Ülgen Semerci & Burcu Yağcıoğlu, In the Dark and Warmth, 2017, Installation
This piece employs the Abud Effendi Mansion and a giant potato growing within it as two symbiotic organisms. The first part of the installation consists of the potato, taking the mansion as its field, bulging out from the building’s windows and sprouting through its cracks. This intertwined structure invites the viewer to visualize the anatomies of both forms as one. The work creates the impression that the majority of the potato, which is made from inflated latex, is hidden within the fabric of the mansion. The second part of In the Dark and Warmth consists of collages and paintings and brings the visible and invisible aspects of the mansion and the potato together.
In the Dark and Warmth explores the potato and the mansion as biological, mythological, documentary and fictional beings, and opens up their anatomies to dialogues and speculations.