artist: Adel Abidin, Almagul Menlibayeva, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Bahar Behbahani, Ceren Oykut, Constantinos Taliotis, Ipek Duben, Özgül Ezgin, Rheim Alkadhi and Yane Calovski
venue: Akbank Art Center
coordinates: Istanbul, 2012
website: http://www.akbanksanat.com
Aftermath aims to penetrate the relationship between the concepts of memory and evil. In the same vein, the content of the exhibition probes into the tension between the forgotten realities and things one desires to sink into oblivion; between collective dementia and personal stories –whose plots are being generated every time they are told; and ultimately between justifications and reckonings with the past.
By departing from the act of questioning, Aftermath inhabits works that investigate and produce psychological situations, as well as works rendering social and political realities. The exhibition was designed to address the tidal situation between “to forget” and “not to forget”. Each work in the exhibition processes various perceptive dimensions of “evil”, while the key common point of the works in the exhibition is the use of symbolism. In this respect, all of the works allow the viewer to perceive them in multiple levels and layers. The viewer is always subject to becoming an active participant of the situations that the works address.
Aftermath is accompanied by a book, edited by Basak Senova, which functions as a critical guide to the exhibition. The book observes the works with a wide range of perspectives by writers, critics, and curators such as Andreas Vrahimis, Cathy Bryd, Ece Pazarbaşı, Doris Chon, Lewis Johnson, Maia Damianovic, Rijin Sahakian, Robert Kluijver and Zehra Sonya.