Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat, Istanbul
Developed as a tribute to Yapı Kredi’s art collection in the refurbished Yapı Kredi Culture Centre, Sarmal / Helix transcends the configuration of an ordinary exhibition, interpreting as it does this commercial enterprise’s enormous contribution to the country’s arts and culture. I have designed Helix as a temporary whole comprising vastly different works, collections, formations and compendia, and one that does not reveal all at once. All bodies have heads and limbs; Helix’s heart beats in creative writing – and poetry in particular – that endeavours to surpass imposed boundaries. Its carotid artery is the palimpsest of multiple disciplines (led by photography, video, painting and interactive sculptures) built upon the opulent repository that is our heritage. Helix’s organic structure that distinguishes it from customary exhibition design comes to the fore at this point: its heart, arteries and nerve endings intend to generate an entirely new blood group. That blood is the twelve original texts by twelve eminent artists, writers and poets: a fresh new viewpoint that shapes Helix’s veins and nerve endings.
