Exhibitions / Group

Journey to the Spirit of Place

Türkçe

Halka Sanat Projesi, Istanbul
8 September 2019 – 6 October 2019

Journey to the Spirit of Place was a group exhibition at Halka Sanat Projesi, Istanbul, presented from September to October 2019, featuring Richard Bartle alongside six other artists.

Exhibition Text

Journey to the Spirit of Place explored the relationship between artistic practice and the environments in which it is formed. Taking its title and conceptual starting point from Lawrence Durrell's Spirit of Place, the exhibition examined how geography, history and culture become embedded within the work of artists who develop a sustained relationship with a particular landscape rather than simply passing through it.

Rather than understanding place as a passive backdrop, the exhibition proposed that landscape actively shapes creative thought. Drawing upon ideas from cultural geography, anthropology and archaeology, it considered how the spirit of a place becomes visible through an artist's choice of material, colour, subject matter and process, gradually leaving its signature upon both the work and its maker.

Curated by Bahar Güneş and Öykü Demirci, the exhibition brought together artists whose practices had developed through long-term engagement with the places they inhabit. The works reflected different cultural experiences while sharing a common interest in memory, landscape and the enduring dialogue between people and their surroundings.

The exhibition included works by Doğu Çankaya, Ece Gökalp, Gözde İlkin, İhsan Oturmak, İpek Çankaya, Richard Bartle and Yasemin Özcan.

Curated by Bahar Güneş and Öykü Demirci.
Original exhibition concept by İpek Çankaya.

Exhibited Artwork

Richard Bartle exhibited A Stoic Horse (2019), a mixed-media sculpture produced during the final months of his residency in Istanbul. The work reflects upon the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic tradition, considering how stability can be maintained in the face of uncertainty.

A carved terracotta horse sits upon a painted concrete block covered in layers of colourful graffiti. This block balances precariously on the edge of a second concrete cube, supported only by a slender piece of weathered wood. The cube itself rests upon four columns constructed from stacked terracotta tiles, creating an unstable architectural structure that appears permanently on the verge of collapse.

The sculpture draws together fragments of archaeology and contemporary urban experience. Terracotta, concrete, graffiti and improvised construction reference the layered material culture of Istanbul, where traces of successive civilisations coexist with the improvisations of the present day. Behind the sculpture hangs a painted canvas depicting the concrete block and its graffiti surface, interrupted by a single embroidered wavering line that quietly connects image and object.

Created for Journey to the Spirit of Place, A Stoic Horse reflects upon the relationship between history and modernity, proposing that contemporary life is continually constructed upon the physical and cultural foundations of the past. The horse becomes a quiet emblem of resilience, remaining balanced despite the uncertainty of the structure that supports it.

Installation Views

Selected Works at Contemporary Istanbul

Following the exhibition at Halka Sanat Projesi, a selection of works by some of the participating artists was presented by Halka Sanat Projesi at Contemporary Istanbul, extending the exhibition beyond the gallery setting.

Selected Artwork

Legacy

Journey to the Spirit of Place brought together a group of artists whose practices had become deeply connected to the places in which they lived and worked. For Richard Bartle, the exhibition marked an important point within his Istanbul years, bringing together ideas of archaeology, architecture, landscape and material culture that had developed through more than a decade of living in the city.

The themes explored in the exhibition continued to shape Bartle's subsequent practice. Questions surrounding the relationship between place, memory and material later informed projects including The Black Pen, On the Rubble of our Ancestors, and, following his return to the United Kingdom, the archaeological works of the Unearthed series. In this sense, Journey to the Spirit of Place represents an important moment in the evolution of an artistic practice grounded in long-term observation, cultural encounter and the material traces of history.

Image Credits

Installation photographs by İpek Çankaya.