Part of the first generation of Turkish artists considered to be globally active and nationally influential, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin was fascinated by the difference between the promise of something and its banal reality. This promise could lie in the name of a cheap hotel offering the experience of a distant place, or in the branding of a mass-produced product unconvincingly simulating luxuriousness or exoticism. Alptekin was an artist who saw the profound effects of global capitalism on everyday life, and who observed the circulation of people and goods across different geographies, particularly in the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was a traveller who studied forms of brutal capitalism in places that are considered peripheral areas of Western modernity. In 2007, Alptekin represented Turkey in the 52nd Venice Biennial with his installation Don’t Complain and participated the exhibition Global Cities at Tate Modern, London. From 2000 to 2004, he initiated a non-profit artists ’collective called Sea Elephant Travel Agency. He collaborated with M.D. Morris and Grip-in, among many others, and were involved in numerous collectives such as the LOFT meetings, the Bunker Research Group and Barn Research Group, where subject, position and authorship would become irrelevant. His retrospective exhibition Democratic Luxury at MHKA in 2015 included a selection of studies, drawings and notes of the works exhibited from the Alptekin archive, offering a closer look into the thought process and his stream of consciousness.
Focusing on Alptekin, an artist who thrived on daily life and considered the process of creation to be more important than the artwork as the outcome, the exhibition undoubtedly reflects the way he lived, created, lectured, travelled, collaborated and drew friends together.
Always a firm believer in collaboration and collective production, Alptekin initiated many artist collectives in his lifetime. The artworks, which are part of this exhibition, are also actors in bringing various perspectives of that period to today.
Rooted in these aspects, the exhibition brings together works by Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Can Altay, Thomas Büsch, Tunç Ali Çam, Grip- in, Ayhan Hacıfazlıoğlu, Minna Henriksson & Staffan Jofjell, Şirin İskit, Emre Koyuncuoğlu, Michael Morris, Serkan Özkaya, Camila Rocha, Vahit Tuna and Nalan Yırtmaç. According to curator Pelin Uran, “It is inevitable that Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, who has grounded all his artistic production on a philosophical foundation, and who believed that everyone needed to study philosophy at some point in their lives, would have an eagerness to leave his mark in life, and for this passion of his to show throughout his oeuvre. This exhibition is significant for following these traces on the 15th anniversary of his passing.”
Opening on Monday, September 11, accompanied by a performance by Emre Koyuncuoğlu, the exhibition titled ‘Among Friends: One Chapter of a Long Story’ will be open to visit until October 28, 2023.
