BODRUM.- Anna Laudel Bodrum continues its diverse exhibition program during the summer season with "KarmaComa", a captivating group exhibition curated by Ayça Okay, offering an engaging exploration of Turkish television's melodramatic world. From daytime broadcasts to seasonal soap operas, "KarmaComa" weaves together provocative, sometimes even satirical references to every emotional moment, alluring audiences with its surprising narrative.
The exhibition, featuring an innovative lineup of artists, including Cem A., Serdar Acar, Ece Ağırtmış, Ateş Alpar, Ronit Baranga, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Isabella Chydenius, Ebru Döşekçi, Alicia Framis, Ece Haskan, Berka Beste Kopuz, Mert Ege Köse, Alican Leblebici, Adriana Ramić, Sally von Rosen, Hoda Tawakol, Koray Tokdemir, Metehan Törer, Nathalie Rey and Nevet Yitzhak, will be on display until 3 September 2023 at ZAI Yaşam.
Surrounded by colourful bougainvilleas, sea salt, and gentle breezes, "KarmaComa'' invites everyone to experience the enchanting beauty of Bodrum from a dystopian perspective, while exploring new fictional paths that utilises the concept of melodrama to depict and evaluate the economical and cultural intricacies of modern Turkey.
Influenced by avant-garde theatre and the Bauhaus opera movement , "KarmaComa" offers a unique curatorial approach. Drawing from a variety of artistic movements, "KarmaComa" presents a novel and unexpected commentary on current issues and subjects.
Pushing the boundaries of the contemporary art scene in Bodrum, "KarmaComa" is a potpourri of masks, toys, stage decorations, internet memes, traditional weavings of animated images and cutting-edge digital technologies, even capable of generating visuals readable by artificial intelligence. Across a wide range of media, the exhibition can be read as a commentary on the melodramatic world of Turkish television programming.
In today's world, where humanity is continuously experiencing wars, crises, and natural calamities, holding on to hope becomes increasingly challenging. "KarmaComa" emanates human-centeredness and conceptual storytelling, aiming to transcend the chaos and explore creative solutions.
Curated by Ayça Okay, the exhibition brings together artworks from 20 artists from Turkey and abroad, focusing on a curatorial philosophy of investigating social issues by reflecting the current status quo and offering solutions to existing challenges. “KarmaComa” brings out the secret side of the melodrama culture and creates a new and surprising narrative throughout the exhibition.
Promising an inspirational experience for art enthusiasts, “KarmaComa” can be seen at Anna Laudel Bodrum until 3 September 2023.
Ayca Okay (b. 1991, Izmir) is an AICA Turkey (Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) and CIMAM (International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art) member independent curator, researcher and arts & culture professional living and working in between Istanbul and Berlin. During her career, she gave strong emphasis to research-based curatorial projects by cultivating intellectual resources, sharing knowledge and creating sustainable support systems. She believes in the value of generous listening during collaborating with people, collectives and institutions. Okay, aimes to produce unique discourses on contemporary problems and go beyond the artificial limits of the contemporary art sphere via seeing art as the art as a bi-product of certain processes such as thoughts, ideas, texts, theories and experiments. She studied BMA at Istanbul Technical University and she had her MA in Theory Of Arts and Criticism from Isık University Visual Arts in Istanbul and studied International Curatorial Program (ICP) in NODE Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin.
She has selected as the associate board member of BAKSI Museum and she is an active member of TÜSİAD BBI (Berlin Bosphorus Initiative).
