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How the Private becomes Public, and the Public becomes Political
Nancy Atakan is an American/Turkish artist who has lived and worked in Istanbul since 1969. Starting her career as a painter, in the early 1990s she adapted an interdisciplinary/inter-medial approach, began to make videos and to use texts and photography in her work. Using an analytical autobiographical as well as a poetic fictional approach, she also adheres to the ideas of relational aesthetic artwork as defined by Nicolas Bourriaud. She defines art as an alternative way to live, interact and take (social/political) action. For her, working towards a PhD in art history, writing a thesis on conceptual art, writing a book entitled Searching for Alternatives to Painting and Sculpture (1998), writing articles about art, teaching art, co-ordinating art projects, making artworks, and transferring her analytical or critical thoughts into digital prints, videos, texts or books are all part of her art practice. In fact, it can be said that Atakan is both an artistic researcher as well as a researching artist.
 In both identities, she understands art as an instrument for deconstructing reality in order to give new meaning to the chaos of every day life in Istanbul. In her digital photograph, "Downpour" (2008), she reviewed the city's fragmented local reality as well as the hybrid, heterogeneous and pluralistic urban network with its innumerable official and unofficial actors. Atakan can be called both a foreigner and an insider, a type of intimate stranger.  While she is a part of and understands the social system and language, she can also distance herself enough to reflect on Istanbul's clash of aesthetics, architectural languages, social traditions and cultural expressions. From this perspective, she is able to review the infinite stories in this metropolis' fragmented reality. For example, in "Downpour", she was able to show the outer and inner syntax of the city by creating a type of urban and psychological portrait.
In many of her works, Atakan resembles a cultural activist who wants to be engaged in the formation of our civic society. An important project that illustrates this attempt is the off-space initiative, 5533, co-founded in February 2008, with the artist Volkan Aslan and the curator Marcus Graf. 5533 functions as a platform for alternative artistic experiments and Atakan considers this project to be a natural extension of her artistic practice. The space's organizational structure based on collaboration and interaction in addition to engagement in its urban locality and community reflects her notion of art. For her, it is particularly significant that 5533 creates opportunities for dialogue and interaction with others inside and outside the art community as well as inside and outside of Turkey and that it focuses on collaboration with other art initiatives to explore means of production and presentation. The process of creating opportunities for dialogues and interactions is fundamental to many of her works. Holding On (2009), a book materialized together with the visual artist Volkan Aslan, resulted from a dialogue they conducted with 5533's neighbours. In this project, Atakan's belief in art as a powerful tool for investigating contemporary realities as well as her strong interest in people's stories and histories is manifested. For Holding On, Atakan and Aslan asked twenty different workers and owners of shops about their views on the concept of holding on. Their surprisingly honest and very poetic responses were presented in this book together with photographs taken over the past three years of shops and areas around 5533. Once an architectural example of the dream of modernity, today, in this artwork it becomes obvious that the structure that houses 5533 now resembles an old singer who is too weak to sing another note and therefore remains silent in spite of ongoing and continuous change.
Different from a scientific analysis, Holding On results from an artistic research project that does not necessarily need to answer questions because obtaining knowledge is not its main goal. In fact, rather than answering questions, it asks questions and encourages readers to imagine and make associations. Exhibited and distributed as any other book, this artwork stores and protects information from getting lost in the continuous bombardment of knowledge, a trait characteristic of today's lifestyle. Thus, Holding On functions as a shelter to protect the thoughts of its participants and to give its reader's access to others stories.  At the same time, it utilizes art's oldest strength: to document, to record, to communicate and to share.
Other works, like "Chronic Illness" (2009), "I believe/I don't Believe" (2008/ 2009) or "For Sale" (2009) show her inter-cultural interests. "Chronic Illness" is an ironical comment on a contemporary situation.  She designed pieces of lace work that included the McDonald logo and commissioned women to crochet them, not because she values this company, but to sarcastically reflect on the fast food chain's function as a mutated symbol of modernity. In "I believe/I don't Believe", Atakan formulated a metaphor to explore the randomness of belief. In a three hour performance, later shown in Pi Artworks as a video work, she dropped evil eyes into a bucket as she chanted "I Believe, I Don't Believe" in a manner similar to pulling petals off flowers in the childhood game, "He love's me/He loves me not." The work questions the reliability of the innumerable belief systems that depend on our cultural backgrounds, place of origin, lived experiences, level of education, and languages. Atakan discovered the image shown in the photograph, "For Sale", while walking on the backstreets of Beyoğlu, a multi-cultural neighbourhood in Istanbul. Since the mosque was built in close approximation to the church, she realized that from a certain angle both seemed to be coming from a single building that was being sold.  In her opinion, in today's world, all religions are being used and exploited by politicians as just another sales gimmick.
In pieces like "I am not who you say I am" (2009), "Couldn't be it" (2001) or "All the Beds I've Slept in since 1994.", she deals with incidents from and memories of her personal life. "Couldn't be it" discusses the effect of harmful social codes and cultural patterns that force the individual to adapt personas to be able to fit into society. By placing a portrait of herself at a mature age on the body of a doll, she shows the superficiality and ridiculousness of striving to be what one is not. The digital film, "I am not who you say I am", criticizes society's attempt to mold and dictate who people are and how they live in society. Seated in front of a mirror and surrounded by gender related objects, she studies images and rejects each. None of these, neither the description of who she should be as taught by her mother, nor the dogma of the church she grew up in, nor the beliefs behind the flag of the country where she was born, nor the beliefs of the place she adopted, nor the reflection of her physical being in a mirror, describe who she is.
"All the Beds I have Slept In Since 1994" is an ongoing series of documentary even biographical photographs. The work functions as a diary, but instead of hiding it away in a closet, she makes the documentation public, and exposes fragments from her life. At the same time, the series shows a restless journey, in which the passenger is always already gone; before anyone can see her, behind remain only leftover traces of her short stay. The emptiness of the beds allows the images to be owned by everyone and for them to become anybody's and everybody's.  By making the private publicly visible, she destroys the boundary between the private and the public and shows that in today's society, the private is the public.
Atakan's work critically discusses various issues related to social and cultural human behavior, as well as shares personal stories and the history of her own life. Her pieces review fundamental issues related to existence such as gender and inter-cultural identity, the effect of the aging processes, and spiritual questions about life and death. She has accumulated a large body of artistic research that is both analytic and poetic, but at the same time shows the effects of the private becoming public.  In fact, this process eventually allows the private in Atakan's work to also become political.
Marcus Graf, 2010, Istanbul


