The Way Beyond Art
A new exhibition bringing together works from the art collection of Van Abbemuseum is designed by Future Anecdotes: in a collaboration between artist Can Altay and designer Aslı Altay.
Covering a floor of the museum’s Collection Building, the exhibition spaces invite the users to a series of atmosphere rooms, or “settings” where the protocols of display and activity within modern (and contemporary) art museums are reconfigured.
Feeding from Can Altay’s spatial practice within art, and Aslı Altay’s distinct approach to design, The Way Beyond Art introduces further means of bodily, mental, and political engagement with the Museum.
The Way Beyond Art is open till 3rd January 2021
The Way Beyond Art
A Collection Exhibition at Van Abbemuseum, Designed by Future Anecdotes
A new exhibition bringing together works from the art collection of Van Abbemuseum is designed by Future Anecdotes: in a collaboration between artist Can Altay and designer Aslı Altay.
Covering a floor of the museum’s Collection Building, the exhibition spaces invite the users to a series of atmosphere rooms, or “settings” where the protocols of display and activity within modern (and contemporary) art museums are reconfigured.
Feeding from Can Altay’s spatial practice within art, and Aslı Altay’s distinct approach to design, The Way Beyond Art introduces further means of bodily, mental, and political engagement with the Museum.
The Way Beyond Art, spans the second floor of the Collection Building at Van Abbemuseum. Curated by Christiane Berndes, Charles Esche, Steven Ten Thije, the exhibition is structured as a series of atmosphere rooms, where the artworks from the collection merge with the spatial settings. The hierarchy posited by the white cube tradition is sidelined in search of other possibilities of seeing and being with artworks. Thematically driven by the notions of Land, Home, and Labour the exhibition brings together historical key works and contemporary pieces, all from the exceptional collection of Van Abbemuseum within settings that are derived from typologies of communal architectures from an inventory cross-cutting geographies and histories, designed by Future Anecdotes. Key typologies such as the Watchtower, The Khayma, Hypostyle, Anatomical Theatre are interpreted into display scenarios that inform the architecture of the exhibition.
Future Anecdotes also investigated the ways in which information is conveyed in museums, and conventions around the notion of labeling works. The resulting graphic intervention introduces both in-depth and expanded knowledge on works, while refraining from becoming overwhelming. The labelbooks that are located within the exhibition provide a flexible and unabridged look into the collection and the ideas that constitute the exhibition.
The Way Beyond Art also introduces modes of engagement for its users, beyond mere interaction. Users and constituencies of the museum are provided tools that allow their voice to be present within the exhibition and the space to articulate their position. Future Anecdotes have transformed an additional floor of Van Abbemuseum, into workshop and gathering spaces in a manner that invites the audience to imagine and perform other ways of using the collection.
About Future Anecdotes:
Asli Altay is a graphic designer and the founder of Future Anecdotes Istanbul (FAI), a design studio based in Istanbul, Turkey. FAI works closely with artists, architects, curators, publishers and cultural institutions. FAI operates in a limited range of formats, these are mainly exhibitions, publications, and identity systems. FAI’s interest in design lies in the ability to build up narratives and discussions through visual, literary, and spatial experience.
Can Altay is an artist known for his spatial interventions, investigations into public spaces, and his series on “setting a setting”. He is the Department Head of Product Design at Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Architecture.
Together they take on projects that often revolve around issues of public space and communication. The couple create structures and publications that act as public platforms or markers in urban space and exhibition contexts. Ongoing threads in their practice include issues of publication and public-action, questions of display and pursuing the role of design as editorial input and integral collaboration instead of provision of services.
Future Anecdotes was founded by Aslı Altay, now in collaboration with artist Can Altay, the collective’s third chapter of activity focuses on exhibition making.
Can & Asli Altay’s other collaborations include Who Owns The Street? at Van Abbemuseum (2016); Parallel Modernities at CCSP (2014); Reading Room at the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial (2014); An Archipelago from the Mediterranean at the 5th Marrakech Biennale (2014); Ahali: an anthology for setting a setting published by Bedford Press, London (2012); The Church Street Partners’ Gazette, The Showroom, London (2010-2013).
The Way Beyond Art Project Team Members at Future Anecdotes:
Faysal Altunbozar, Seda Öznal, Arda Karaburçak, Metincan Güzel, Ezgi Mutluer
Photographs by Peter Cox
