The exhibition “How Did We Get Here?” by Mike Berg, who continues his life and work between New York, Cheney, and Istanbul, is on display at YUNT.
Alongside the artist’s specially produced sculpture “Pyramid,” the exhibition will feature various examples from his artistic practice. Additionally, Berg’s sculpture “Cage” will meet the audience outdoors during the exhibition.
Art critic Sinan Eren Erk describes the exhibition in his text as “an epitome of Mike Berg’s evolving, transforming, and even nomadic artistic career in the intellectual realm, despite the weight of his works,” highlighting that the exhibition consists of “records of Berg’s artistic perspective captured at different times.” Among these records, “Pyramid” is depicted as a structure resembling “a metal white rhinoceros amidst concrete savannas with its thick armor and unsettling bulk, or an unlocated rock, even reminiscent of an ancient monolith with a consciously distorted form.”
In the exhibition space, Berg’s kilims reflect his strong connection with Turkey, and an amorphous pattern giving life to one of the walls will accompany the “Pyramid.” Drawings and plans shedding light on the formation processes of the artworks will also be visible in the exhibition. The sculpture “Cage,” placed outdoors in the area of YUNT, will allow interaction with the audiencethrough its permeable structure and the opportunity for entry and exit. This interaction will also serve as a discussion ground for the “Art in Public Space: Participation” workshop scheduled to take place at YUNT on June 8th.
The background of the exhibition at YUNT is thoroughly examined in the text prepared by art writer Gizem Gedik. According to Gedik, the quest revealed by the title of the exhibition harbors a unifying potential: “Berg, experiencing the maturity period in his art, constantly journeys from one city and studio to another, transferring his narratives and forms from the ‘centers’ where he has long been to a different ‘environment’ this time.
The meeting of an artist who confronts his past and questions individual and societal variables with the audience in a space leaning towards the future while remaining faithful to his past thus reexamining ‘how we got here’ in terms of form, material, texture, city, culture, architecture, art history, and various conceptual frameworks, uniting us on a small, imaginary line.”
