Suppose You Are Not, the inaugural private collection exhibition hosted at Arter, traverses expansive and profound terrain, encompassing not only a diverse array of artworks and objects but also a multitude of mediums and themes. Inspired by a line from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat [Quatrains], the exhibition, boasting over 600 works, functional objects, rarities, furniture, and books from various periods, delves into the relationships forged through the juxtaposition of a collection’s elements. Suppose You Are Not will be on display at Arter from January 19, 2024.
Curated by Selen Ansen, the exhibition explores the transference of the domestic context of a private collection into a museum setting. It investigates how the affinities between distinct objects, shaped by a collector’s desires and endeavors, can be restaged and articulated. Spanning the 4th and 3rd-floor galleries of Arter, the exhibition brings together works by nearly 400 artists, alongside anonymous artifacts, mass-produced items, and diverse objects. Initially curated for individual purposes within private spaces, these works are now presented to the public through a curatorial lens, offering a world that defies conventional classifications of time and form. This world, where the collector interacts abstractly with their possessions, blurs the lines between reality and fiction as objects transition from the private to the public sphere, reshaping their identities in the process.
Approaching the collection as a multifaceted and dynamic entity, Suppose You Are Not prompts reflection on the relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the act of collecting, and the objects that populate our daily lives.
Comprising selections from the Ömer Koç Collection, Suppose You Are Not seeks to navigate worldly realms in a world where everything falls, providing avenues to explore infinitude amidst finitude. Drawing from the verses of Omar Khayyam, the exhibition encourages visitors to challenge boundaries and ascribe new meanings to objects within a realm free from chronology and hierarchy.
Within this realm, populated by diverse objects, the amalgamation of books, furniture, paintings, sculptures, and photographs narrates human pleasures, desires, aspirations, and dreams of past lives. It reflects the passionate pursuit of collecting and preserving humanity’s traces, ranging from the sublime to the mundane, the permanent to the ephemeral. Through the connections forged in the exhibition space, the myriad works and objects foster new associations and alliances, offering a fresh perspective on the intertwining tapestry of human experience.
