Seçkin Pirim’s exhibition Timed Untimed has opened at Baksı Museum, uniquely situated in nature in Bayburt. As part of the opening program, the second edition of the “Conversations on Running Water” event took place on the Çoruh River. Titled “Which Valley Are the Youth Walking Through?”, the gathering brought together figures from the worlds of art, architecture, media, and thought to discuss the creative tendencies and cultural transformations of today’s youth.
Founded by Bayburt-born artist and academic Prof. Dr. Hüsamettin Koçan, who spent years turning his dream into reality, Baksı Museum has launched its latest exhibition. Timed Untimed, a show that blends pivotal moments from Seçkin Pirim’s career with his most recent works, will welcome viewers into a dialogue with art and nature until November 3. Featuring more than twenty sculptures of varying techniques and dimensions, this special collection forms an emotional journey between time and space as it meets the unique landscape of Baksı.
The Works of Seçkin Pirim
Born in Ankara, Seçkin Pirim’s works reflect a dynamic movement “from the one to the whole,” built upon layered surfaces of plexiglass, paper, marble, and aluminum. Through his repeating forms, Pirim invites viewers on an inward journey, a reconnection with the self, and a process of purification. His sculptures, marked by formal precision, propose an emotional engineering set adrift in a metaphysical flow of time and space. Intersecting with Baksı’s astronomical and universal geography, the works stand out with their existential lightness and intense inner motion.
On view both indoors and outdoors at Baksı Museum—located in Bayraktar Village, 45 km from the center of Bayburt and opened in July 2010—the Timed Untimed exhibition also includes models and studies that document the artist’s studio process. Living and working between Istanbul and London, Pirim has exhibited in prestigious institutions such as Borusan Sanat, Pera Museum, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, and Saatchi Gallery, and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Turkey and internationally.
Seçkin Pirim: Baksı Museum Is a Utopian Place
Speaking about his exhibition, Pirim stated:
“Baksı Museum is incredibly utopian and occupies a very special place both nationally and internationally. For that reason, opening my exhibition here is the fulfillment of a long-held dream—and a great joy.”
Prof. Dr. Hüsamettin Koçan, founder of Baksı Museum, shared his thoughts on Pirim’s exhibition:
“Baksı is not just a museum; it is an effort to bring the distant closer. Seçkin Pirim’s multilayered works reflect the pluralistic and profound ideas we strive to cultivate here. Every form, every surface evokes a different time and emotion. With this exhibition, we once again feel the transformative power of art. Sculpture exhibitions have long been a tradition at Baksı, and Seçkin’s works stand out as powerful examples of this tradition, forming strong connections with both interior and exterior spaces.”
A catalog has also been prepared for the exhibition, which runs until November 3, featuring a conversation between Evrim Altuğ and Seçkin Pirim, along with Altuğ’s personal reflections on the show.
“Which Valley Are the Youth Walking Through?”
Hosted by Baksı Museum and set in deep engagement with nature, the “Conversations on Running Water” series this year was titled Which Valley Are the Youth Walking Through?, bringing together figures from art, architecture, media, and thought.
The gathering opened a discussion on the evolving creative directions of youth today, cultural and social transformations, and the changing landscapes of creativity within the field of art.
Prof. Dr. Hüsamettin Koçan, the conceptual designer of the Conversations on Running Water project, said:
“Last year, alongside the Once Upon a Time exhibition composed of works from the Baksı Museum collection, we aimed to initiate a conversation about the current state of art. Art had come to be perceived as a hierarchy, with its criteria dictated by the art market and media. This kind of inequality has become a determining force in the art world—and it still persists. Whenever an exhibition or performance is staged, non-artistic actors play the primary role in updating it, pushing the role of art itself to a secondary position.
In the 1960s, efforts to move away from the center, to integrate with nature, and to grant the artist a space of freedom as part of nature—through practices such as land art and nature art—pulled art partially out of the market and opened up new discursive and creative possibilities.
I have always tried to seek answers to this issue through my work. That’s why I’ve created projects such as the Art Truck, Art Tent, Washing the River with Art, and Young Art. In a sense, Conversations on Running Water aligns with what esteemed scholar Fuat Keyman describes as being “human-centered in an Anthropocene world”—not ego-centered, but oriented toward people. It proposes a new, nature-friendly approach that attributes meaning to natural experiences and accumulations, rather than to superficial spectacle.
With many of these projects coming together, this initiative that reaches into the river represents the avant-garde edge of my art practice. In this context, I have shaped the project as a result of my intellectual, experimental, and conceptual reflections.”
Moderated by Jülide Ateş, the program featured two panels. The first session included Candan Yıldız, Ayşe Hazar Köksal Bingöl, Prof. Dr. Gülveli Kaya, and Kerem Piker; the second featured Seçkin Pirim, Bahadır Özgür, Mensur Akgün, and Seray Şahinler Demir.
