'No Entry' by Can Küçük, Cem Örgen at imalat-hane, Bursa

 

No Entry, contradicting its semantic nature, welcomes you with open arms via

wiggly stainless pipes, crystal beads, snot, wigs and all sorts of accidental visual

stimuli. Having the impenetrable in mind, Can Küçük and Cem Örgen penetrate

hermetic areas of the mental abyss and the physical realm. With altered warning signs,

obstacles, and even totems, they provide concrete and sincere narratives for taboo

phenomena and situations. Following the natural flow of an intimate yet mundane

conversation between friends, No Entry, dives deep into the personal but due to its

wary disposition, chooses to re-emerge halfway, and floats instead. The conversation

spreads out to the exhibition space as fragments of intimacy appear in various forms

and conditions.

For each work by Can Küçük, there is a work by Cem Örgen complementing it,

and vice versa. Objects remain loyal to their assigned tasks while refusing prohibitions

of the status quo and lifting the boundaries of intimacy. Küçük and Örgen orchestrate

subtle acts of trespass and disregard for the audience to undermine their rigid title, No

Entry. By climbing up the artwork to see a two-channel video, by lighting a wish candle

or by accessing the gallery's storage space, the audience yield to this rupture. This

way, not only the artists gain accomplices throughout the exhibition, but also, they

discern and re-outline the eroded margins of impact of the warning sign “No Entry”.

— Ayşe Ertung