Having participated in numerous international symposiums and biennials since the 1990s and also carried out public space sculpture projects along with solo and group exhibitions, Nilhan Sesalan presents the audience her latests works with the “Midnight in Istanbul” exhibition, embodying an installation that creates an atmosphere encircling her sculptures, as a result of a two-year production process.
The exhibition takes its name from the thoughts that focus on the dark image of the artist and the city where “her existence sprang to life”. It includes all of us to understand the radical changes of nature, and human as a part of it on a global scale, the socio-psychological and cosmological structure of the geopgraphy in which the artist lives and the effort to understand it through an insightful perspective.
The artist, who is able to stay close to the data of the environment in which she positioned her existence without being drawn into the vortex of serving as a satellite for current events; informs about the production process of her works as follows: “…I needed light when trying to understand darkness. Darkness alone was unable to describe itself to me. That’s probably why I followed stars in the series of “Midnight in Istanbul” exhibition. Just like people in the prehistoric period, following stars in the open sea, in a forest or desert to find their ways…”
Sesalan presents an integrated relation she established between idea and matter while materializing her opinions that are juxtaposed with a poetic perspective; with stone, bronze, wood and also new techniques which she sees them as learning another language.
With the “Midnight in Istanbul” exhibition, the artist becomes purified by cleansing herself from the chaos that conducts her away from nature and human and creates an atmosphere in which the audience “will be alone with Istanbul and revive an intertemporal sensation”.
The Dream of the Wood sculpture in the exhibition is designed by Erhan Gezen for this work, with a video installation prepared by the anime pattern technique and it offers a unique experience for the audience.
Comprised of Nilhan Sesalan’s stone, bronze and wood sculptures along with a venue-specific installation, “Midnight in Istanbul” exhibition can be visited at Art On Istanbul between September 8 – October 14.