1946, Roanoke Virginia, USA

1969 Became resident of Istanbul, Turkey
1968 BA, Studio Art and Art History, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
1982 MA, Non-Formal Education, Boğaziçi University, ISTANBUL
1995 PhD, Mimar Sinan University, Thesis: Conceptual Art in Turkey, ISTANBUL
1983-1997 Taught in the Art Department of Robert College, ISTANBUL
1996-2000 Taught History of European Painting and Sculpture Boğaziçi University, ISTANBUL
2008-  Co-founder and co-coordinator of 5533 off-space, ISTANBUL
    

Solo Exhibitions

2011 "How Do We Know We Are Not Impostors?", Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2011 "From Here 1970-2011", Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2009 "Holding on", Apartment Project, ISTANBUL
2009 "I Believe/I Don't Believe", Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2009 "Obsession", Manzara Perspectives, ISTANBUL
2007 "And", Proje 4L Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum, Artvarium, ISTANBUL
2003 "People Objects", Artoteek Schiedam, Between the Waterfronts, Istanbul-Rotterdam Cultural Exchange, Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS
2002 "Lives Within Lifetimes", International Longevity Center, New York, USA
2002 "Trafiek", Rotterdam-İstanbul Cultural Exchange Project, Artoteek Gallery, Schiedam, HOLLAND

2000 "And", Mary Ogilvie Gallery, St. Anne's College, Oxford University, Oxford, ENGLAND
1990 "Environmental", MD Gallery, ISTANBUL

Group Exhibitions 

2013 ''Me, Myself and I'' Me as a Dilemma, Cer Modern, ANKARA

2013 ''Manzara Hakkında'', Mine Sanat, ISTANBUL 

2012 ''Places of Memory-Fields of vision'', Invisible Cities Festival, Thessaloniki Contemporary Art Center, GREECE

2012 ''Art of Migration'', Cezayir, ISTANBUL

2012 ''Keeping on Keeping on'', Salt Galata, ISTANBUL

2012 Contemporary Istanbul'12, Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL

2012 "Who Left ? What Behind", Ankara Contemporary Art Center, ANKARA
2012 "Trading Stations", Curve Gallery, parallel to Liverpool Biennial, UK
2012 "Familiar", SPAS Galeri, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA
2012 "In Several Aspects", Halka Art Project, ISTANBUL
2012 "About Woman", Mine Art Gallery, ISTANBUL
2012 "Pi @ Q", Q Contemporary, Beirut, LEBANON
2012 Art Dubai, Pi Artworks, Dubai, UAE
2012 The Armory Show, Armory Film curated by Moving Images, New York, USA
2011 ''Ultramemoire #4'' , L’Institut Français d’Istanbul et la Galerie Nivet-Carzon, video presentation, ISTANBUL

