Place: ANAMED GalleryArtists: Bruno Vandermeulen, Danny Veys
Research Advisors: Bahattin Öztuncay, Jeroen Poblome
Curation and Graphic Design: Naz Uğurlu
Organized in support with Vehbi Koç Foundation, Yapı Kredi Publications, KU Leuven, LUCA School of Arts, and the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project, and featuring the work of artists Bruno Vandermeulen and Danny Veys, ANAMED’s latest exhibition “Intersecting Past and Present: A Photographic Exploration” focuses on the notion of the “history-altered landscape” in Pisidia and the surrounding areas. This new exhibition is based on the concurrently published photobook The Tortoise Arrived Alone One Day (Yapı Kredi Publications, 2022), and built on work displayed at ANAMED in the “(in)site Sagalassos The Archaeology of Excavation Photography” exhibit. Opened as part of the 10th anniversary of ANAMED Exhibitions, the exhibition will remain open at the ANAMED Gallery in Istanbul from 24 February 2022 to 17 October 2022.
Can a landscape bear witness to a distant past? How does this relate to today? One of the main themes in contemporary photography is the “man-altered landscape,” where the transformation of the landscape through urban expansion is documented. Thus, working with the concept of “history-altered landscapes” allows Vandermeulen and Veys to study the historical layers of a landscape and the influence of temporal succession on spatial dispersion. Originally starting at Sagalassos, and later broadening their focus on the Pisidian landscape, the artists’ photographs trace of a long past, at the edge of presence and absence.
As a reference to the past and as an homage to early photographers, artists Vandermeulen and Veys create their work with the help of a large format analog field camera on black and white film. Techniques include vintage processes such as albumen, salt prints, and classic gelatin silver fiber-based prints but also silkscreen prints, UV prints, and photo polymer prints. The exhibition, a selection of this new body of work, including unique and hand-made items, along with historical prints of early 19th century photographs and albums from the Ömer M. Koç Collection. Starting with Meşher’s Director Bahattin Öztuncay’s explanations of printing techniques, a historical context is framed through captions by Jeroen Poblome, director of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project. An additional layering presents, quotations from a poem by Judith Desmyttere, inspired by the artists’ creation process the title of which gives its name to the concurrently published photobook, The Tortoise Arrived Alone One Day, published by Yapı Kredi Publications (2022).
About the artists:
Bruno Vandermeulen (1972) holds an MA in Visual Arts, Photography (LUCA School of Arts, Campus Sint-Lukas Brussels, Belgium, 1995). In 2002, he joined KU Leuven and is currently head of Digitization and Document Delivery at KU Leuven Libraries.
Danny Veys (1970) holds an MA in Visual Arts, Photography (LUCA School of Arts, Campus Sint-Lukas Brussels, Belgium, 1995). Since 2003, he has been responsible for teaching analog photography at LUCA, School of Arts.
Since 2003 both Bruno Vandermeulen and Danny Veys have been affiliated with the Sagalassos Project. From 2008 onwards, they have worked on the relationship between history and landscape in the region of Sagalassos, Türkiye.
SERGİ – Geçmiş ve Şimdinin Buluşması
EXHIBITION – Intersecting Past and Present
Aslen Sagalassos’ta başlayan ve daha sonra Pisidya manzarasına odaklanan sanatçıların fotoğrafları, varlığın ve yokluğun kıyısında, uzun bir geçmişin izini sürüyor.
Originally starting at Sagalassos, and later broadening their focus on the Pisidian landscape, the artists’ photographs trace of a long past, at the edge of presence and absence.