Museum files lawsuit against artist

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

This photo shows project titled Hysteria, a web-based work by artist Elif Öner.

The Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art has filed a lawsuit against artist Elif Öner due to her use of the web domains “elgizmuseum.com” and “proje4l.com,” which belong to the museum, in her web-based art project “Hysteria.”

Öner also used domains belonging to other museums in the project. In “Hysteria,” Öner criticizes the complex relationships involved in the collecting museums do, and refers to museum collections and the position of museums in modern life.

Öner’s work is currently on display at the Elgiz Museum, in an exhibit titled “A Museum inside Museum.” The exhibition has itself also caused controversy, due to some of the works included and their themes. The goal of the exhibition is to question what the role of a museum is, while also criticizing the accelerating growth in the number of galleries, collectors, artists and museums on the contemporary art scene. Controversy has arisen among some artists, curators and museums because of the content of the show’s opening performance and the presentation of some of the works in the exhibit.

According to a written statement at www.elgizmuseum.com, Öner’s work stresses the necessity of discussing the current state of the art world, where artists’ rights are not protected, and often no budget exists for artists and the process of art production.