2011 ''Machine Raum'', Vejle Art Museum, Vejle, DENMARK

2011 ''Marrakech Art Moderne/Contemporain Fair 2011'', Marrakech , Morocco

2011 ''The Shadows of the Public'', Videoist,Brunswiker Pavillion, Kiel, GERMANY

2011 "Dream and Reality-Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey", Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, ISTANBUL
2011 Contemporary Istanbul'11, Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2011 Art Beat Istanbul, Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2011 8 Artists-8 Contemporary", Mine Art Gallery,  ISTANBUL
2011 "Trade Routes", Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2011 "Where Fire Has Struck", DEPO, ISTANBUL
2011 "Once Upon a Time ... Place", DIYARBAKIR
2011 "Floating Volumes III", Kunst Nah Gallery, Hamburg, GERMANY
2011 "Random Access Memory", MicaMoca Project, Berlin, GERMANY
2011 "Public Ideas", Brunswiker Pavillon, Kiel, GERMANY
2010 Contemporary Istanbul'10, Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2010 "Floating Volumes II", 5533, ISTANBUL
2010 "Floating Volumes I", Frise, Hamburg, GERMANY
2010 " IDs Please!", Cer Modern, ANKARA
2010 "Out of Context", Pi Artworks, ISTANBUL
2010 "Public Ideas", 5533, ISTANBUL
2010 "Invisible Play", curated by Sonia Leimer and Catrin Bolt, independent space, ISTANBUL
2009 "Under My Feet I Want The World'', 17 female artists from Istanbul, Akademie Der Kunste, Pariser Platz, Istanbul Next Wave, Berlin, GERMANY
2009 St-art 14th European Contemporary Art Fair, Pi Artworks, Strasbourg, FRANCE
2009 "Projected Visions 35 Years of Turkish Art", Apollonia, Strasbourg, FRANCE
2009 "Temporary Harassment", Istanbul 2010 Portable Art Project curated by Marcus Graf, ISTANBUL
2009 "Antique and Avant-gard", International Contemporary Art Festival, National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, Criema, Sevastopol, UKRAINE
2009 "Once Upon a Time", 5533, ISTANBUL
2009 "Forschungsstationen", Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen, GERMANY
2009 "Once Upon a Time", Istanbul Off-Spaces, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Bethanien, GERMANY
2009 "Forschungsstationen", Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen, GERMANY
2009 "35 Years of Video Art", Ankara Film Festival, ANKARA
2008 "Especially Miniature Things", Cankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Center, ANKARA
2008 "Videoist2010", Istanbul 2010 Portable Art Project, ISTANBUL
2008 "Multiple Connections", Pogmahon Gallery, Vienna, AUSTRIA
2008 "MemoryCity", Istanbul 2010 Portable Art Project, ISTANBUL
2008 "Multiple Connections", Kent Gallery, ISTANBUL
2008 "Dirty Movies", 54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, curated by Sherry Millner and Ernest Larsen, Oberhausen, GERMANY
2008 "I believe/I don't believe", 3 hour performance in "Unknown Exhibition" curated by Marcus Graf for Performance Days, Galata Perform, ISTANBUL
2008 "Centennial Alumni Exhibition", Ridderhof Martin Gallery, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
2007  "Everything's Going to Be Alright", Apartment Project, ISTANBUL
2007 "Interdisciplinary Art Workshop and Exhibition", Nicosia, CYPRUS
2007 "Bad Luck Show", Marlan Gallery, Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, US
2007 "Big Family Business", autonomous program within 10th Istanbul Biennial, IMC, ISTANBUL
2007 "Border Line", 44. International Troy Festival, Old church, CANAKKALE
2007 "From the Owner with a View", independent space, ISTANBUL
2007 "Imagining the Book I", Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, EGYPT
2006 "Too Much Freedom", LA Freewaves, 10th New Media Art Festival, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA
2006 "All About Lies", Apartment Project, ISTANBUL
2006 "Coding: Decoding: Exhibition", The  Museum of Contemporary Art, Nikolaj-Copenhagen, Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen, DENMARK
2006 "Golyazi Project", outdoor site specific workshop, Golyazi, BURSA
