Artist Talk: Yasemin Özcan & Metehan Törer

Souvenirs of the Future, which takes its inspiration from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, brings together contemporary works, many of which are created with inspiration from the collection. In a talk organized within the scope of the exhibition, artists Yasemin Özcan and Metehan Törer discuss the production processes of their artworks, their relationship to ceramics and engagement with the collection.

In her installation produced for the exhibition titled Tablet (2023), Yasemin Özcan centers the relationship of women from three different generations with soil, working primarily with ceramics and text. 

In their installation Those Born to Earth (2023), Metehan Törer traces the knowledge and memory transmitted among generations through ceramics. Inspired by the 1950s double-handled vase in the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, their work consists of vases resembling the body in various forms stretched on the floor with monumental chandeliers placed around them. 

The event will take place in the Pera Museum Auditorium and is free of charge. No reservations required. The event will be in Turkish.

About Yasemin Özcan
She is an artist and writer. She studied at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Ceramics and Glass Department. Working in various mediums such as photography, video, sound, ceramics, lecture performance, and text, Özcan elaborates on the forms of existence, movements, and the performances of objects, individuals, and institutions. Her works include references to identity, cultural policies, gender, esotericism and psychology. She is recently working with ceramic materials to explore the relation between living things and earth, as well as labour and craft. Her works are exhibited in many institutions and art spaces such as Galerie Nord–Kunstverein Tiergarten, nGbK Berlin, Salt Beyoğlu, Arter, WKV Stuttgart, Wiener Secession, CCS Bard, Rodeo İstanbul, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, İstanbul Modern, Kunstmuseum Bochum, DEPO and Ludwig Forum. She participated in artist residency programs of the Berlin Senate, nGbK–DEPO (Berlin, 2019), Cité internationale des arts – İKSV (Paris, 2012) and Can Xalant Centre for the Creation of Visual Arts and Contemporary Thought-Platform Garanti (Mataró, 2009).

About Metehan Törer
They were born in 1990 in Ankara. They studied at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts, Ceramics Department between 2014-2018. During this period, they were in Tallinn with the Erasmus exchange program at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Ceramics Department (2016-2017). Between 2018-2021, they earned their master’s degree from Hacettepe University Fine Arts Institute Ceramics Department. Their thesis was titled “The Search of Fluidity in The Discussion of Sexuality and Identity in Art”. They use ceramics as their main material and integrate drawings, ready materials and found-objects into their installations. In their work, they focus on the metamorphosis of figurative and daily objects; genderless characters that behave in flippant, depressive, ironic, twisted and incoherent ways and autobiographic elements derived from their personal experiences.

Temporary Exhibition