A Highlight of “Verblendet”: Azade Köker
Zilberman Projects - İstanbul is pleased to announce the opening of A Highlight of “Verblendet”, that will be on view between the dates November 27, 2018 – February 2, 2019 in Istanbul. The exhibition presents a section of Azade Köker’s solo exhibition “Verblendet” that is on view at Zilberman Gallery – Berlin between the dates November 9, 2018 – January 5, 2019.
The Berlin and Istanbul-based Azade Köker’s oeuvre dwells on the dichotomy of the nature and the city in relation to today’s socio-political environment that is connected with war and migration. Cities, multiculturalism and the aftermath of destructions; borders and power structures are the analogies we encounter through the artist’s collages and installations. In Köker’s installations, sculptures and moving images, the resistance of nature against its destruction generates a hybridity that is not the home of the Romanticist or a place of contemplation. Disposal of plastic to in the environment, the roots of a tree protruding from a ceiling or tanks camouflaged in the forests depict a new reality which reveals the pain of destruction.
Azade Köker’s solo show Verblendet (Blinded) at Zilberman Gallery-Berlin presents new works of the artist. Both in the paper collage or paper sculptures such as Invasion 1 (2018) and Relikte Der Stadt (2018), Köker reveals a silent chaos approaching our urban realities day by day. In the artist’s sensitive modus operandi as in Fragiler Wald II (2017) or Verlassene Dichte (2017), we encounter a poetic possibility of a slow death, as a result of our contemporary economic unconsciousness. Inspired by Paul Virilio’s book Die Verblendung der Kunst—in which the theorist dwells upon the politics of architecture and war, as well as the materiality of art works—Verblendet refers to an eye blinded by a strong light. In ‘light’ of the current political and social warzone, Köker aims at a certain connection with people’s blindness in these apocalyptic times.
For more inquiries, please contact Seyhan Musaoğlu, seyhan@zilbermangallery.com.
Azade Köker (born 1949, Istanbul) lives and works between Berlin and Istanbul. She was a professor at Braunschweig Technical University, Braunschweig, Germany. Her recent solo exhibitions include: Everywhere, Nowhere (Zilberman Gallery, 2016), Azade Köker (Proje 4L, Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, 2015), Moving Spaces (Zilberman Gallery, 2013), Human Nature (Milli Reasürans Art Gallery, Istanbul, 2007), Transparenz der Abwesenheit (Otto-Galerie, Munich, 2004), and Transparenz des Gartens (Kunstverein Bielefeld, 2001). Her recent group exhibitions include: Meeting Point (Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany, 2015) and Dream and Reality (Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 2011). Her works are part of numerous public and corporate collections, including Akbank, Istanbul; The British Museum, London; Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul; Lebendiges Museum, Berlin; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin; Istanbul Modern Museum. She has public sculptures at Cuvry-Brunnen (Berlin), Bundesgartenschau (Berlin), Menschenlandschaften (Berlin), Frechen Museum (Düsseldorf), Bremen-Nord Zentralkrankenhaus (Bremen), Schule am Barbarossaplatz (Berlin), Schlosspark (Wolfsburg), Turkish Embassy (Japan), Altınpark (Ankara), Istanbul Stock Exchange (Istanbul), Aspat Art Park (Bodrum) and Park of German Embassy (Ankara).
