Aslı Çavuşoğlu

Museo Jumex | Mexico City, Mexico

SAHA supports Aslı Çavuşoğlu’s new project at Museo Jumex, held between 26 April – 9 July 2022, curated by Marielsa Castro Vizcarra.

For her first solo show in Mexico, Aslı Çavuşoğlu continues her latest project TunState, a multidisciplinary research project initiated in 2018 that traces connections across regions and examines the ways in which lifeforms adapt to endure hostile conditions. She collaborates with İnci Eviner in Spirits of Water. The exhibition is named after a biological process called “tun state”, where microscopic organisms known as tardigrades suspend all metabolic functions; a metaphor for resistance, resilience, and regeneration. The works focus on the histories and material transformations of several species of trees from diverse geographic locations. During research trips to the Sonoran Desert, Çavuşoğlu collected bark fragments of the bursera fagaroides tree and, working with a paper restorer, they processed them into handmade paper to draw on. The salvaged bark of the bursera fagaroides recurs across works in the exhibition in combination with handmade paper, leather, and obsidian, natural materials that embody specific histories, processes, and temporalities of transformation. Connecting the landscape of the Americas to her native environment, she has used the pinus brutia or red pine, a tree which grows in the Eastern Mediterranean, to dye fabric and produce suspended columns, relinking the work to the material from which it was made. Through these works, Çavuşoğlu highlights the ways cultures around the world have transformed material forms for utilitarian or symbolic purposes against extinction and existence.

About Aslı Çavuşoğlu

Aslı Çavuşoğlu (1982, Istanbul) examines the way in which cultural and historical facts are transformed, represented, and interpreted by individuals. Working across various media, Çavuşoğlu often assumes the role of an interpreter, writer or facilitator in her projects in order to highlight the precarious and subjective nature of our shared histories.

Recent solo shows include TunState, Associazione Barriera, Turin (2022); Pink as a Cabbage / Green as an Onion / Blue as an Orange, Kadist, Paris (2020); With Just the Push of a Voice, MASS MoCA, Massachusetts (2020); and The Place of Stone, New Museum, New York (2018), among others. 

About Museo Jumex

The Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo was established to foster the production and discussion of contemporary art, diffusing information about it while finding innovative ways to promote art and culture. It accomplishes this through the Colección Jumex, the foundation’s art collection, and the Museo Jumex, a site for the exhibition and activation of contemporary art. The Fundación Jumex furthers its mission through complementary programs.