Barın Han, which has long functioned as an independent art space enabling artist groups both to produce and exhibit their works, is currently hosting the exhibition Human and Machine, focusing on women, data, and invisible labor. Realized by Istanbul Blockchain Women and WBN Türkiye, the exhibition constructs a narrative that questions how the female body, identity, and labor are positioned in an era where technology permeates everyday life.
Curated by Prof. Dr. Merve Güven Özkerim and Başak Burcu Apaydın, the exhibition places particular emphasis on the concept of anonymity. Bringing together digital and phygital productions, the exhibition explores through art how the female body, identity, and labor are represented—or rendered invisible—within artificial intelligence, data structures, and technological production processes.
A Selection Extending from Digital to Traditional
The exhibition brings together works by 25 women artists and artist collectives: Ana Maria Caballero, Ganbrood, Begüm Tarako, Simon Hipkins, Özge Topçu, SS21.art, RAST & ASTRO, MHX, Dilara Başköylü, Serdar Yılmaz, Elçin Arpaçay, M. Yeşim Yorulmaz, Güzide Akkulak, Leyla Aliyeva, Burcu Berberler, Deniz Varlı, Aliye Erkurtulgu Ceylan, Sinem Ünal Gerdan, Nergis Kartal, Aslı Acar, Eda Seda Tosun, Duygu Aydemir and Gül Ünlüçay, among others, establish a broad field of expression ranging from digital to sculpture, from sound to blockchain-based productions.
Curator Prof. Dr. Merve Güven Özkerim describes the curatorial framework of the exhibition as follows:
“The historical fabric of Barın Han, the exhibition venue where works addressing themes such as bias, anomaly, invisible labor, and anonymity are presented, carries traces of craft and physical labor. The contemporary digital productions we exhibit here offer a striking contrast between the tangible data of the past and the abstract data of the future. The Human and Machine exhibition, positioned precisely at the center of this contrast, seeks to redefine our identity.”
One of the exhibition’s curators, Başak Burcu Apaydın, summarizes this approach with the following words:
“We see technology as a lever for social transformation. Against algorithms that infiltrate every aspect of life and overshadow human value and labor, we position art as a space of resistance and awareness.”
Body, Voice, Data
The exhibition confronts the viewer with the following questions: Does artificial intelligence perceive gender as a dataset, or as a fortress of bias? As machines learn, what do we forget? Is the anomaly within codes an error, or a new space of freedom? Can reality fit into an algorithm? Who represents women’s labor lost behind data masses? Is the digital world built upon the production it renders invisible?
The installation Originless Echoes by Begüm Tarako, located on the upper floor of the venue, traces these questions. The artist constructs the space not as a fixed sonic field, but as an environment that constantly transforms through the presence of the viewer. The moment you enter, your body does not merely move through the space; it is perceived, recorded, and transformed into a soundscape.
This layered structure, which points to how the female voice has been classified throughout history, further deepens the experience. Here, sound functions not as an expression, but as data that is dissolved and reconstituted.
At this point, the exhibition’s main proposition also becomes clear: the viewer is not only an observer, but also an element included in the production. Your presence is transformed into data.
