Ak-sayanlar

Initiated by Art Unlimited, the “Ak-sayanlar” series is brought into the exhibition hall from the pages of the printed magazine in collaboration with x-ist. “Ak-sayanlar” is a mixed exhibition comprising eight works created by a total of 15 artists working in pairs and can be visited at x-ist between March 11 and April 17, 2021.

Published periodically by contemporary art magazine Art Unlimited since 2017, “Ak-sayanlar” aims to bring forth new collaborations and working practices born of the cooperation among artists from different fields. Centered around the question “How can we bring art together with various disciplines associated with art?”, the series is taken out of the magazine and transformed into an exhibition displayed in x-ist’s gallery space in order to bring its collaborations together and to examine the possibilities of interdisciplinary inspiration and forms of association.

Put together by Merve Akar Akgün and Çınar Eslek, the exhibition format of the “Ak-sayanlar” series at x-ist welcomes artist pairs of Ece Eldek and Emin Alper, Ferhat Özgür and Süreyyya Evren, Kemal Özen and Şebnem İşigüzel, Kirkor Sahakoğlu and Tayfun Pirselimoğlu, Murat Palta and Gülfem Pamuk, Neriman Polat and Sema Kaygusuz, and Pınar Öğrenci and Fırat Demir. Orhan Can partakes in the exhibition with a literary partner he created within himself.

Authors, directors, poets, and artists give a new shape to their conversations in the magazine with new questions, forms, and concepts for the exhibition with the space in mind. Scattered across the exhibition hall, eight different encounters evolve into either shared productions or separate works that evoke the conversation in the magazine. The individual experiences and partnerships of the participants and inter-conversational relations provide various intersections at the exhibition.

The interviews, screenings, and performances held as part of the exhibition aim to increase the number of possible intersections and to partake in the process of thinking with the audience/participants. The event program for this public exhibition can be found online at the social media accounts of x-ist and Unlimited Publications.

“Ak-sayanlar” can be visited at x-ist between March 11 and April 17, 2021.