Hale Tenger’s work Appearance is a mixed-media and sound installation. The work draws inspiration from the locality and from the botanical technique known as girdling used both to enhance growth of fruits in trees or in forestry to kill trees. The installation includes a sound element, in Turkish and English, in which a poem by Tenger, about agency, power, self-knowledge and greed, is audible. Flattened obsidian stones – a volcanic material prehistorically used as mirrors – point reflectively upwards in the immersive environment. The artist wishes to set up a space for introspection and regeneration in this historically loaded site. ‘Can you be by not doing?’ she asks.
Hale Tenger (b. 1960, Izmir, Turkey) lives and works in Istanbul. Tenger’s artistic practice addresses socio-political issues while focusing on the experience of the viewer. Based on the coalescence of sensations such as texture, form, colour and sound, her narrative setups create sensory and cognitive spaces. Amongst her solo shows are Under, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2018); We didn’t go inside; we were always on the inside/We didn’t go outside; we were always on the outside, Protocinema, New York (2015); Swinging on the Stars, Galeri Nev Istanbul (2013); and group exhibitions include Silence, Cappadox, Cappadocia (2018); 57th Venice Biennale, (2017); Cher(e)s Ami(e)s, Centre Pompidou, Paris, (2016).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Appearance, 2019
Mixed-media and sound installation, black obsidian mirrors, iron, epoxy resin based paint, water, audio-spotlight speaker
Dimensions variable
Courtesy the artist and Galeri Nev Istanbul.
Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Produced with the support of SAHA– Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey.
