Patricia Piccinini at Arter, Istanbul

Patricia Piccinini's major solo exhibition at ARTER Space for Art, Istanbul runs until 21 August 2011.

In "Hold Me Close to Your Heart", Piccinini sets in motion various mediums such as sculpture, installation, drawing and video in a compilation of her works from 1997 to the present. Piccinini deals with various vital issues of contemporary life with reference to today's technologies, consumerism and the construct of nature. Her work addresses the ambivalent state of mind caused by opposing conventional wisdoms: one that there is an abundance of 'prophetic signs' indicating that we are approaching the 'end time', and two, that science and its technologies will heal the world and make it a paradisiacal never-ending place. According to her, to accept that contemporary technologies are going to revolutionise our world and make it a better place is as "rubbish" as to claim these technologies in the least worthless. Mindful of the forces at play behind the shiny, seductive yet camouflaged perfection, she borrows its limitless polishing strategy and creates a similar aura, resulting in a quite unfamiliar 'end product'.

Through the puzzling appearance of these 'end products' one of the antagonisms her works tackle is the 'nature vs. culture' opposition. However, the way in which she explores these is focused on their contemporary constructs and implications. She is interested in what constitutes 'nature' for a "contemporary, movie watching, in-vitro fertilised mall-rat."Her creatures look often 'abnormal', 'unnatural' or 'freakish'. Their size, proportions, highly realistic fleshy finishes evoke a sense that they could have been evolved into a 'normal' human or animal. Still, they seem to be genetically modified, lab-produced mutants, albeit with friendly eyes, cute smiles and adorable poses. The strength of Piccinini's work evokes this tension through direct physical encounters, as she brings the viewer face to face with hideous yet friendly creatures in an act that prompts us to reconsider the accepted binary oppositions of nature vs. culture, beauty vs. ugliness/disgust and necessity vs. luxury. Meanwhile, the infant-like attributes of these creatures immediately evoke an inevitable sense of sympathy, care, affection, love and even an urge to cuddle and protect them.

The exhibition "Hold Me Close to Your Heart" proposes an experience, a journey to another world: one that is simultaneously unfamiliar and strangely similar to ours. This experience encourages the viewer to stay at this very moment to focus on the highly contemporary issues and debates around technology, media culture, consumerism and science. This journey encompasses Piccinini's response to ARTER's multi-storey structure by treating the space as an installation that consists of three distinct atmospheres to be experienced as a journey to another world. Brightly illuminated, the ground floor comments on the shiny world of commodities and the nature of everyday life in a post-industrial urban environment; the first floor is inhabited by invented hybrid creatures, surrogates for endangered species to explore further the contemporary construct of 'nature', our place in it, and our attempts to control it. Finally, the most intimate part of the journey, invites the viewer into a homely setting on the second floor, where the residents are asleep and into a meditation on being human, on our creations and our responsibilities towards them.

Please visit the ARTER website for further details.