Kickstarter

First, thank you for your interest in my project!!

In August, I will travel to Istanbul to finalize and fabricate a new artwork that will be part of the exhibition Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 2011. This fundraising goal will provide for the materials and labor needed to fabricate this large-scale, site-specific installation. I will exhibit this new artwork at the Istanbul Biennial from 15 September-13 November, 2011.

About my work in general:

When working site-specifically, I consider a location, its history, representation, and physical characteristics. Installations that result from this research often exaggerate an element preexisting at a site—this could be a shape, sound, physical substance–and through this exaggeration, I stage an alteration to the site. Though I consider locations on their own terms, my view of sites is influenced by the place I know most intimately: the shifting, sinking land of New Orleans and of the Gulf Coast of the US. Thus, when responding to other sites, I often draw attention their vulnerability, and my alterations suggest moments when the integrity of a location might be threatened.

About my work for Istanbul:

When I travel in August, it will be my first time in Istanbul. Being of Armenian descent, however, I have had a relationship to the place in which this installation will exist for my entire life. It is a relationship that is informed by an ever urgent past, by a present that exists only through my reading of literature and news media, and by a physical distance. In developing the piece, I will draw both from this relationship and from my research at the site.

I invite you to join me by contributing to this project. I look forward to sharing my work with you!!