ZAPT Exhibition
The Body-Trace Relationship
The body remembers many things. Everyday actions we perform without thinking,
Things that are accepted and things that are considered strange; free gestures and social norms…
If the body is an archive, then what is etched onto the body is a sign. Tattoos are a direct or indirect way of telling a narrative.
indirectly etched traces. Sometimes being part of a community, sometimes completely abandoning it.
To reject. Integrating into the history of the body, across different geographies and bearing different meanings.
Tattoos are a symbol of loss or a new beginning; of belonging or a break.
This exhibition explores tattooing as a form of remembering, forgetting, and transformation. A trace.
It examines the tension between the desire to let go and the urge to cover things up.
through our bodies, how tattoos intertwine with emotions, identities, and the past.
We are questioning.
Our individual stories, when brought together, transform the body into the surface of a shared narrative.
It brings together, on this surface, the personal and the social, the trace of the past and the excavation of the present.
where visibility and concealment intersect
We are looking for the points.
Artists
Ahmet Dündar
Berra Yildirim
Deniz Altan
Dilara Yerlikaya
Dogukan Ciltas
Duru Aydın
Ece Akdemir
Hasan Hüseyin Özmen
Hatice Karakaş
Hazal Şerifoğlu
Hilal Sarikaya
Irem Esra Gokalp
Melike Melena
Saltık Doğa Özsar
Sena Cinpolat
Shermin Tepe
Passion Cloudwhite
Master Ülkü
Yagiz Akdogan
The Dialogue Between Trace and Body in Design
In the exhibition design, we transformed the space into a narrative surface by focusing on the viewer's bodily experience. Through a flowing structure that reflects the layered meanings of tattoos, we aimed to physically convey the relationships between the mark and the body.
The Body-Trace Relationship
The Key Art Gallery offers an interface that allows cultural practices such as street culture and tattooing tradition to gain visibility within the context of an art gallery. This space functions as a transitional area that transforms fields of representation, bringing the aesthetic and social layers of tattooing to the viewer.
The Key Art Gallery - Eskişehir
Dilara Yerlikaya, Trace, Metal, Metal Welding, 150x95x28 cm
A curatorial team of four from different disciplines created a multi-layered exhibition concept that intertwines tattoo culture with the intellectual and aesthetic realms of art. The team, consisting of Emel Gülşah Akın, İclal Gültekin, Elif Özuğur, and Gülhan Kuşçu, developed a narrative language that unites individual stories on a common surface.
Saltık Doğa Özsar, Civilization, Cosmonaut, Mixed Media, 28x28 cm
Exhibition Design
The exhibition design team, consisting of İbrahim Kükner, Ece Ebrar Sözkesen, Alp Emre Erden, and Saltık Doğa Özsar, created a multi-layered narrative that transforms the themes of body and trace into a spatial experience. This design, which makes the viewer a part of the exhibition both visually and physically, circulates the narrative not only on the walls but throughout the entire space.
Creative Team
The creative team, consisting of Beray Eski, Efe Çağrı Keskin, Sena Erol, Sibel Surat, and Samet Özer, undertook the graphic, content, and communication work that formed the visual world of the exhibition, supporting the emotional and conceptual depth of the narrative. They acted with a collective spirit at every stage of the production process.
Opening Music
At the exhibition's opening, DJ Set Graffe offered viewers a rhythmic start with a selection of music that touched upon the traces sound leaves on the body. The music created a separate narrative layer that accompanied the atmosphere of the exhibition.
Field Team
The field team, consisting of Aslı Güntan, Berra Nur Nişancı, Elif Aytül Öz, Furkan Yılmaz, Gizem Tölü Keskin, Kübra Karabulut, Rumeysa Batıran, and Zülal Erkul, were the unsung heroes of the exhibition, from installation to the viewer experience. They formed the backbone of the exhibition on-site, ensuring continuity and order in the organization's flow.
