Unrelated Matters: Fantazistan (2015) & Uniform Cut (2015)
by Hakan Topal
Ongoing Open Studio & Installation: June 23rd – July 9th
Exhibition Opens: July 7th, 2015
Reception: July 9th, 6-8 pm
3331 Arts Chiyoda, #205 — 2nd Floor Gallery
6-11-14 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Japan 101-0021
Unrelated Matters, an ongoing installation by New York-based artist Hakan Topal—an artist-in-residence at 3331 Arts Chiyoda—is composed of two distinct but interlocking projects that deal with everyday realities, speculation, perversity, subversion and representation in digital times.
The first part of the installation, Fantazistan is a playful attempt to engage with Islamist ideology and its phantasmagoric gender narratives and newly invented neoconservative norms. In this case, veiling (hijab), albeit a very contested issue, is extremely sexualized under this conservative order.
Uniform Cut is a project that is part of the ongoing research about coastal communities and global waters. The project revolves around the idea of speculating possible futures with respect to the aftermath of manmade or natural catastrophes. Uniform Cut invites us to rethink nature where it intersects with the built environment.
The installation brings together fictitious and documentary images, web pages, 3D renderings, video and text to create an amalgamated context.