Merve Şendil: BirdDay

Pi Artworks Galatasaray hosts Merve Şendil's "BirdDay" between the dates 18 February - 31 March 2012. 

Shaped around a single meal time a couple spends in a Chinese-looking local restaurant, "BirdDay" invites the audience to the artist's fantastic perception via the reality of every single detail which is embodied by using different media as soon as the room is entered. When telling her story, Merve Şendil thinks on all the details which are needed to enable the "extraordinariness" to be exempted from the perception and transformed into a game, and places them into the exhibition. At this point, the audience needs nothing more to do but "wish" to participate in the game. Not having to give up the charm of the story while converting the "extraordinary" to her own reality, signifies the intimacy of artist's  "fantastic" (according to the audience) and "usual" (according to herself) perception.

Like in her previous compositions, in "BirdDay" Merve Şendil intends to make the audiences' job a little easier by using visuals which may boost up their imagination and are embodied projections of the imagery mentioned in her story. Among the different media which are used in embodiment of the visuals, especially braids and knots as symbol of their interwinedness, create a perception beyond symbolizing the bond between the artist's perceptual world and reality. Details of the thousands of knots and texture which are completed by knittings actually bear the signs of a story which is independent from what is 'completed'.

"BirdDay" explains the artist's "magical" via her authentic "reality".

In 2004 Merve Şendil graduated from Dokuz Eylül University Izmir, Department of Art and in 2007 she established "Underscene Project".  Selected exhibitions the artist participated in includes: "The Story of Three Cities" (Outlet Gallery, 2010), "10 years at Kasa" (Kasa Gallery, 2010), "Hope is a Good Thing" (Atelier Frankfurt, Germany, 2007), 9th Istanbul Biennial Private Projects (Santralistanbul, 2007), "One Minute Film and Video Festival" (Switzerland, 2006-05), "The little, the cheap, the trash and absolutely passionate" (HIAP Studio, Finland, 2005). Şendil also attended the visiting artist programs in Approach Art Association (Hungary), Sextant et plus (Fresh) and Borusan Culture and Arts.