SAHA Studio | Midterm Gathering

Designed by SAHA as a program of research, interaction and production for artists, curators and writers, SAHA Studio hosts artists Hüseyin Aksoy, Betül Aksu, Kıymet Daştan, Nadir Sönmez and Zeynep Yılmaz from Mardin, Izmir and Istanbul, who are participating in the program following the open call made for the 8 term between June - December 2024.

Working on new works in various mediums such as drawing, video, installation, performance and text, which are informed by the curatorial visits provided within the scope of the program, the artists are to share their ongoing research and productions with the audience at the mid-term meeting to be held at SAHA Studio on 27-28 September 2024.


Hüseyin Aksoy focuses on stones, rocks and ruins through paintings, archives, video recordings within the scope of his ongoing work titled When you burn the past, fire saves it, in ashes that he develops at SAHA Studio. He tries to trace this fragmented memory, which he treats as ghostly entities that are instrumental in confronting the past.  

Betül Aksu’s ongoing work Permessus examines the remnants of an ancient city with an unknown history and undefined borders. While imagining Permessus, the artist delves into the cultural, social, and political systems that normalise the concept of borders. During her time at SAHA Studio, the artist works with a series of photographs as raw images, which were taken during her visits to ancient cities that shaped the groundwork for Permessus. The photographs depict horizontal columns that have not yet been completely excavated from the ground. Instead of reproducing these images and structures as they are, Betül Aksu searches for horizontally expanding, modular, changeable grounds. 

In her project developed at SAHA Studio, Kıymet Daştan focuses on the spatial and temporal relations of everyday words. She is working on an installation that includes materials that will evoke the ironic contradiction of these word sequences through tension, in order to raise the question of what exactly individuals, caught between various crises ranging from economy to ecology, mean or wish for with the sentences they speak in daily life. 

Nadir Sönmez reflects on art, tourism and sexuality through autobiographical texts. He discusses the social status that is attained by living in a city for a long time and being in a long-term relationship with a person. Employing the possibilities of theater, performance and video, he proposes new forms of narration about travel. 

Working on performative, visual and printed counterparts of written narratives, Zeynep Yılmaz has been keeping records that expand with time and space throughout the 8th term of SAHA Studio. She processes her text-based practice with different materials and methods over a period of 6 months. While investigating the different contexts in which the state of being an artist meanders on personal and social levels, she focuses on the potential of everyday occurrences to become the leading actor.

SAHA Studio Open – Midterm Gatheringı

Friday, 27 September 2024        : 3-7 pm
Saturday, 28 September 2024  : 1-7 pm