© Canan DAGDELEN

HOMELIKE II

ArtistCanan DAGDELEN
Year2005
Material/ Techniqueblack and white photograph barytes on aluminum
Size/ DurationH200 × W116cm
Copyright Notice© Canan DAGDELEN
Year of acquisition/ donation2006
DescriptionBorn in Istanbul, Turkey in 1960. Lives and works in Vienna, Austria.

Canan Dagdelen, who has lived and worked in Vienna since moving there at the age of 20, creates artworks on themes such as ‘homeland’ and ‘home’ that are light and airy yet issue a strong message. A characteristic of her work is the agile sensibility with which her pieces are modeled based on references to the cultural roots of her own region of birth, including the block buildings, religious architecture, art, and calligraphy of the Islamic world. Her works also exhibit a critical approach to people’s affiliations to national borders, ethnic groups, cultures, and so on as well as to perspectives on identity.

"AT HOME dot", which is made up of 546 porcelain spheres, is shaped like a domed house that has been hung upside down. The shape is an abstraction of the Turkish architecture of the artist’s country of birth, which here symbolizes ‘homes’ in general. Disassembled into units of dots and suspended in midair, the ‘home’ is imbued with freedom but also with uncertainty and fragility. The mass of ceramic spheres suspended overhead that resembles a green carpet is "BOTTOM dot". Here, the ‘bottom,’ which ought to support us at ground level, has undergone a conversion to an unstable yet graceful dimension through a change in point of view. "HOMEJOURNEY", a sculpture in the shape of a domed house, is displayed toppled on its side and attached to a wall. As with the Dagdelen’s other works, it expresses the instability of the notion of ‘home’ in contemporary society. The photographic work "HOMELIKE II" depicts the retreating figure of what appears to be a female migrant carrying several shopping bags. While taking as her starting point personal feelings and experiences, Dagdelen forces us to question and interpret flexibly the different forms ‘living’ takes in contemporary society as well as notions such as ‘home’ and ‘community.’

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