7/7/2011
Deniz Gul
Arter, Istanbul
'5 Person Bufet' is a multi-phase project that started out with a text Deniz Gul began to write in 2009, to be performed by 5 people. This performance poetry is now spatialised through 5 pieces of furniture that constitute the backbone of the installation: Vitrine, Closet, Safe, Coffin and a Door turned into a room. They create a layout recalling buildings lined up on a street.
curated by Emre Baykal
As of July 8, 2011, ARTER will be hosting Deniz Gül’s “5 Person Bufet”, curated
by Emre Baykal. “5 Person Bufet” is Deniz Gül’s first solo exhibition, as well as
an extension of ARTER’s mission to support new productions.
“5 Person Bufet” is a multi-phase project that started out with a text Deniz Gül
began to write in 2009, to be performed by 5 people. This performance poetry is now
spatialised at ARTER through 5 pieces of furniture that constitute the backbone of
the installation: Vitrine, Closet, Safe, Coffin and a Door turned into a room. These
5 pieces of furniture, which meet the audience facing the window (their backs to the
viewer), create a new outside within the exhibition space with a layout recalling
buildings lined up on a street. The artist intervened their interiors with various objects
and material, yet made almost no changes on their appearance. Through their linear
arrangement they diverge from the set up we are accustomed to from our homes and
evoke rather the publicness of a street or square, confronting us as monument-
objects. As Deniz Gül places the furniture as her own monument-objects at the
centre of the installation, she opens up a space fostered by the tension between the
outside and the inside and the transitivity between them. For instance, the cut glass
motifs inspired by glassware that are usually displayed in vitrines and applied to the
windows serve to expand the ‘interior’ to the ‘outside’, the private to the public.
Similarly, the shutter Gül transfers from the street into the exhibition space stands for
an invasion from outside to the interior.
Deniz Gül also employs a quite unusual table almost trying to create a platform of
dialogue for her furniture. Inspired by the fountain pools in public domain, this large
and round table enchants the entire space while the milk boiling at its centre thickens
and spreads its scent all over the furniture as the day wears out.
The exhibition book comprises installation photographs from “5 Person Bufet”, an
interview with the artist by Bejan Matur and an essay by the exhibition’s curator
Emre Baykal. “5 Person Bufet” exhibition book and Deniz Gül’s artist’s book by the
same name will be available at ARTER throughout the exhibition.
Born in 1982 in İzmir, Deniz Gül, completed Sabancı University, Programme of
Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design in 2004. From that year on the artist
partook in various group exhibitions in Italy, Japan, India, Austria, Spain and France
including The Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in 2005.
The most recent group exhibitions Deniz Gül participated in include “Cultura
Contemporania” in Barcelona in 2008; “İstanbul Traversée” realised in the scope of
Lille 3000 in 2009; “Divercity” organised at CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw in
2010. “5 Person Bufet” is Deniz Gül’s first solo exhibition.
Deniz Gül’s “5 Person Bufet” will be exhibited at ARTER concurrently with Patricia
Piccinini’s “Hold Me Close to Your Heart” until August 21, 2011.
ARTER space for art
İstiklal Caddesi No: 211 Beyoğlu Istanbul Turkey
Opening hours:
Tuesday—Thursday 11:00–19:00
Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12:00–20:00
Closed on Mondays.
Admission free.