07/03/2024 - 11/05/2024

Zeynep Kayan
second time with the chair
7 March - 11 May 2024

Opening: Thursday, 7 March 2024, 6-8 pm.

Zilberman is pleased to announce Zeynep Kayan’s solo exhibition titled second time with the chair, opening at the gallery’s main space located at the Mısır Apartmanı in Beyoğlu between March 7 - May 11, 2024. second time with the chair brings together Zeynep Kayan’s latest works, initiating a dialogue between the self and repetition, conceived during her residency at Rijksakademie.

second time with the chair delves into the artist's repetitive journey, revisiting, reliving, and reattempting past experiences in a transcendent manner. It serves both as an introspective and an autoportrait, exploring themes of self, body, and the human condition through the lens of repetition. Kayan's exploration of space, repetition, and movement breaks through conventional artistic mediums, offering viewers a glimpse into the poetic dimensions of existence and the ever-shifting interplay between reality and perception.

Throughout the exhibition, Kayan explores repetition not only as a means to establish rhythm and tempo through movement, gesture, sound, and language but also as a mechanism for differentiation. In her video work second time with the chair,  the artist herself is depicted almost sitting on the floor, slowly pulling a string tied to an unseen chair, drawing it closer to her. This depiction of the artist in relation to the chair is a recurring motif in Kayan's oeuvre, seen in the videos titled 00'43" (2022) and 00'38" (2022). These videos were filmed before her relocation to Amsterdam and were intended to create a memory with a chair inherited from her grandmother, which Kayan had never previously utilized. With each repetition, the work undergoes transformation, evolving into something novel. This motif, initially examined as both a movement and an object, finds further depth at Rijksakademie in the performance titled i started on the second week and i'm still pulling the chair (2023) where Kayan once again pulls a string attached to a chair. This recurring motif, repeatedly explored and fragmented, delves into the rhythmic shifts inherent in continuous movement.

For Kayan, repetition serves as a catalyst for change, challenging perceptions and rendering the familiar unfamiliar. The video and the site-specific installations featuring strings suspended from the ceiling pay homage to Kayan's previous solo exhibition in Berlin one one two one two three. This string installation traverses the space, establishing a more direct relationship with the spectator and inviting them into Kayan's personal sphere. What was once a mere apparatus in the videos now emerges as an entity in its own right, disrupting established roles anew. Furthermore, the exhibition is accompanied by a poem written by the artist, which serves as a guiding narrative, weaving through the works that wander around the chair. 

While Kayan often incorporates her own body into her practice, the series, second time with the chair: blue portraits stands out by breaking one of the constants in her practice, the limited palette of black, white, and grey. Here, she presents herself in a blue dress, creating an autoportrait that occupies a central position within the exhibition space. This shift in color palette enhances the viewer's engagement, as the portraits direct the spectator's gaze and movement across the gallery space.

second time with the chair is an anagram, where the artist navigates through her artistic practice, disrupting constants while persistently engaging in repetition. In her words, she is interested in the desire to repeat and repeat to desire, in exhaustion, in how things alter daily and separate gradually, in the dance that goes nowhere, in concentration and uninterrupted contradiction.

For further information please contact Nazlı Yayla via nazli@zilbermangallery.com

Recent solo shows and presentations include: one one two one two three (Zilberman, Berlin, 2022); Zona Maco Foto, (Mexico, 2022); Temporary Sameness (Zilberman, Istanbul, 2019), UNSEEN Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 2019), Constructed (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2016). Kayan's work has been shown in numerous group shows including Rijksakademie Open Studios 2023 (Amsterdam, 2023), İstanbul Modern (İstanbul, 2023), Volkskundenmsueum (Vienna, 2022), Protocinema (Istanbul, 2021), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, 2021), Helsinki Contemporary Gallery (Helsinki, 2020), Salt Galata, (Istanbul, 2018); Field Meeting (New York, 2015). Kayan is currently a resident at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten until 2024. Besides she is one of the founders of the independent art space "Torun" in Ankara, which was active until 2020.

She lives and works between Ankara and Amsterdam.

Image: Zeynep Kayan, second time with the chair: rehearsal II, 2023

Exhibition Works