"Souvenirs of the Future," the latest exhibition at Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum, invites viewers to explore the ties forged between memory and future imaginings.
The exhibition, organized in memory of Suna Kıraç, who created the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, features contemporary works inspired by the collection created by artists from Türkiye and abroad, and is accompanied by a selection from the collection.
The exhibition seeks answers to the questions, “Could the future be remembered through the familiar objects collected in the past?” and “Could these objects act as a means to shape the memories of the future that will come as fragments – a means to understand and preserve the past?” The exhibition is curated by Ulya Soley and adheres to a future-oriented perspective of the archive. It encourages contemplation of how we will remember the future instead of holding onto a nostalgic devotion to the past.
Composed of four sections – "Reminiscences of the Motifs," "The Memory of Objects," "The Memory of the Region" and "Remembering the Future" – the exhibition weaves together the cultural and symbolic values of objects that are reminiscent of a certain place and time or part of a collection of souvenirs with the memory of the region through personal journeys. A selection of works from the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection that inspired the commissioned contemporary works accompanies each section of the exhibition.
Commenting that she began working on "Souvenirs of the Future" upon realizing how substantial the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection would be as a source of valuable information regarding the past, curator Ulya Soley explained the connection between the collection and the exhibition by stating: “Personal relationships forged with objects lay the groundwork for the creation of a collection. A collection born out of close relationships formed one after another with similar objects over time not only carries clues about the person compiling the collection, but also enriches the social meanings of the various objects ... It was Suna Kıraç who brought together the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, and her memory continues to live on as new works of art are produced inspired by the collection. In one way, the exhibition underlines the thought that nothing is permanent, that everything is under continuous change and transformation, and most importantly, that everything has a certain life span. From this perspective, Souvenirs of the Future functions as a reminder to us that everything we own, just like life itself, can only be appreciated in real time and under temporary conditions.”
Reminiscences of the Motifs: The section "Reminiscences of the Motifs," which brings together works based on the decorative motifs of ceramics, traces these motifs beyond their traditional connotations, seeking to discover how they are currently structured. The different forms in this section, inspired by the ceramic tiles on the walls of a church, a mosque or a palace, are given contemporary relevance through nature, the source of traditional vegetative ornamentation.
The installation "Carpet-Style Tilework on Canvases" (1999), a composition of 45 pieces of canvas of different shapes and sizes piled on the floor and against the wall by the Brazilian artist Adriana Verejao is part of the exhibition. Also among the works featured in the exhibition are the installations titled "Route Saz Yolu" (2023) by Burçak Bingöl that centers on a tile panel found in Topkapı Palace; a site-specific installation by Elif Uras, "Double Niche" (2023), with an accompanying sculpture titled "Goddess of the Moon" (2023), which explores motifs and forms that reference prehistory with a contemporary approach; Francesco Simeti’s installation "Petting Wilderness" (2023), drawing upon the idea of nature as memory and combining images from nature with motifs displayed on objects from the museum’s Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection; a painting by Taner Ceylan titled "Wall" (2018), depicting in detail a dilapidated wall in the courtyard of the Rüstem Paşa Mosque, built by Mimar Sinan in the 16th century, and the painting titled Archeology (2023), which was specially produced for the exhibition.
The Memory of Objects: The section titled "The Memory of Objects," where stories are told through the medium of ceramic objects, focuses on the contemporary reflections of objective culture. For their installation "Time Stream" (2023), the artist duo Skuja Braden took photographs of works in museums with their phones, including objects from the Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection exhibition, and transferred these images onto ceramics, rendering them timeless.
Metehan Törer’s ceramic installation titled "Those Born to Earth" (2023), traces the knowledge and memory transmitted from generation to generation through ceramics. Livia Marin’s "Remnants" (2018), a nostalgic remembrance, looks at the ways we associate ourselves with objects in the contemporary world where objects are in wide circulation. "Voronoi" (2020), a video produced by the artists collective oddviz, with inspiration from the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, uses the technique of photogrammetry for three-dimensional modeling and digitalization to transmit to the present in digital language a selection of about 150 works originating from the 18th to 20th centuries. In her installation "Tablet" (2023), Yasemin Özcan centers on the relationship three generations of women have formed with soil within various contexts.
Memory of the Region: The section of the exhibition titled "Memory of the Region" explores the ties between objects of memory and the region they are associated with, focusing specifically on spatial interventions connected with Kütahya. Aslı Çavusoğlu’s site-specific installation "Both Roots and Stems, Both Are Both Not" (2023), was inspired by the mangrove trees that grow along the shores of tropical regions. Just as the roots of these trees reach up toward the surface of the earth, the installation evokes traditional methods of production as well as memories to rise to the surface.
Jorge Otero-Pailos stands at the crossroads of architecture and art, producing works that focus on history and memory. Otero-Pailos’ installation titled "Souvenir," of the Pera Museum (2023), which was created for the exhibition, transforms the dust accumulated in the museum into a kaleidoscopic tile pattern. Photographing microscopic images of the dust collected from the museum’s façade, the artist transferred the design created with repetitions of the photographs into ceramic wall tiles produced in Kütahya, weaving together the institutional memory of the museum with the memory of the region.
Candice Lin’s work titled "A Hard White Body, A Porous Slip" (2017), uses the medium of porcelain, widely associated with purity, pallor, and resistance to cracks and stains, to tell a tale inspired by the story of the 18th-century botanist Jeanne Baret, the first woman to travel the seas while being disguised as a man. The artist Bilal Yılmaz and curator Lydia Chatziiakovou have created a map of the craft workshops in Kütahya within the scope of their joint project titled Creative-Craft Platform, which was initiated for this exhibition. The sculpture is a depiction of the Elhamra Atelier, established in 1959.
Remembering the Future: Speculative objects bringing together objects of the future through videos and photographs comprise the last section of the exhibition titled "Remembering the Future." Among the artists featured in this section is Deniz Eroğlu, with the work titled "Rose Path" (2023), where the artist ponders, using postcards, the future outcomes of the changes Türkiye is experiencing with speculated images from the future. Volkan Aslan’s videos titled "Peace," "The Next Day" and "The Walk" (2022) explore the effects of violence on victims in everyday life.
Zsofia Keresztes is included with the sculpture "The Present" (2022), a part of the installation titled After Dreams which was designed for the Hungarian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennial, presenting a poetic connection between remembrances and mosaics. Neven Allgeier’s "Environment" (2019-2023) brings the viewer face-to-face with memories of landscapes devoid of human presence from the near future.
Souvenirs of the Future, designed by Yelta Köm and Elif Tan of Studio No Frame, with graphics and catalog design by Esen Karol, will be on display until March 24.
