Damla Kilickiran
Twine an image that is yet to be
—
For her exhibition in gallery V, Swedish-born artist Damla Kilickiran produces a new installation that continues her research into the limits of rationalisation and magical technologies. The new work is based on a measuring instrument, the “lesbian rule”, which can trace non-straight forms, for example the complex curves of classical columns. Already in antique philosophy, the instrument was used also figuratively to describe non-normative judgements. Kilickiran employs the principle of the flexible instrument to turn it against the assumption that the square-edged ruler that we know is a neutral tool, and to investigate the value systems that are embedded in the logic of Euclidian geometry. In her research, Kilickiran often draws on occult or spiritual traditions and their transgression of Western notions of knowledge.
The central element of the exhibition is a set of rulers made from lead, the traditional material of flexible rules, that are winding through the exhibition space. Held by hooks, the 130 metre long metal elements cross the gallery like a drawing in space, measure it – with a scale known from traditional rulers – while remaining flexible, mimetic and in motion. As part of the installation, as an infrastructure between the threads of lead, found masses of concrete and steel reinforcement give hold to the rulers. The installation is set in a yellowish light, creating a disturbing atmosphere – a futuristic scene, an end, a moment after a disaster or a collapse of a world that seemed stable and universal.
The installation oscillates between an exhibition and a stage set: on several occasions throughout the exhibition period, the installation is activated by a live reading, during which performers will speak a text written by the artist while manipulating the installation. The performances reintroduce and keep the body visible as a trace in the exhibition. The tools are shaped and remain reconfigured through the gestures of the performers.
Lead as a material has a key role in the exhibition, in its historical meaning and use, but also its specific material qualities. It remains soft and malleable, and it is toxic. The material used in the exhibition was produced in the old Swedish mining city Sala, and mining and its reading in a cosmological sense form an undercurrent for the project.
Damla Kilickiran (b. 1991, Sweden) reflects in her practice on topics related to alternate states of being as a method for image production and knowledge. Kilickiran graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo in 2020 and has recently exhibited at the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA); UKS, Oslo (both 2021); Destiny’s Atelier, Oslo (2020); Lofoten International Art Festival (2019); and Nordnorsk Kunstner-senter, Svolvær (2018). Damla Kilickiran is based in Oslo.
