Two Highlights from the 12th Istanbul Biennial

Nicolas Bacal, The Geometry of Space-Time After You, 2010
This work directly references Gonzalez-Torres’ iconic Untitled (Perfect Lovers) (1991) with two clocks in separate parts of the biennial and just a minute hand signifying the endless passing of time. The word ‘vos’ (Spanish for ‘you’) is repeated around the edges of the clocks’ faces. Bacal describes the work as “ridiculously romantic”; whether in its representation of love, frozen or eternal time, or simply the obsession with one person. The class presentation by Anna and Jess also examined this work from a similarly positive, quixotic perspective. What is worth considering, however, is the possibility of cynicism contained in this work. Gonzalez-Torres’ clocks were side-by-side, touching, but eventually fell out of sync as one ‘died away’ before the other, suggesting a physical end to their love. Bacal’s clocks are placed outside the white (and grey) cube, are separated, and do not show any passing of time, just an obsessive preoccupation with an ambiguous ‘vos’. Even though Bacal’s is hopelessly romantic, the love that is signified here perhaps never exists outside the boundaries of the clock faces. After all, they are not in sync, and the artist initially intended for numerous clocks to be displayed in disparate locations throughout the biennial, something that would undermine the ‘couple’ metaphor. Furthermore, the minute hands futilely run around in circles, chasing after the elusive ‘vos’, but sadly never finding each other. [Image from http://12b.iksv.org/en/sololar.asp?id=11&show=gorsel]

Ahmet Ogut, Perfect Lovers, 2008
A work which wholly and beautifully captures the entire spirit and conceptual credo of the biennial is Perfect Lovers, another powerful appropriation of Gonzalez-Torres’ clocks. It presents a one Euro and two Turkish Lira coin (the same size), side-by-side and encased in a black velvet-lined vitrine. The work captures the desire to fuse minimalist aesthetics with political concerns, which here holds more substance than the combined worth of the coins, but is lighter, more poetic than their combined weight. This is a work which is grounded in the political and completely dependent on an imbalanced and constantly shifting geo-political context for its continually-renewed interpretation. Created in 2008, the two coins are, of course, never ‘perfect lovers’. Instead, the fluctuating struggles within their turbulent relationship are entirely dependent on the oscillating power relations between the European Union and Turkey. Ironically, this kind of tempestuous chemistry could make them the perfect lovers, depending on the audience’s understanding of love and relationships. The endless interpretative possibilities, along with the layers of meaning encased within this small vitrine, between these two unassuming coins, make this artwork the most powerful and effective in the 12th Istanbul Biennial. [Image from http://www.ahmetogut.com/ahmetwebperfect.html]