Gülsün Karamustafa. Irreversible Remnants
15 Sep 2022 - 26 Feb 2023
Gülsün Karamustafa. Irreversible Remnants, 2022, installation view intersection of Friedrichstraße / Torstraße, in walking distance from Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) © Photo: n.b.k. / Jens Ziehe
n.b.k. Billboard
In her work, which spans different mediums and genres to include painting, film, installation, and performance, Gülsün Karamustafa explores themes of migration, exclusion, state violence, religion, urbanization, feminism, and gender. In doing so, she questions and deconstructs Eurocentric stereotypes and an iconography dominated by the Western art canon. As one of Turkey’s most significant artists, she strongly influenced later generations of artists – not least because of her fight for democracy and freedom of expression, for which she was banned from leaving the country following the military coup in 1971 until 1987. Karamustafa’s artistic practice is mostly based on profound historical, site-specific and socio-political research, interwined with autobiographical moments, and finally bulding a new narrative, which connects to contemporary discourses.
Starting point for Karamustafa’s new work Irreversible Remnants – especially conceived for the n.b.k. Billboard-Series –, is her fascination for the first film salons in Berlin, founded in 1913, only one year before the First World War. In addition to the billboard, a projection of the film The Suffragette (1913), starring the famous actress Asta Nielsen, will be shown at n.b.k. on the 1st floor. While the controversial film was shown in its full length in movie theaters in Berlin, it was so heavily censored in Bavaria that director Urban Gad refused to have it shown there.
In her work, which spans different mediums and genres to include painting, film, installation, and performance, Gülsün Karamustafa explores themes of migration, exclusion, state violence, religion, urbanization, feminism, and gender. In doing so, she questions and deconstructs Eurocentric stereotypes and an iconography dominated by the Western art canon. As one of Turkey’s most significant artists, she strongly influenced later generations of artists – not least because of her fight for democracy and freedom of expression, for which she was banned from leaving the country following the military coup in 1971 until 1987. Karamustafa’s artistic practice is mostly based on profound historical, site-specific and socio-political research, interwined with autobiographical moments, and finally bulding a new narrative, which connects to contemporary discourses.
Starting point for Karamustafa’s new work Irreversible Remnants – especially conceived for the n.b.k. Billboard-Series –, is her fascination for the first film salons in Berlin, founded in 1913, only one year before the First World War. In addition to the billboard, a projection of the film The Suffragette (1913), starring the famous actress Asta Nielsen, will be shown at n.b.k. on the 1st floor. While the controversial film was shown in its full length in movie theaters in Berlin, it was so heavily censored in Bavaria that director Urban Gad refused to have it shown there.