Lecture Series
Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Visual artist and leading Turkish architect Ayşe Erkmen discusses her work and perspective on sculpture as part of this series brought to you in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture International, which aims to celebrate sculpture in all its forms.
Ayşe Erkmen, whose practice and in particular, her site-specific works have been etched in memory, takes the social and physical environment that she is in as a starting point and by repositioning the existing structure in her particular style, impels viewers to think about space. The artist invites viewers to engage deeply in dialogue with the physical, visual, social, and psychological dimensions of environments such as museum galleries, gallery windows, exhibition spaces, parks, rivers, and squares.
While Ayş makes “sculptural” propositions in her temporary interventions, taking the space as is, in exhibition spaces, she adds on as few “foreign” elements as possible. By reconfiguring the objects and relationships in spaces that we encounter daily or at times by getting rid of them, disrupting them, she interweaves art and life, forming singular areas. The artist thus makes visible models of socializing that open up reality; the works are complete only when viewers are present.
Ayşe Erkmen (b. 1949, Istanbul), lives and works in Berlin and Istanbul. The most recent shows she has been on are On Water, Munster Skulptur Projekte, Münster (2017); KıpraşımRipple, Dirimart, İstanbul (2017); Pond to Pool to Pond, Saidaji Temple, Nara (2016); Uncertain States, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016); “A” Exhibition, SMAK, Gent (2016); Strange Pilgrims, Austin Contemporary (2016); Imaginary Audience Scale, Auckland Art Space (2015); Fingerspitzgefühl, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin (2015); Une Histoire Art, Architecture, Design des Annees 1980 a nos Jours, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); Ayşe Erkmen: Intervals, Barbican Centre, London (2013); More than Sound, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2012).
Ayşe will also be responding to a site of historical interest in Leeds to create a new work commissioned for Yorkshire Sculpture International.
About Yorkshire Sculpture International
This first Yorkshire Sculpture International builds upon Yorkshire’s rich history as the birthplace of pioneering sculptors, including Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, and as the home of this unique consortium of galleries and celebrated sculpture collections. The festival will feature exhibitions and events inside the galleries at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park and major new outdoor sculpture commissions in unexpected places across Leeds and Wakefield.
About The INSIDE/OUT Lecture Series
The INSIDE/OUT series offers historical, theoretical and critical analyses of the art, architecture and design. Organised by Professor Simon Morris from the School of Art, Architecture & Design, the series offers a platform for internationally recognised practitioners to come and talk about their practice. All events are open to all.
