presence of sound in the absence of the imagery forces us to mentally visualize the composition, whereas the silent image is a reminder of the situation generated by the original artwork mobilizing the auditory imagination. The notion of “transformation” that we often encounter in Hayal’s art has the leading role in this work as well, and is a manifestation of the artist’s experimental quest in the realm of new media, especially of the concept of perception and its complexities.

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In his video work Outside, Yiğit Hepsev focuses on the individual’s sense of belongingness and the quest for identity from an inner point of view. He leaves the viewer face to face with a character visible in six different frames, never able to belong somewhere or to hold on to something. The figure that continues to fall into the void in the presence of sounds whose source we cannot exactly identify, seems to be surrounded by the imagery he or she mentally assigns to the concept of non-belongingness. Each frame has a different dominant motif: the breasts symbolize the quest for sexual identity, spanning from childhood to adulthood; the white nets observed by uncanny eyes in the dark represent the family’s, the social network’s and the society’s prejudices; the rolling avalanche balls stand for the pressure of the anxieties that dominate the world of thoughts and that grow as they are added together; the greenish liquid reminiscent of the deep waters where the first traces of life emerged, symbolizes the tentative answers to cosmic and existential questions; the pink sky represents the never fulfilled dreams and disappointments pertaining to vital objectives; and finally, the falling figure dominating the black background is a reminder of the inner void and helplessness generated by all these layers of belongingness. While we also sense the artist’s nostalgia for his childhood, Hepsev’s attitude is once more strengthened by his naive graphic language and invites the viewer to a sensitive journey into the deepest parts of his ego. 

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Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center

After studying Interactive Media Design,  Yiğit Hepsev  started to work in animation industry as a motion graphics artist. He has also participated to  group exhibitons at Pera museum and elsewhere. He then turned his direction to film directing, Yük, The Edge, My Heart is Blue for You are among his notable short films. Currently he is writing and directing short films, music videos and commercials. He holds a bachelor degree from Yıldız Teknik University and a masters degree from Bilgi University Film & TV Department. 

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Asena Hayal is a conceptual artist, curator, producer and art director who holds a B.A. degree from Yıldız Technical University.