SALT Galata presents ‘The Sequential’

ISTANBUL

An outcome of studio visits and open dialogue initiated in 2019 at the invitation of SALT, “The Sequential” features five independent presentations by Barış Doğrusöz, Deniz Gül, Volkan Aslan, Aykan Safoğlu, and the duo, Fatma Belkıs and Onur Gökmen.

The six mid-career artists included in the year-long program are united by “generational ties,” a shared experience of growing up in the 1980s and the 1990s. The fresh visual and conceptual vocabulary emerging in their practice is rooted in the recollections and sensibilities from the last 25 years.

The works in “The Sequential” look into the notion of “symbolic power” through the exploration of historiography, language, public sphere, symbolic capital and modernization, respectively.

The program aims to provide a broader space for expression for each artist, rather than adopting a traditional setting of a collective exhibition and comparison space.

Marking the 10th year of SALT, the year 2021 also opens an opportunity for closer creative exchange with artists with whom the institution has previously engaged in only limited collaborations.

The extraordinary circumstances, which are now at the forefront of the world’s attention, did not occur during the early stages of the program, but the following period has paved the way for several long-overdue questions to be articulated on how to develop sustainable and relevant forms of “display.”

The critical importance of deliberations between artists and cultural establishments have been highlighted in the extended conversations. In this context, “The Sequential” serves as an exemplary model not only for taking an approach based on a collaborative effort but also for the role of institutional support in the production of new creative works during times of crisis.

Programmed by Amira Akbıyıkoğlu and Farah Aksoy from SALT, “The Sequential” opened at SALT Galata on Jan. 19 with the first spatial presentation of Barış Doğrusöz’s video trilogy “Locus of Power,” a work that has been in progress since 2017.

Supported by SAHA Association, “The Sequential” will be included in the 2021-2022 public programs of three-member institutions of L’Internationale—Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie in Warsaw and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp following the initial presentations at SALT Galata.