SAHA Studio Open | Midterm Gathering

Midterm Gathering at SAHA Studio

14 – 15 March 2025

SAHA Studio hosts artists Mert Acar, Mathilde Melek An, Nejbir Erkol, Merve Tuna and Sevil Tunaboylu from Mardin, Ankara and Istanbul, who are participating in the program following the open call made for the term between January - June 2025. Working on new works in various mediums 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 14-15 March 2025. 

Mert Acar, who focuses on transformations occurring beyond the cultural density of central urban areas, aims to use SAHA Studio’s shared workspace in a way that mirrors these transitional spaces. Throughout the program, the artist intends to construct a semi-fictional structure by exploring the “temporary spaces” formed by landscapes outside urban boundaries. Mathilde Melek An, who integrates her cultural heritage into her practice, revisits her own constructed "memory" alongside the archives of her family, who worked at İMÇ in the early 2000s. During her time at SAHA Studio, she is developing a textile project that underscores her connection to İMÇ by utilizing a medium that reflects this bond. Nejbir Erkol, who has come to Istanbul from Nusaybin/Mardin as part of SAHA Studio, develops her project around the concept of “malfunction.” The project explores the question, “Can a new system be created from the point where the existing one breaks down?” Functioning as a process of self-analysis, it embraces potential disruptions and malfunctions in production as creative opportunities. At SAHA Studio, Merve Tuna, whose work centers around the body, continues to develop her ongoing project The Fleeting Subject, which explores how the loss of a childhood transitional object may affect adult body and relations. Drawing from psychoanalysis and incorporating a mathematical approach, she renders the void created by this loss as negative space, countering the body as positive space. Through this exploration, Tuna examines how reconciliation with loss might be suggested through sculptural forms, investigating the psychosexual aspects of objects, materials, and craft processes. Sevil Tunaboylu, who expands her practice from painting into sculpture, aims to develop a semi-fictional publication project during the SAHA Studio program. Drawing from her family archives, this publication traces the journey of crafts and tools passed down through migration.

SAHA Studio Open – Midterm Gathering 

Friday, 14 March 2025            : 3pm – 7pm

Saturday, 15 March 2025 : 12pm – 7pm

SAHA Studio

İMÇ 5^th Block No. 5560 A-B

Hacı Kadın Mah. Atatürk Blv. No.66

Fatih, İstanbul