Getting to Know Hayırlı Evlat

Online Talk

April 21, 2021 / 19:00

A Question of Taste exhibition brings together works of thirteen artists and collectives and deals with the concept of kitsch, and the intimate relationship this concept has established with today's visual culture as well as its critical role in shaping taste. As part of the exhibition’s public programming, the artist Hayırlı Evlat is having an online conversation moderated by the curator of the exhibition Ulya Soley.

Hayırlı Evlat’s work titled Let Yourself Go is a pop song and video inspired by Sinop, the happiest city in Turkey according to survey results. Judging by the responses given to most of the questions posed by the collective to the residents of Sinop, this statistic, despite being useful for tourism companies, does not reflect reality. Hayırlı Evlat, who describe happiness as “a soft resistance” within the political climate of Turkey, makes references to the fake happiness featured in advertising images in this video, which starts on a beach, and moves to the forest to a game table to a dinner with rakı, where the acting is exaggerated. The talk focuses on Hayırlı Evlat’s art practice and how it relates to the concept of kitsch as well as popular culture.

The event is organized as part of “Senkron: Simultaneous Video Exhibitions”.

The Zoom talk will be in Turkish. Reservation is required.

Reservation Form

Temporary Exhibition

A Question of Taste

A Question of Taste was a group exhibition that deals with kitsch, a concept whose meaning has shifted since the 19th century, and the intimate relationship this concept has established with today's visual culture as well as its critical role in shaping taste.

A Question of Taste

Venuses Throughout History

Venuses Throughout History

José Sancho does not conceal the voluptuousness of his female torsos; he highlights it. These torsos are symmetrical from front, but on the other hand, from the side, the juxtaposition of concave and convex forms creates dynamism.

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Byzantine medical art was grounded in the Greco-Roman medicine transmitted by Hippocrates and Galen and new concepts introduced by such physicians as Oribasios of Pergamon, Aetius of Amida, Alexander of Tralles and Paul of Aegina. 

From two portraits of children…

From two portraits of children…

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation’s Orientalist Painting Collection includes two children’s portraits that are often featured in exhibitions on the second floor of the Pera Museum. These portraits both date back to the early 20th century, and were made four years apart. One depicts Prince Abdürrahim Efendi, son of Sultan Abdulhamid II, while the figure portrayed on the other is Nazlı, the daughter of Osman Hamdi Bey.