BOZLU ART PROJECT WILL BE HOSTING THE VIRTUAL LANDSCAPES EXHIBITION BY ALI ALIŞIR BETWEEN THE 19TH DECEMBER AND 17TH JANUARY.
In his personal exhibition entitled "Virtual Landscapes", Ali Alışır examines the dichotomy of modern humankind between reality and virtuality, the distancing from nature and the construction of personal virtual worlds, moving from the image of the tree, with the works being presented under the curatorship of Özlem İnay Erten.
Alışır creates an original language between photography and painting, starting out in his exhibition "Virtual Landscapes" from the image of the "tree" as a concept with many different meanings in a number of cultures and teaching, being featured in many mythical legends. The concept of the "tree", which represents an ancient knowledge of life in esoteric culture and discourse, as well as a contact point between the spiritual and corporal worlds, is approached by the artist in the light of the current political and sociological concepts and images, suggesting alternative forms of perception and combining the knowledge tree of the past with the social sharing environment (internet) of the modern age.
"The meaning ascribed to the nature and the tree as its most important part through the ages, gains a new dimension with modern technology. There is a landscape consisting of dreams and designs, that starts to replace real nature, becoming inscribed into our memory. This landscape does not resemble those by Pissarro, Cézanne or any other artist. The landscape we are in is surrounded by the networks of social media, constantly inviting us to share. Today we are not only altering nature, but adding artificial components to it". says Alışır, who uses trees and nature intertwined with internet networks in his exhibition "Virtual Landscapes", emphasising not only the distancing of mankind from nature, but also attempting to construct virtual worlds.
In the exhibition "Virtual Landscapes" Ali Alışır examines the separation of knowledge from its own nature (reality), its reproduction and dissemination, while benefitting from the most ancient and solemn symbol of knowlege, the concept of the tree, aiming to convey that in the world of today made ever more transparent by the world wide web, there is a new "landscape" behind each image and text that is circulated, from which we are not able to find anything new to see or learn.
The only edition of Ali Alışır's exposition will be on display at Bozlu Art Project, Nişantaşı between the 19th December and 17th January.
About Ali Alışır
Ali Alışır was born in Istanbul in 1978 and studied graphic design starting in 1996 at the Yeditepe University Faculty of Fine Arts with a merit scholarship. He completed his graduate studies in the area of photography in the Accademia Italiana in Florence. Throughout his graduate studies, he focused on digital editing and graduated in 2006 as the highest ranking student at the school.
Since 2009, Ali Alışır has focused his work on the concept of "virtuality". The artist has striven to carry social issues highlighted by different disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, literature and cinema through digital manipulation of photographs and is warning of an alternative form of "emptyness" with a new pattern of images created using a variety of techniques.
Ali Alışır continues to work in Turkey and Italy and teaches at the department of Graphic Design at the Yeditepe Univesity Faculty of Fine Arts. Alışır's works are featured at a number of national and international collections such as the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, the Turkish Republic Presidential Residence and 94 embassies.
