Hale Tenger

Works

The School of Sikimden aşağı Kasımpaşa
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1990, Sculpture

This sculpture is part of a series of works from the early nineties, which translate the upheavals and psychological frictions of recent turkish history into dramatic installations. »Sikimden aşağı Kasımpaşa / I don’t give a fuck« is a well known Turkish idiom. In this work the artist employs three different formal connotations – the curvy blade from the Ottoman times, the ceremony sword of the Republican army and a children’s toy – for the swords hanging above a cauldron of blood, hinting at the perpetual reproduction of violence. Referring to a string of coup d’États, terrorist assaults and spiralling violence in everyday life of a specific geography, this installation assumes another layer when located in the Marmorsaal. The hall is decorated by portraits of head figures of Enlightenment.

Hale Tenger, born 1960 in Izmir, lives and works in Istanbul. Her works have been presented in numerous institutions including 57. Biennale di Venezia (2017), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2012) and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1996).