GÖKSU BAYSAL
RISS
Opening reception:
Friday 31 January 18.00 – 21.00
Photography also plays an essential role in the works that do not make direct use of the medium. The photographic concept of the negative/positive is an important part of Göksu Baysal's working method. Concepts and materials are meticulously examined and researched and finally turned inside out, revealed or reversed in new, often unexpected combinations.
The various elements of the exhibition are directly related to each other, they interact with each other. The physicality of the objects allows photographic concepts and motifs to take shape, giving them a body. The works speak of neglect, decay, and the excesses of the present.
Found objects form the starting point or a supplement. Göksu Baysal discovers them on walks through Berlin and while traveling. The objects are interchangeable, but not arbitrary and can be recombined over and over. They manifest themselves in the works as concrete collages and assemblages.
They are often traces of the everyday: Ceramics tower upwards on metal olive tins and shelves like small skyscrapers. Some of the objects are altered, others are integrated into the works in their original form. The connecting material here is HDF, which is partly turned inside out and reveals its structure.
The works make use of mythological and historical motifs. The motif of the bull has a special significance in terms of both form and content. Originally, it was a symbol of sacrifice and renewal. It now reappears in logos, abstracted and as part of a new architecture. Table legs become bull horns, while consoles turn into pedestals for the ceramics.
An archaeological as well as architectural interest runs through the works. The unfinished or already decaying repeatedly appears. Baysal reveals the processes behind them. Urbanization and the structural change that accompanies it become clear in the video work that examines the stone landscape of Ürgüp and Göreme in Cappadocia.
The ceramics and sculptures are complemented by small-format drawings. These ornamental depictions are reminiscent of construction drawings for future buildings. Göksu Baysal's works can also be viewed in this way: as drafts of a possible architecture, based on the sum of their parts.
Text by Elena Dorn
Göksu Baysal (*1975 in Ankara, Turkey) lives and works in Berlin.
Photography, sculpture, film, and installation are central elements of his artistic practice. The interplay between these mediums arises through an interdisciplinary engagement with materials he collects during his travels and research. In his expansive installations, these materials are brought together in ephemeral and narrative constellations. His thematic repertoire includes archaeologically significant discoveries relevant to human history, as well as traces of decay, neglect, and architectural missteps of the present that do not necessarily convey war and violence. However, state arbitrariness and authoritarian structures can certainly be addressed.
He also casts a critical eye on the environment he inhabits: modern architecture with its potential for decay, communal structures of coexistence, or snapshots of everyday life—all of these form a spectrum and perspective for his artistic work.
Photography serves as a creative core of his practice; objects and installations are sculpturally developed but remain inherently tied to the material world.
Awards:
2023 Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium des Landes Berlin (NaFöG), Germany
2023 DAAD Promos Scholarship
2020 IBB Photography Award, IBB Atrium, Berlin, Germany
2018 Shortlisted Athens Photo Festival
2013 "Sehen im Fokus" Stiftung Auge ( Photography Awards ), Berlin - Germany