İrem Nalça’s first solo exhibition, Rağmen, ve (Despite, and) can be viewed at Art On İstanbul from June 21 to July 13, 2019.
In Rağmen, ve (Despite, and), İrem Nalça presents pieces from her eight-year production process, exploring her practice of questioning time as “despite,” “thanks to,” and “with” across three conceptual tracks. The artist argues that time can only be engaged through a construct, which she reflects through stages of pausing, tracking, and moving backward in time. Her installations, examining the states of time and the relationship between humans and space, transform the three-story gallery into a static, dynamic, and immersive experience.
Upon entering the exhibition, viewers encounter installations that spread throughout the gallery with inviting forms, encouraging them to explore the possibilities of past, future, and present along the three conceptual tracks curated by the artist. At the center of the exhibition, a spinning top marks a starting point. Suspended above it, a lantern transforms the gallery space into a light source, tracing the path of the lost spinner. Drawings from the Shadow series on the upper floor carry the artist’s body language developed during a performance, while a 21-meter spiral sheet metal installation on the lower floor unfolds its animated print strip spatially and temporally.
In Rağmen, ve (Despite, and), İrem Nalça addresses the relationship between humans and time, both as a subjective artist and as a collective effort. Through mental actions spread across her practice and the objects she produces, she revisits the idea that humans can engage with time only through a construct, inviting viewers to move forward despite—and through—the mind.
İrem Nalça
Born in Istanbul in 1988, İrem Nalça graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Sculpture Department in 2012. She continued her studies at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since 2015, she has been continuing her practice in her studio in Istanbul.