“Ideas disperse in the universe in order to continue to live on other planets”
Exhibition
March 15 – June 7, 2014
Vernissage
March 14, 2014, 6-9pm
The artist will be present
Curated by Necmi Sönmez
Under the mysterious title “Ideas disperse in the universe in order to continue to live on other planets”, | PRISKA PASQUER is
proud to present the first solo exhibition in Germany by Turkish artist Bengü Karaduman. Born in Hildesheim, Germany, in
1974, Karaduman studied at the HBKsaar university of art and design in Saarbrücken and at Mimar Sinan University of Fine
Arts in Istanbul. On the strength of her empathetic projects, which deal with such controversial issues as female eroticism and
political conditions in Turkey, the artist has been invited to numerous international exhibitions and is regarded as one of the
most important representatives of the Istanbul art scene. The title of the exhibition comes from a poem by Meret Oppenheim
and takes up the thematic reins of the artist’s previous solo exhibition, which visualised a cosmic view of the world.
Through a subtly humorous interplay with sensual dreams, the unpredictability of wishes and shamanistic occurrences, Bengü
Karaduman has developed three different groups of works since 2005: drawings, media installations and sculptural works. The
exhibition at | PRISKA PASQUER will showcase the artist’s new experiments and will consist of room installation, video,
drawings and sculptures and wall installations.
By fusing together dreams, metaphors and the fruits of her imagination, Karaduman’s works attain a hermetic character. The
artist works with several different media at the same time – e.g. sculpture, video, installations and drawings – in order to give
free rein to a creative rather than causal approach and all that emerges in its wake. Karaduman’s cross-genre approach stems
from the free flow of a boundlessly creative energy drawn from “experienced” states of both waking and dreaming. These
states refer to a creative approach that is not reduced to formal aesthetic criteria, but rather leaves ample scope for what is
brought forth by the power of imagination.
The visualisation, creation and presentation of the images in Karaduman’s works have intercultural roots. Born in
Germany, the artist spent part of her childhood in Hildesheim, where the lively juxtaposition of two different languages
and cultures sowed the seeds for Karaduman’s unique artistic development. Very early on, she was interested in
alternative forms of life, political work and shamanic trance states. The shamanic ecstasy techniques are an important
source of inspiration of the artist’s performance and video works.
When studying art in Saarbrücken, Karaduman encountered the writings of C. G. Jung. In 2000, she began to record her
dreams in writing and drawings, which provided the inspiration for the works shown at
| PRISKA PASQUER.
From her student days onwards, Karaduman has been passionate about drawing and has produced watercolour
drawings stemming directly from her dreams since 2010. Through lines and colours, she illustrates her love of expression
but also explores her inner tensions. It is often opposites that shape the drawings and hold them in shamanic balance.
They contain divergent elements deriving from the female perspective of eroticism but also from the taboos and
prohibitions of societies. These shapes and notions are blended together into a winning synthesis that makes pointed
reference to the political climate in Turkey.
Created specially for the exhibition at | PRISKA PASQUER, the artist’s new drawings, sculptures and wall installations
show the sheer variety of her expression in a poetic language with urgent metaphors. In these works, a woman
invariably emerges as the protagonist with an impenetrable connection with other people and spaces. Blurred images
and transitions between the real and the surreal make it difficult to draw clear interpretations. The figures remain
fragmentary, but at the same time the individual images exude a fascination in their emotional representation, which
mixes reality, fiction and dream landscapes.
Since studying New Artistic Media at HBKsaar, Karaduman has devoted herself to diverse media works, culminating in
her first individual exhibition at Galerie Eboran in Salzburg in 2005. To date, the artist’s film works have been shown at
several international exhibitions and festivals. These are based on recordings of performances for which the costumes
were made by the artist herself. The images are combined and compiled anew with sound, noise, and other visual
elements. In this group of works, the artist develops a mythically charged atmosphere by referring to
transcendental communication abilities. The current exhibition features two new videos by the artist: “Daypole” and
“Nightpole” (both from 2013). As with other works, they make reference to shadow play, theatre and ritual dances, the
personal mixture pushing the boundaries between reality and fiction. At the same time, no two of her video works are
similar. Owing to her masterly use of varying content, media and methods, her media works have no clearly identifiable
style and are therefore difficult to pin down. Her film works show surreal images and dream-like shamanic myths in
the primitive relationship between mankind and nature.
The main point of focus for Karaduman’s sculptural, spatial works are small, doll-like sculptures that bear a close
resemblance to the artist herself. The same flashes of subtle humour that are evident again and again in the artist’s works
can also be detected in these sculptures. Close observation reveals that this humour is wielded like a weapon against the
structures of societies that fence the artist in.
Karaduman’s works are shaped by the collision course between male lust and female role perception. In her first
individual exhibition in Istanbul (2010), the artist presented a small female figure, sitting in a virtually helpless position.
The figure’s loneliness can be seen as a powerful metaphor for a young female artist’s struggle to survive. The sculptural
works are also notable for their forceful, precise and self-assured form language which examines the use and recycling of
clichés. The new works in this group will be shown for the very first time in Cologne.