Since ancient times, constellations separated by imaginary borders, have helped define the positions of the stars in the sky. Mythologies have formed around characters resembled by these constellations. Constellations have been used by mankind in their efforts to interpret life and the universe as they observed space from the earth and connected dots from near and far. In other respects, a constellation is a notion referenced by the sociology of culture and is defined as “a point where thinking suddenly halts with overflowing tensions.” (A.K. Thompson via W. Benjamin). This is not an arbitrary point and image is “what-has-been, comes together in a flash with the now, to form a constellation.” (Susan Buck-Morss) Constellation is a phenomenon that occurs on the moment when different elements, facts, locations interrelate and intersects, and it is detectable and perceivable only when we start thinking about the potentials those moments possess: it refers to the pattern and not the fact. With this aspect, it reminds the clustering of artworks with one another as well as within the realm of art history.
In colloquial language Constellation is a concept that refers to a group of peoples or things that are interrelated or similar. In that sense, it refers to the setup that CABININ has developed for the 7th edition of the Çanakkale Biennial. It also represents the constitutive strategy of CABININ that consists of contemporary art-oriented relations, collaborations, as well as interdisciplinary interactions with disciplines such as architecture, archaeology, history, and ecology.
“Unwillingly But With Pleasure” / Agah Uğur Collection
The exhibition titled “Unwillingly But With Pleasure” is being produced upon the invitation by CABININ and is curated by Azra Tüzünoğlu. It consists of selected works from Agah Uğur’s journey as a collector which he defines as “that what matters more than the destination"*. The works from Agah Uğur’s collection are put together under the theme of “game” and they come into play in their own rhythm and harmony amidst all the chaos and imperfections of the world and thus offer a temporary and limited perfection. If we were to scrutinise our actions, we could conclude that all human actions could in fact be a child’s play (Homo Ludens, Huizinga). In this respect, the “game” is the desire to carry the weight of one’s own life, even though living is absurd, and the world is unfair. And above all, game is a voluntary action. The selected works from Uğur’s collection consists of works from Turkish contemporary art and post-2000 international video art.
*“[Collecting] is the pursue of the destiny of objects without necessarily putting forward their functional use or utility. The most meaningful spell that a collector casts over it is to restrain that singular object in a gravitational field. The object freezes in this field, as the final excitement, the excitement of acquiring it passes over it.”