Inci Furni

Parrotcan't talk

KRINZINGER PROJEKTE

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Inci Furni

Parrotcan't talk

»Inci Furni - Parrot can't talk« by Nazli GürlekPage 5

WorksPage 8

Index of worksPage 27

BiographyPage 28

ImprintPage 31

KRINZINGER PROJEKTE

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Nazli gürlek

References to the inner world, the daily life and person of Inci Furni are subtly present in her work. Yet even as her work is intimately concerned with the personal, her interest is never merely self-exploratory. Rather, she resort to self-exploration as a means to understand and relate to the world, which in turn makes the personal in her work decisively contested. often developed in series over long periods of research and production, her works stem from reflections upon prevailing social and cultural issues in contemporary turkey and beyond. Arranged according to her personal systems of visual narrative, these imaginative expressions reveal affects of utopic thoughts, ideologies, architectural constructions and societal norms on the individual.

Furni’s two-month stay in Vienna as a guest of Krinzinger Projekte Artist in Residence programme teemed in a new series of works on paper, and a video piece – the first ever in the artist’s practice. These new works were brought together in a solo presentation titled Parrot Can’t Talk (2010) held at the Krinzinger Projekte at the end of the programme.

the paintings included in this project depict momentary images of a cosmic exploration to an imaginary planet. A girl without a head and an astronaut without a name are the two protagonists that return over various pieces. their pictorial elements whisper playful and spirited poetics in a muted set of colors with occasional splashes of red and black. Resembling sketches for science-fiction sets of a space travel, the series actually makes part of Furni’s larger production titled Journey to Ucubik (2008 onwards). the whole project thematizes a fictitious travel to a bizzarre planet, that stages a fantastical and exaggerated reflection of an uncanny living space. this narrative is told through individual scenes which appear to be taken out of context and blown up and left bare and isolated on the plain white surface of a paper. This stripped visual language reflects one of Furni’s basic references, the aesthethics of mass-culture

Inci FurniParrot can't talk

images of comic strips. Comics unconventional narrative strategies of conveying complicated stories in the simplest manner of a few pictorial panels are altogether present in Furni’s work. However, this reference should be highlighted not as merely an aesthetic choice, but as a method to convey the complex ways in which, for Furni, boundaries between context and the individual become blurred.

Personal isolation and secrecy have been Furni’s enduring scrutiny. this research which drives her overall practice is developed in Parrot Can’t Talk through an energetic and anti-authoritarian production of painting which exceeds the limits of paper up to the liminals of the gallery space. A large section of the wall had been painted as a continuity of the pictorial compositions of works on paper. Recast with figures and scenes seemingly free-floating in space, the exhibition space is mobilized. But moreover, the implementation of the space into the work and the extension of the pictorial surface into the space, seem to assume an approach to art that refutes any operational or spatial constraints to its production.

Driven by a desire for an exploration of experiences as incom-municable as secrecy and isolation, for Furni, the ways in which works are recombined with their titles is the subject of both scrutiny and amusement. Images and words camp in composite relationships so as to offer two different ways to approach a subject. Parrot Can’t Talk plays out the limits of the sayable and the unsayable. In this sense, a small-sized drawing of a parrot which gives the title to the exhibition is significant. Placed in the upper corner of the space on the entrance’s side, the sketch occupies a crucial position within the exhibition. Watching the gallery from the top to toe and from the corner of his eye, the parrot becomes Furni’s symbol of choice. these birds behaviour in the real life is not entirely grasped by science’s knowledge. Beside the well known fact that most parrot species can imitate human speech as well as other sounds, some have been scientifically proved to show skills to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them and use words in context and even verbs in the correct tense. All these particular skills of parrots which altogether make the basis of language, have caused important cultural and economic consequences. their popularity increased as pets, as spectacular elements at zoos and as highly marketable tourism symbols. Many parrot species are removed from the wild for their benefit for economies through this trade, while many others are kept in their natural habitats for being studied and conserved which

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also returns as an ineluctable benefit through birdwatching based ecotourism. Nodding to these animals’ complex relationships with humans in the real life, Furni’s gesture intends to insert a rupture, a moment of difference and doubt intended to offset the paintings continuity.

Unlike the title which suggests a lack of ability to speak, parrot is shown speaking in the realm of fiction created by Furni in her silent video piece Parrots (2010). this is a collaged and animated image of seven postcards, each showing a parrot against a tropical setting, and one scribble drawing of the animal. Moving their heads back and forth as if engaged in deep conversation, however, the animals appear wrapped, looped and glued in mute gestures turned upon themselves. In the meanwhile two elements - the girl without a head and the geometric image of a room – both drawn out of the paintings find their path across the images in tropical settings.

‘the imaginary landscape of an inquiry is not without value, [...] it [...] keeps before our eyes the structure of a social imagination in which the problem constantly takes different forms and begins anew’, says De Certeau. the vital social imagination is what concerns Inci Furni. She makes space for what is retained by mainstream culture as inaccessible, incomprehensible and inexpressible in an hypothetical elsewhere and produces endless appeal to the imagination.

Nazli gurlek is an independent curator and critic of contemporary art based in Istanbul. She obtained an MFA in Curating at goldsmiths, University of London, and an BA in Painting and Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence. She worked as the Assistant Curator of the Pavilion of turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. She is co-founder of the independent publishing collective IMpress (www.im-pressonline.com), and a Board Member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) turkey. She collaborated with the curatorial departments of tate Modern for the exhibition global Cities, and MAMBo - Museo D’Arte Moderna di Bologna for the solo exhibitions Ryan Gander, Building Transmissions and Paolo Chiasera. She has written about contemporary art for books, exhibition catalogues, and art magazines such as Sanat Dunyamiz, Res, Mimarlik, and Art Dubai journal.

