Exhibition | Forging Possibilities in Chaos

Exhibition | Forging Possibilities in Chaos

Artist

Arda Asena

January 28 — March 04, 2023

Arda Asena's upcoming exhibition, "Forging Possibilities in Chaos," delves into the complexities surrounding individual expression and freedom in today's turbulent world, marked by political and social uncertainty. The exhibition will be held at Ka from April 1st through May 14th, 2023.

Asena's diverse body of work, which includes portraits, landscapes, abstract photographs, and weavings, offers a unique perspective on the questions he seeks to answer across different geographies and eras. His abstract weavings, in particular, are a compelling translation of his photographic practice that challenge viewers to think beyond conventional boundaries.

The exhibition invites viewers to embark on a transformative journey of self-exploration, urging them to confront the societal pressures that threaten their individuality and to cultivate new possibilities in the midst of uncertainty. Asena's work, thus, provokes us to reflect on how we can navigate the complex terrain of contemporary existence, where expressing ourselves as individuals can be increasingly difficult.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 10 am to 7 pm every day except for Sundays and Mondays, and will kick off with a special opening event on Saturday, April 1st at 6 pm. "Forging Possibilities in Chaos" promises to be a thought-provoking and enriching experience, don't miss.

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Arda Asena
Born (1992) in Istanbul, Turkey.
Lives in Chicago

Asena’s practice is predominantly based in photography, sculpture and textile. His work is drawn to multiplicity as a framework to explore the nuance of each medium, through various forms. Each medium lends itself to a different conception of an overarching idea. He is interested in engaging a language that attends to notions of secretive eroticism, often employed as a mode of survival by queer people in the face of social and cultural violence. He takes confusion and illegibility as a political stance in his work, affirming the refusal to be read and categorized. Through exploring the impossibility of queerness and the unknown, as a space and place that is unattainable, he is interested in the connection and disconnection between mind and body, attending to the ways that social and psychological stresses of a repressive society may affect one’s physicality. He is interested in investigating the ways queer existence has been abstracted in attempts to represent queerness as a threat to the society. How does queer existence reside within these shifting mediums? Not being able to remain in one form, one way of being. Traveling between physicality and virtuality. His work meditates on the potential of fragmentation, distortion and abstraction.