In April 2016 in Venice, as a preview for early visitors of 2016 Venice Biennial of Architecture,
will open the show of new works by Turkish artist Aslı Kutluay and curated by Vittorio Urbani
with Elisa Genna in a new art space: the Magazzino Gallery @ Palazzo Contarini Polignac, on the
Grand Canal, one of the most important Early Renaissance buildings in Venice. The exhibition will
be opened by Ziya Azazi's 'Dervish in Progress' Performance.
Asli Kutluay, designer and artist, lives and works in Ankara. She takes strong interest in presenting
the world’s cultural diversities, dilemmas and richness. She transmits her observations into
evocative stories displaying them in paintings, sculptures and installations.
The artist has produced a coherent body of new works, 'non-functional' pieces of furniture,
intended to create a connection among the artworks, the place and the visitors.. The work from her
reflections on the phenomenon of Global Warming: structures at the point of melting or cracking,
given the changing climate, present us as in a magic mirror the disturbing scenario we may have to
find ourselves in. However, the responsible of these changes are exactly we, the humans.
The design of works also suggests a way of purification to recover what we're losing in terms of an
ecology both of nature and mind and in terms of the quality of relationships between human beings.
Wirenets for example, are the symbols of borders. This work questions us: do we really need
borders and when we do not need them? Should we reinvent and redefine the respect, trust, selfsatisfaction
issues - all the ethical values gained over thousands of years that it seems we have now
forgotten?
The installation Aftermath made by two Victorian garden chairs and a table seems to have been
corrupted and melted by heat and pollution. At the same time it's a critique on the “battle of
powers” which the artist sees as the cause of the world decay.
Nature enters the show with the sculptural work Stalactites and Stalagmites: they've been
reinvented by cables and electricity with red light: red is both the color of heat and a reference to
the “ego”.
Same reference that we find in Crack table: a table split in two identical pieces – like “Ying
Yang”. Lowering the height by introducing a step and slicing the table diagonally, correspond to
movements of melting by heat. “Heat” is not only the result of global warming but the tensions
created by the “ego” of the protagonists. In this design we do not need chairs to communicate; we
purely can sit on the ground. The space between the pieces is the symbol of a healthy
communication which we need in every kind of relationship.
The video work Our Blue Planet has been shot by the artist in Dubai in December 2015, in the
middle of winter. A new modern architecture silhouette stays in front of the mosaics of the pool and
filters are in blue composition. What we see are artificial elements invented by humankind. We can
hear the sound and feel the color of water. Water, represented by blue, and collected artificially in
this pool, will certainly be the most valuable element in the future.
Kutluay's site specific work stays in balance on the threshold between art and design as
conventionally intended. If “art” is a metaphor transformed in an object, “design” is about the
industrial production of functional objects, rethought and redesigned according esthetic ideas but
with respect to its functional destination. Works in Kutluay exhibition assess if these two fields can
be mixed further, and their traditional division challenged and help us to go deeper in this direction.
Asli Kutluay held solo exhibitions at: Cer Modern, PlatformArmony, Galeri Artist LAB and Kav
Galleries in Ankara; Armaggan, Galeri Eksen, Seli Art and Istanbul Design Week in Istanbul;
Artifact Gallery in New York and Artem Gallery in Bratislava.
Among the group exhibitions:
“With his feet resting heavily on clouds” Curator Antonello Tolve, Michetti Museum, Pescara;
“Opportunito Collettiva di Arte Contemporanea” & “Equilibri Armonici” Curator Marco Testa,
Florence; “Essence of All Things” Curator Dores Sacquegna, PrimoPiano LivingGallery, Lecce in
Italy;
“Flu Games Berlin” - Malzfabrik & “Infantellina Contemporary” in Berlin
“Energy for Life” & “One” with Armaggan Art & Design Gallery, Istanbul.
“Viaduc des Arts PARIS” &“Dialogue East & North” with Gallery Monteolivetto in Paris and Nice
and“Je viens d’Anatolie...”Council of Europe des Arts Club Strasbourg in France.
She exhibited in Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair with Canadian Arteria Gallery and “Sofa
Functional Art Fair” with Armaggan Gallery in Chicago.
Among the awards: She won the Conceptual Study Award at “Pari Emballage” Paris, France.