Venue: Tahtakale Hammam
Curator: Öznur Güzel Karasu

Artists: Özgül Arslan, Burak Bedenlier, Sena Başöz, Itır Demir, Eda Gecikmez, Nurcan Gündoğan, Reysi Kamhi, Devabil Kara, Hacer Kıroğlu, Komet, Devran Mursaloğlu, Günnur Özsoy, anti-pop, Neriman Polat, Gonca Sezer, Ayşegül Süter, Jerome Symons, Candaş Şişman, Kemal Tufan, Sevil Tunaboylu, Ayla Turan, İlke Yılmaz

One tends to remember childhood games when the concept of a game is mentioned. Yet the word "game" has a deeper etymological meaning. It stands at a point where instincts play a role. It has a therapeutic function directed toward desired; it is a "catharsis" in a way. The person who plays is given a kind of preparative stage for the things she has not experienced yet.

Games enabled art to arise through the efforts of the first human beings to control nature with magic. They became a tool for entering an ecstatic spiritual state during rituals. Through games, humankind created culture.

Uncanny: Dangerous, taken as taboo, banned by various social groups, causing unease.

The artists in this exhibition set off only with a clue; rather than pages of concept texts or a thoroughly elaborated conceptual framework, they were only told one thing in the beginning. We were going to play together and it was going to be an uncanny game.

Whichever meaning of the word "game" the artists take into account, through "uncanniness" they are emphasizing the need of a perspective "contrary to the supposed" one. They want the viewer to think beyond what she sees.

Eminönü is a meeting point where everyone gathers from different parts of the city. Tahtakale Hamam interrupts the conceptual dimension of the exhibition since its history, contemporary atmosphere, cultural texture, and daily life intertwine. Inevitably, the exhibition also interrupts the space itself.

In this exhibition, there is a game going on with our perceptions, with history, with the games in our lives, with our fears, with our joys, and, more importantly, with our dreams.

What is art? Is it nothing? Should it make one think? Should it be a form of therapy? Is it the outcome of natural instincts, or calculated deceptions? In this exhibition, all these questions and answers related to art are also played with. Sometimes art becomes a nightmare, sometimes a fairy tale...

- Öznur Güzel Karasu