PƎRⱯ Reverse

PƎRⱯ Reverse Exercises in Spaces and Texts brings together multiple perspectives on current art spaces and their urban neighborhoods in Istanbul, moving between high and popular cultures. Organized in collaboration with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s “Practices and Politics of Representation” class, led by Prof. Mona Mahall with Yelta Köm, and the University of Arts Bremen’s “Temporary Spaces” class of Prof. Aslı Serbest, PƎRⱯ Reverse consists of three parts, entitled “Globals”, “Steps”, and “Speculations”. Departing from two paintings in the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation’s Orientalist Painting Collection, the exhibition also explores global capitalist relations and localized cultural practices in art.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition includes a text by curators Prof. Aslı Serbest, Prof. Mona Mahall and Yelta Köm delving into the comprehensive background of the exhibition along with a text by Begüm Özden Fırat and Çisel Karacebe looking at the relations between the various art spaces in the area of Dolapdere and their neighborhoods, Mary Louise Pratt’s infamous article on the concept of contact zones focusing on the power relations within cultural intersections, Birte Kleine-Benne’s article that thoroughly explains the concept of Institutional Critique, as well as Isabel Vila-Cabanes’ text titled “What does it take for a woman to freely wander the streets?” which explores the female version of the “flaneur” character appearing in many literary pieces since the 19th century.