The "Together!" exhibition, which opened at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum alongside the Istanbul Biennial, is unlike any the museum has hosted before. Host Suzanne Lacy says, "Art may not be the most effective form of change."
An exhibition opened at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum alongside the Istanbul Biennial. Opened by Suzanne Lacy, a pioneer of feminist art, "Together!" is unlike any the museum has hosted before.
Lacy, who embraces the motto "Art may not be the most effective form of change, but it is a very interesting one," is a master of a new kind of 'public art.' Museum director Ahu Antmen, making a bold move in her first exhibition, demonstrates a different approach to museums.
Gila Benmayor, a columnist for the "Week" supplement of the newspaper "Neşıl Bir Ekonomi" (How an Economy), wrote about the exhibition in her column titled "Suzanne Lacy, a Pioneer of Feminist Art."
Benmayor's column is as follows:
I last visited the Sakıp Sabancı Museum for the German artist Georg Baselitz's exhibition "The Last Ten Years." Let me say upfront that Suzanne Lacy, a pioneer of feminist art as well as participatory, community-oriented performance art, is unlike any exhibition I've seen at the museum before in every way. It also demonstrates the distinct approach of Professor Ahu Antmen, who took over from Nazan Ölçer as director. Antmen, in my opinion, is quite bold in her first exhibition as museum director.
We are sharing the Suzanne Lacy exhibition with Antmen, whom I had the opportunity to visit, explains that the museum's parallel exhibitions to the Istanbul Biennial are usually sponsored by Akbank, but this time they're working with the Sabancı Foundation.
“The foundation implements various social change projects, particularly gender equality. In this context, there's a direct connection between the content of Lacy's exhibition and the Sabancı Foundation. We thought it would be a good partnership to organize this exhibition with the foundation,” he says, adding:
“The Sabancı Foundation has so many creative projects, especially within the framework of the United Nations Development Programs… In a sense, those projects fall within the realm of art, because they're like artistic performances. The foundation's goal is to foster social transformation by listening to people, opening different channels for them, and directing them to various educational programs. Social transformation is at the core of Suzanne Lacy's art.”
In her first exhibition in Turkey, it's possible to see Lacy's works, which have transformed participation, solidarity, and collaborative learning into an art form, spanning many years.
During our tour of the exhibition with Ahu Antmen, many art-related concepts such as "art in public space," "who is art for?" and "new museology" come to the fore.
Suzanne Lacy is an artist who emerged from feminist activism, a significant movement in the 1970s.
From the 1980s onward, she began working in what she describes as a "new kind of public art."
Antmen explains this field as follows: "When we think of public art, we usually think of something like a statue of a hero in the city center; we think of figurative art. In Suzanne Lacy's works, which she describes as "new kind of public art," large numbers of people come together and create lively tableaux. Behind the theatrical setting lies the idea of triggering transformation by discussing social issues."
Suzanne Lacy explores the realities of life, such as identity, freedom, violence, employment, economic hardship, immigration, and aging, in her performances, which bring together volunteers from diverse backgrounds, primarily women and young people, in various countries around the world.
Among the artist's works at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum are "Whisper, Waves, Wind," which brought together 154 women on La Jolla Beach in San Diego, California; "Crystal Veil," which brought together 430 women in a shopping mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota; "Between the Door and the Street," which brought together 400 women on a street in Brooklyn, New York; and "With Your Hand," which brought together 300 men in a bullring in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, to read letters written by thousands of women about the violence they face.
In her video, "With Your Hand," which was exhibited at the Tinguely Museum in Basel before arriving in Istanbul, she portrays violence against women through the voices of men—and, moreover, through the lens of machismo. It's quite interesting to listen to this—a symbol in a bullfighting arena.
Incidentally, let me note that the male volunteers, before performing in the arena, discussed the question of "what masculinity is" in the workshops they received training in. Otherwise, we wouldn't hear about the violence women face from a man's mouth.
Regarding this "new kind of public art," Suzanne Lacy says, "Art may not be the most effective form of change, but it is a very interesting one," and it brings to mind the long-debated question of "art for art's sake or for society."
Ahu Antmen states that this is "a question we can't seem to resolve," and says:
"The Lacy of the 1970s conveyed the message, 'art is for society, for social change,' through her individual performances. But in later years, she conveyed this message not through individual performances, but through very large-scale social performances, as in Ecuador. Ultimately, each era brings a different approach to the question of whether art is for art's sake or art is for society."
Suzanne Lacy, who emerged from the '68 movement, has also managed to transform her art. "We're talking about a 50-year career, and Lacy is still very relevant," I tell Ahu Antmen that exhibiting the works I've seen at the Sabancı Museum is a bold move.
"It's a bit bold; it's a different exhibition. Our audiences expect more traditional practices like painting and sculpture. These works are about presence, participation, reading, and listening. These are the things that define the new museology. Museology is now a structure that strives to attract different social layers and subjects in a participatory way. In other words, museums now want to provide more social services," she replies. Seeing Lacy's performances and collective experiences from different periods at the Sabancı Museum actually demonstrates the transformation of museology.
Based on Suzanne Lacy's self-description as a "feminist artist," I ask Ahu Antmen, whose work focuses on gender, to define her "feminist artist." I receive the response, "I would describe her as an artist who examines, challenges, and makes visible the gender order."
One of the first names that comes to mind is Şükran Moral, whose work often challenges the male order.
Among the examples Ahu Antmen cites as feminist artists are Nur Koçak, Canan, and some of her works by Füsun Onur and Gülsüm Karamustafa.
Antmen particularly emphasizes the incredible richness that feminist artists bring to the artistic repertoire: “It can be fabric, sewing, or any material from everyday life. They bring a great richness and breadth of perspective in terms of content, materials, and form. This is also true for artists in Turkey.”
When she points out that some artists don't want to be categorized as feminists, she responds, “Positioning oneself as a feminist in the art world is sometimes a risky position, because it's restrictive. Suzanne Lacy says it openly, because her existence is based on feminism. She has no market concerns.”
Ahu Antmen's observation about feminist art is significant:
“Feminist art experienced an incredible rise in the '60s and '70s. It was driven by books. It's the same today; it's even possible for some men to call themselves feminists, and we're seeing it. It's not a marginalized position right now. But this is ridiculed, because there are trends in the art world, like fashion. When this is ridiculed, feminist art isn't emphasized as much as it is today.”
Source: https://www.odatv.com/kultur-sanat/sakip-sabanci-muzesinde-feminist-ruzgar-suzanne-lacy-sergi-acti-120122471