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Page 2: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 4: Man washing his wife on his car, 2010, mix media on paper, 170 x 121 cmPage 8/9: Journey to Ucubik, 2007, mix media on paper, 150 x 200 cmPage10, all works: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 11, all works: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 12: Man washing his wife on his car, 2010, mix media on paper, 200 x 150 cmPage 13: Puff, 2010, mix media on paper, 210 x 150 cmPage 14: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 15: Journey to Ucubik, 2007, acrylic on paper, 150 x 200 cmPage 16/17: Black lounge chair, 2010, watercolor on paper, 233 x 300 cmPage 18: Polaroid Bird, 2010, watercolor on paper, 300 x 430 cmPage 19: Bubbly, 2010, watercolor on paper, 150 x 210 cmPage 20, both works: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 21, both works: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 22: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 23: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cmPage 26: Jumping from the tower, 2010, watercolor on paper, 203 x 151 cmPage 30: Untitled, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cm

Index of works

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1976 born in Bursa,tR, lives and works in Istanbul,tR

One-Person Exhibitions

2010 »Parrot’s Can’t Talk«, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, Austria

2009 »I Don’t Believe in Personal Isolation, I Believe in Building!«, Masa Project, Istanbul, tR

2007 »Spirit«, Apartment Project, Istanbul, tR

Selected Group Exhibitions

2010»Spare Time ,Great Work«, Hafriyat group show, Platform 3, Munıch, Germany»When Ideas Become Crimes«, curated by Halil Altındere,Depo, Istanbul, tR»Ground Floor Amerıca«, Curated by WHW, Den Frei, Copenhagen, Denmark »Tactics of Invisibility«, curated by Daniela zyman, emre Baykal, gudrun Ankele, Hafriyat group, tBA-21, Vienna, Austria »Tactics of Invisibility«, curated by Daniela zyman, emre Baykal, gudrun Ankele, Hafriyat group, tanas gallery, Berlin, germany 2009»What Keeps Mankind Alive?«,11th International Istanbul Biennial is curated by What, How and for Whom/WHW Istanbul, tR

Inci Furni Biography

»On example«, gallery Nova, curated by What, How and for Whom/WHW, zagreb, Croatia »Wold Museum and Friendship for 450 Million Years«, Hafriyat-Karakoy, Istanbul»Relative Position and Conclusions« Suriye Passage, Istanbul, tR»Unfair Provacation«, Hafriyat-Karaköy, Istanbul, tR

2008»Connect The Dots 1«, Hafriyat -Karaköy, Istanbul, tR»Connect The Dots 2«, Fargfabriken, Stockholm, Se»Zıg-Zag« Independent Drawing Gig 4, organised by Inci Furni, Alina Viola Grumiller, Koray Kantarcıoglu, Hafriyat-Karaköy, Istanbul»Made In Turkey«, Atelier Frankfurt, Frankfurt, germany »Iaab, International Exchange and Studio Program Basel«, Switzerland 2007 »You Would Gobble Down the World Yet Not Have Enough«, 10th International Istanbul Biennial Special Project »Your Eyes Are Bigger Than Your Stomach«, group Hafriyat exhibition, Hafriyat Karaköy, Istanbul, tR »Sobe!«, Bilsar Building, Istanbul, tR»Substitute Election Campaign Posters«, Hafriyat Karaköy, Istanbul»Hafriyat Karaköy«, opening exhibition, Hafriyat Karaköy, Istanbul»The Fear of God«, Posters exhibition, Hafriyat Karaköy, Istanbul»Punctured Tyre« K2, Izmir, tR »To Vocalize «, Hazavuzu group, performance, »Dream And Hierarchy«, galerist, Istanbul, tR»All About Lies«, Apartment Project, Istanbul, tR

2006 »Everythings Gonna Be Alrights«, Apartment Project, Istanbul, tR»12 September«, tütün Deposu, Istanbul, tR »The Labourer of the Day«, Birgün Newspaper , Istanbul, tR

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this catalog is published on the occasion of the exhibition »Inci Furni – Parrot can't talk« (30 September – 23 December 2010) at Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna.

© 2010 by Krinzinger Projekte and Inci Furni

Published by Krinzinger Projekte, Schottenfeldgasse 45, 1070 Vienna

Idea for the exhibtion: Dr. Ursula KrinzingerExhibition office: Manfred Wiplinger, Daniela Hahn, Sophie Niepraschkexhibition technique: Stanislaw Piwowarczyk, julian WallrathEditorial office and graphic design: Severin DünserPhotos: Angelika Krinzinger

Printed by Druckerei goldstein, obachgasse 26, 1220 Vienna, Austria

Cover: Installation view with dog, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, 2010Backcover: Parrot cant talk, 2010, watercolor on paper, 38 x 40 cm

Inci Furni's Acknowledgments:Öykü Özsoy - Platform garanti, emre Baykal, gülsün Karamustafa, Antonio Cosentino, Ali taptik, Asli Sümer, Ursula Krinzinger, Angeli-ka Krinzinger, Manfred Wiplinger, Daniela Hahn, Sophie Niepraschk, Stanislaw Piwowarczyk and all gallery workers.

KRINZINGER PROJEKTESchottenfeldgasse 45, 1070 Vienna, AustriaPhone +43 1 512 81 42krinzingerprojekte@gmx.atwww.galerie-krinzinger.at/projekte

Imprint

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