Franklin Melendez

In the latest MATRIX exhibition, Ahmet Ögüt constructs a sprawling international metropolis, drawing structures from Turkey, Ireland, India, Yugoslavia, Great Britain, and the United States, among other countries. The resulting urban space unfolds as an imagined international mash up that’s also an apt commentary on the intersection of history and real topographies, as well as the dreams (and limits) of globalization. No stranger to the global stage, the Amsterdam-based artist is the byproduct of an international creative network. Here, Ögüt singles out some of his key contemporaries whose work resonates deeply with his own and offers glimpses of other spaces.

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  Fabien Giraud and Raphael Siboni, France
  “Fabien and Raphael have been collaborating since 2007 while continuing to develop their own individual projects. They are making conceptual works capturing unusual socio-historical stories, combining them with pop and entertainment culture. They can use any medium because what they choose varies according to the idea. For them everything is about reality being already transformed. So they observe this transformation process of social landscape, then they manipulate it and represent it to us as the complex side of reality.”

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  “For their exhibition, “Les Choses Qui Tombent,” in Melbourne, 2009, Fabien and Raphael created a multi-disciplinary installation work that explores the estimated 110,000 pieces of space debris currently orbiting the earth including astronauts’ gloves, cameras, frozen pee, screwdrivers, plastic bags and solar shields.”

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  Kuang Yu Tsui, Taipei
  “He has a very intelligent way of using irony in his works. Using very simple gestures he turns the public space into an absurd playground. With a little shift he knows how to turn the reality into fiction.”

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  “I especially like “Eighteen Copper Guardians in Shao-Lin Temple and Penetration: The Perspective” is a remarkable video he did in 2001, which I would strongly recommend for the ones who haven’t seen it.”

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  Nevin Aladag, Germany
  “Nevin’s interventions are incredibly poetic and touchingly musical. Sometimes even rain or wind can become the source of her musical inventions in public space. She captures minor social connections and creates poetic encounters, which question the production of identity within the context of society. Her video “Voice Over” from 2006 is one of my favorites.”

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  Philippe Van Wolputte, Belgium
  “I find Philippe’s interventions quite distinctive. He invents locations. He has a very unique and personal method of documenting his actions and the memory of the locations. I like a lot his modesty of using material as a basic but logical tool.”

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  “I also find it very special how he creates a link between the memory and the location within the context of social map of a city. Especially I like his F.T.P.E.S. (Fake Temporary Penetrable Exhibition Spaces) project from 2006, he creates a series of fictitious temporary penetrable exhibition spaces located in Antwerp.”

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  Tunc Ali Cam, Turkey
  “Tunc is one of the most extraordinary conceptual artists of my generation. One of the things, which make him special, is that he decides his own deadlines. He generated his first work when he was 16 years old with the concept of ‘nomadization’ in 1996. He installed a box made of cardboard (3m x 5m) in a space and was spending 8 hours a day in the box and writing texts from “Dialogues” (Deleuze&Parnet), “Capitalism and Schizophrenia”, (Deleuze&Guattari) with pencils on it. His most ambiguous project is “Tunc Ali Cam Museum” that is under construction since 2006. It will be a virtual museum constructed with unique codes that will create a different infinite path every single time you walk in it.”

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  Matthias Wermke, Germany
  “Matthias does impulsive and poe tic interventions in public space. Not only is he testing the pulse of society/public, he is always testing his own limits as well. He never hesitates to take risk with his ideas to understand the alternative ways of urban communication.”

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  “In contrast to his quick actions, he takes a lot of time for research and analyzes the locations he uses. I would especially recommend to check out his works “Thanks Anyway” 2006.”

  “Beside those artists, from my generation I also closely follow the work’s of Jakup Ferri, Nina Yuen, Fernando Sanchez Castillo, Mario Garcia Torres, Mounira Al Solh, Pilvi Takala, Ciprian Muresan, Firat Bingol, Bashir Borlakov. Ziad Antar, Francisco Camacho, Cristina Lucas and Cyprien Gaillard.” —Ahmet Ögüt