“Under Pressure Above Water” (“Basınç Altında Suyun Üstünde”) is a group exhibition featuring a total of 33 works by five artists in various media, including painting, sculpture and photography.
The exhibition brings together two galleries on separate floors that are interconnected, focusing on environmental disasters, international conflicts, migration and the economy.
Curator Nilüfer Şaşmazer noted in a press release that the exhibition is spatially divided into two parts, stating: “There are at least two works by 15 artists in the exhibition. There is only one artist from Türkiye. The other artists are from different regions.”
“I can say that the exhibition features works that explore the oppressive atmosphere of pressure we face in the world and its effects on both our bodies and minds. On the lower floor, there are more action-oriented works that explain how to cope with this situation, as well as works that contain the potential for creative violence. The title ‘Under Pressure Above Water’ was chosen to maintain this duality and to facilitate the unfolding of these two distinct emotions,” he added.
Şaşmazer noted that the word “pressure” is also used metaphorically in the exhibition, saying: “Pressure also reminds me of atmospheric pressure. Because the largest high-pressure areas in the world are deserts. Therefore, it is based on the idea that we are in a state of emotional and cultural drought, that people all over the world are experiencing a kind of barrenness. ‘Above Water’ is, of course, a more direct reference to how we keep our heads above water, how we cope, and all that.”
Şaşmazer stated that the exhibition examines the effects of difficult social conditions and successive crises on individuals around the world, focusing on questions and suggestions shaped by the possibilities of art and artists in this context.
Each work in this exhibition emphasizes the fragility and insecurity of life, drawing attention to certain emotional, mental and physical states that viewers can relate to.
The works in the second part of the exhibition, located in the minus-one floor gallery, address how this sense of anxiety and entrapment is transformed, the tactics adopted to cope with crisis situations, and how to stay afloat despite all these challenging conditions.
The artists featured in the exhibition include Michael Borremans, Angela de la Cruz, Claire Fontaine, Shilpa Gupta, Fatoş İrwen, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Alicja Kwade, Cinthia Marcelle, Tiago Mata Machado, Jean Meeran, MORIS, Ugo Schiavi, Hyun-Sook Song, Nasan Tur and Mariana Vassileva.
