Serial Craft, 2021

kinetic installation

Serial Craft highlights the impact of production in Tophane-Kabataş area, during the industrialisation period of Turkey's Republican era. The kinetic installation consists of pulleys and belts, referencing the fundamental elements of serial production and how industrial production and socio- economic policies have caused the disappearance of craftsmanship. Produced in collaboration with craft studios around the city, the installation also underlines the economic and cultural potential of crafts for the creative productions in a post-industrial society.

The pulleys and belts of the installation trace the adaptation and transformation of craftsmanship to industrialized production. The installation invites the audience to follow the movement of the pulleys, activating reflection on the issue of craftsmanship and its disappearance due to multi- layered causes and pressures created by gentrification, urban transformation, population exchange, socio-economic policies and industrial production, topped by a romanticized view that reduces craftsmanship to a cultural value of the past.

Commissioned by Yanköşe Contemporary Art Project
June – December 2021
Jury: Dilara Altınkılıç Kutmangil, Kaan Altınkılıç, Evrim Altuğ, Fulya Erdemci, Bülent Erkmen
Project coordinator: Tuna Ortaylı Kazıcı

#Crafted In Istanbul

Produced in Craft studios of Istanbul: Turret Lathe: Nedim Köroğlu. Metal Lathe: Cemal Karadayi. Metal Plating: Sezgin Güven. Oven-dry Painting: Kamil Türnüklü. Metal Painting: Göksel Şimşek. Wood Painting: Ayhan Coşar. Ironsmiths: Hasan Ateş, Yaşar Yazıcı. Carpenters: Murat Baş, Cihan Özçelik. CNC Cutting: Yakup Bal. Lazer Cutting: Bülent Kurtoğlu. 

Installation photos: flu foto
Visual identity design: BEK Tasarım
Technical consultants: Sanlı Kihtir, Şeref Kemal Talaş
Installation crew: Fiksatif
Translation: Mehmet Özatamer

Download the brochure (English/Turkish)