Galeri Nev İstanbul is participating in the first edition of Istanbul Gallery Week (IGW), which brings together the contemporary art galleries in Istanbul, with an interdisciplinary and experimental program titled I Have Never Been Here. The event in which Aras Seddigh invites parfumer Ömer İpekçi to the gallery space, an experience that allows transitions between senses by establishing connections between visual arts, writing and olfactory arts is predicted.
Taking its name from a quote in Ben Lerner’s book, Leaving the Atocha Station, the phrase I Have Never Been Here connotes the invisibilty and volatility, which are the main features of the scent. Also by pointing out the idea of an absence, the event’s title also reminds the fact that unlike visual and audio elements, the scent is usually left behind in the artistic production and experience. The production processes of an artist and a perfumer intertwined through the experience of sharing the same atelier, can be read from Seddigh’s painting titled N.99 which is displayed in the gallery space. Named after the 99th edition of İpekçi’s perfume titled Incarnation / Untitled, the artwork and the perfume itself are placed in a distinct spatial design that makes the link between the image and the scent visible. Thus, two productions that were created simultaneously become involved in each other’s formation process.
In the work based on the relationship between letters and scents, titled Conversation Find Ten, the gap created by the lack of a fixed language and perception regarding the scent is turned into an experimental game played by Seddigh and İpekçi. In this game where the players mutually manipulate each other’s perception, İpekçi produces a scent based on the selected parts of a text written by Seddigh, and then Seddigh writes back about the impressions of the scents on her. Constantly repeating these actions, the ten – stage game continues to seek new ways of communication through thewords evoked by a scent and the transformation of words into scents, while also presenting the experience of a kind of a lack of communication.
Galeri Nev İstanbul can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday between 11 am – 6.30 pm.
