İhsan Oturmak – Three Flawed Operations: Tribe, School, Civilization

12 February – 13 March 2016

İhsan Oturmak’s first solo show will open on the 12th of February at Depo. The exhibition curated by Engin Sustam brings together paintings and installations which mostly depict groups of children in black and blue uniforms, in a manner that makes singularities more indistinct, creating a sense of an uninterrupted continuation and repetition.

In “Three Flawed Operations” the artist deals with civilization narrative which seems to develop sequentially from tribe to school and investigates social control mechanisms that are designed by the state as sacred procedures. Certain symbols of correction and assimilation of the 19th century imperial tribal schools which were spaces of education and correction for children from Kurdish, Arabic and Albanian tribes and later educational institutions of the republic are critically rendered in Oturmak’s works. The exhibition also presents an introduction to the flawed histories of education, correction and eradication tools which take over micro spaces, stories and bodies through the so called “civilization” discourse and that of the sovereign who utilizes them.

Born in Diyarbakır in 1987, İhsan Oturmak graduated from Marmara University Department of Art and Crafts Teacher Education in 2012. In his works Oturmak often deals with issues such as uniformity and uniqeness, militarism, education, punishment, reform and revolution. In order to further investigate these concepts, he has been collecting and documenting materials from village schools, mosques and prisons since 2011. Oturmak was awarded prizes in competitions organized by Rotary, Akbank Sanat and Art Revolution Taipei. He participated in residency program of İKSV at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Oturmak had his first solo show at Karavil Contemporary, London in 2015. His works were shown in group shows such as “Istanbul Design Biennial/ Salon Istanbul” 2012, “Déambulations dans la Turquie contemporaine”, Espace Cultural Louis Vuitton Paris 2013, “Akbank Günümüz Sanatçıları” Exhibition, Aksanat Istanbul 2015, “Being” Hinterland Galerie Vienna 2015.

 icon-file-text Exhibition Catalog

Curator: Engin Sustam

Media

8.3.2016
“Toplumun durum ve yerini anlamaya çalıştım”
Milliyet Sanat

5.3.2016
Mekteplerde ehlileşen çocuklar
Özgür Gündem

27.2.2016
Medeniyet dediğin tek dişi bile kalmamış canavar
Sanatatak

23.2.2016
Olay sadece ‘Aşiret Mektebi’ değil
Radikal

18.2.2016
Eğitim Gerçekten Şart mı İhsan?
Artful living

16.2.2016
İhsan Oturmak: Monoton ve Gri Bir Manzarada Kusuru Bulmak
Açık Radyo – Açık Dergi