Kalyon Kültür’s new group exhibition “Touched by Humankind,” kicks off at Istanbul’s Nişantaşı Taş Konak where visitors will be able to see the immersing art pieces until Dec. 17. Curated by Ceren and Irmak Arkman, “Touched by Humankind” is the second in a series of exhibitions that investigates the relationship between nature and digital art.
Looking from a different angle, this exhibition focuses on the human impact on the environment, drawing attention to one of the most important problems of today: the climate crisis.
“Touched by Humankind” introduces displays the works of artists such as Evan Roth, Felix Luque and Inigo Bilbao, François Quevillon, Kevin Cooley, Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukacs, Sabrina Ratte and Volkan Kızıltunç, bringing together nine international artists, at the same time, enriching the exhibition with talks and workshops on nature, recycling and sustainability that will take place in parallel.
The exhibition spanning two floors of Nişantaşı Taş Konak features an installation by Spanish artist Felix Luque, who, while exploring the relationship between humans and technology, also touches upon current issues such as the development of artificial intelligence.
Lined up on the wall of Kalyon Kültür, American Evan Roth’s work titled “Landscapes” refers to infrared camera shots and infrared lights carrying data on internet cables, thus drawing attention to the existence of internet lines that pass under remote landscapes that seem untouched by human hands, while emphasizing the physicality of the digital world. The artist’s works generally revolve around the theme of “unintended uses of technologies.”
The 20-minute video installation titled “JunkYard III” displays piled-up car wrecks as archaeological remains for the future. Focusing on the idea that car accidents came to exist due to the invention of the automobile, the artist evokes the audience to question whether the total damage done by the industry, is a historical accident that affects the existence of humankind.
Canadian artist François Quevillon conveys through his works how technology changes people, culture, the environment, time, space and humankind’s relationships with each other. With his video installation called “Pyroclastic Trails,” he draws attention to the research on the impact of mining activities that take place in the extinct volcanoes of the Sierra de Santa Catarina, located south of Mexico City.
Canadian artist Sabrina Ratte’s video collage “Objets-Monde” (“World of Objects”), which displays objects such as abandoned cars and computer screens that are disproportionately reinterpreted within remote landscapes, creates a tension between a sense of apocalypse and nostalgia, precious objects and waste, and idealized nature and the indelible presence of human traces.
Producing works somewhere between still and moving images, artist Volkan Kızıltunç’s three-screen installation titled “Beyaz Kaleler” (“White Castles”) can also be seen in the exhibition. In this installation, the artist features drone footage of the marble quarries around the city of Burdur, southwestern Türkiye.
Artists Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukacs present their film called “After Eden” to the Kalyon Kültür audiences. The film is created by making a quick montage of scenes from Hollywood film culture, ranging from classic Western movies to contemporary war films. This time, epic Hollywood invites art lovers to pursuit of reality through the lens of a more aggressive camera that shows destructions, floods and wire fences.
In his video installation “Fallen Water,” artist Kevin Cooley explores local waterfalls and waterways flowing toward Lake Ontario along the geological formation known as the Niagara Escarpment, drawing attention to the worsening global freshwater crisis. The artist is known for his works that question the system of mankind’s relationship with the five classical elements being earth, air, fire, water and space.