2006 "Thinking Garbage", video festivals: Incheon Contemporary Art Museum, KOREA; IMAF, Buenos  Aires, ARGENTINA; River's Edge Film Festival, Paducah, Kentucky, USA; IMAF (8th International Multimedia Art Festival), SERBIA and MONTENEGRO;  V1B3 Summer, "Video in the Built Environment", UFVA (University Film and Video Association) Conference, Orange, California, USA: V1B3 Summer, London Study Center, London, ENGLAND
2006 "Babel, Babble, Rabble", residency program and exhibitions, Other Gallery, Telus Studio, Banff Art Centre, Alberta, CANADA
2005 "Cosmopolis I: 1st Balkan Biennial", Thessalonika Contemporary Art Museum, Thessalonika, GREECE
2005 "Secret Memories", Select Media IV Festival, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2005 "Life and Blind Destiny", Karsi Art Works, ISTANBUL
2005 "Secret Time", Ankara City Contemporary Art and Culture Center, sponsored by Hacettepe University, ANKARA
2005 "Thinking Garbage", joint project with Ipek Duben, video installation in squatter's room, 9th Istanbul International Biennial, ISTANBUL
2005 "Rio de Janeiro Electronic Media Festival", Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL
2005 "Obsession", Gallery X, ISTANBUL
2005 "Honoring the Book", First International Biennial for the Artist's Book, The Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
2005 "Identityscapes", Cologne OnLine Film Festival, Cologne, GERMANY
2005 "Free/Neutral Zone", Roxy, ISTANBUL
2005 "ABA", Mersin University, MERSIN
2005 "Artist ... Work", Istanbul Modern Art Gallery, ISTANBUL
2005 "Tele-Kent", Siemens Nomad Collection, ISTANBUL
2004 "The Shaman Diary", Proje 4L, Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum, ISTANBUL
2004  "Change/Tradition", Ifsak 20th Istanbul Photography Days, ISTANBUL
2004 "First International Artist Book Biennial", Bibliotheca Alexandrina Art Center, April-May, Alexandria, EGYPT
2004 "D-Art 2004", virtual exhibition, Virtual Digital Art Gallery, London, England  and Penang, MALAYSIA
2004 "Turkish Delight", Rio Modern Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL
2004 "European Cultural Days: A Bridge from West to East", BBK, Karlsruhe, GERMANY
2003 "The Eighth Havana Biennal", Pavillion Cuba, Video Film Program, November, Havana, CUBA
2003 "International Tunel Art Festival", Italian Cultural Center, ISTANBUL
2003 "Art at Akmerkez", Akmerkez, ISTANBUL
2003 "Storm", pixel motion art, underpass between Pier 7 and 8 of the Esplanade Bridge, SINGAPORE
2003 "Good+Bad+Ugly", 3rd Performance Days, dags+Istanbul Bilgi University Bilgi Studio 111, ISTANBUL
2003 "The Seventh International Video Festival Video Medeja", Novi Sad, YUGOSLAVIA
2003 "Families Only", Karsi Art Works, ISTANBUL
2002 "IV International Digital Art Exhibiton", Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center, Casa Simon Bolivar, Havana, CUBA
2002 "The 6th International Video Festival Video Medeja", Novi Sad, YUGOSLAVIA
2002 "Artist Respond to War", Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens, Georgia, USA
2002 "Look Again", Proje 4L, Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum, ISTANBUL
2001 "Re-Duchamp", traveling exhibition, Istanbul Biennial, ISTANBUL
2001 "Voices From The Homeland", Karsi Art Works, ISTANBUL
2000 "Young Art III", Ankara Contemporary Art Center, ANKARA
2000 "Local Products", Elhamra Gallery, ISTANBUL
1999 "Between '99", Resmi Görüş Güncel Sanat Seçkisi, ISTANBUL
1999 "International Women's Art Festival", Shebani Building, Aleppo, SYRIA
1999 "Between '99", Istanbul Technical University, ISTANBUL
1998 "Project/Work", Marmara University, ISTANBUL
1998 "Back to Back", Arnavutkoy Studio, ISTANBUL
1998 "Artagora", Bilgi University and Dolmabahce Cultural Center via Internet, ISTANBUL
1997 "Between", Ataturk Cultural Center, ISTANBUL
1996 "Logos (Aphasia)Semeion (Asemasia )-(Non) Signification (Non) Comm/uni/cati/on", Aynali Passage, ISTANBUL
1995 "Work", Sanart, ANKARA
1994 "Work", STT (The Definition of Art Group), F. Ilgaz Center, ISTANBUL


Artist's Publications: Book

2008  Searching for Alternatives in Art, Karakalem Kitabevi publications, IZMIR
1998  Searching for Alternatives to Painting and Sculpture, Yapi Kredi publications, ISTANBUL