Nancy Atakan : Mirror Mirror On The Wall
Nancy Atakan is at Pi Artworks Galatasaray with her solo exhibition "Mirror Mirror on the Wall" between the dates April 25th - June 22nd, 2013.
This new work by Nancy Atakan investigates the extreme routes taken by contemporary individuals and societies to become attractive to others whether it be the opposite sex or foreign investors. Women and men undergo surgery to alter their physical appearance. Politicians promote urban transformation to attract global investment. Plastic surgeons add to and take away from human bodies like sculptors molding clay. Urban developers thoughtlessly demolish communities and ways of life for profit. Societies that place high value on beauty and youth continuously change, disguise and eliminate the 'Old' built structure or human body. Violence of this type can be physical or psychological. Atakan uses a variety of techniques including silkscreen, photography, digital prints and digital video to transform discarded objects found in the local flea market.
Nancy Atakan has lived and worked as an artist, teacher, art historian, and art critic in Istanbul since 1969. Her solo exhibitions include: "How do we know we are not impostors?" and "From Here" (2011), "I Believe/ I Don't Believe" (2009) at Pi Artworks in Istanbul; "Holding on" at Apartment Project and "Obsession" at Manzara Perspectives in Istanbul (2009); "and" at Proje 4L Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum in Istanbul (2007); "People Objects" at Artoteek Schiedam in Rotterdam, Netherlans (2003). Her video work was included in the 2012 "Armory Film", New York, USA; 2009 "Research Base Social Space", Kunstverein Langenhagen, Germany; "Off-Space Istanbul", Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and "35 Years of Video Art", Ankara Film Festival, Ankara; 2008 "54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen"; 2006 "LA Freewaves 10th New Media Art Festival", Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA; and the 2006 "Coding: Decoding Video Show", Museum of Contemporary Art Nikolaj and Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, Denmark. She has participated in numerous international and local group exhibitions such as: 2013 "Places of Memory - Fields of Vision", Contemporary Art Center of Thessaloniki, Greece; "'Me, Myself and I' Me as a Dilemma", Cer Modern, Ankara; 2012 "Keep on Keeping on", curated DVD exhibition launched at SALT Galata, Istanbul; "Who Left? What Behind", Ankara Contemporary Art Center; "Trading Stations", Curve Gallery, Liverpool, UK; "Familiar", Spas Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA; 2011 "Dreams and Reality", Istanbul Modern; "Public Ideas", Kiel, Germany; 2011 "Floating Volumes III", Hamburg, Germany; 2010 "Public Volumes I" Hamburg, Germany; 2009 "Istanbul New Waves", Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany; 2007 "Imagining the Book I", Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt; and 2005 "Cosmopolis I: First Balkan Biennial", Thessalonika, Greece.
