THE ARMORY SHOW: Elif Uras, Nermin Kura, Nil Yalter, Yüksel Arslan

6 - 8 September 2024 
130
For the 2024 edition of the Armory Show, Galerist and Galeri Nev present a joint curated selection entitled Taxonomy of Overlooked Objects, featuring the works of preeminent artists Yüksel Arslan, Nermin Kura, Elif Uras and Nil Yalter from Turkey.

In the words of the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss: “It is common knowledge that the artist is both something of a scientist and of a ‘bricoleur’”. The term ‘bricolage’, rooted in anthropology and later embraced by postmodern thinkers and artists, refers to the practice of crafting something new by assembling and repurposing available materials. It represents an act of defiance against the status quo, underlining the capacity to question, dismantle, associate, and recreate in pursuit of complete freedom.

All four artists showcased in this proposal, though from different generations and never having crossed paths, share a common modus operandi. Through an encyclopedic lens, they investigate, structure and document realms of knowledge and objects that are often overlooked or entirely fictitious. Blending scientific rigor with personal narrative, their works interlace historical and modern references, techniques, and motifs. They challenge artistic and societal norms through their approach to representation, use of eclectic materials and sources, unrestrained creative processes, and ability to transform.

Arslan, Kura, Uras and Yalter engage with the dynamics of the mythical and the archeological, the admirable and the uncanny. Their reinterpretations of the past offer boundless alternatives to classifying and archiving, not only the past but also the future.

[1] Lévi-Strauss, C. (1968). The Savage Mind. University of Chicago.