Füsun Onur: Once upon a time…, Turkey Pavilion

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) presents “Once upon a time…”, an installation by Füsun Onur at the Turkey Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This pioneer of Turkish contemporary and conceptual art has pushed the boundaries of painting and sculpture for over half a century, producing delicate, discreet works from everyday materials charged with autobiographical references to her private life. The work, curated by Bige Örer, uses a minimalist approach to depict a struggle waged by cats and mice uniting against anthropocentrism, which harms the planet it rules. The figures, wrought of bent and twisted metal wire and posed like characters on a stage, dance, make music travel, fall in love, and suspend in space. Onur casts aside all preconceptions and offers a delicate and masterful conception of alternate worlds, where learning from nonhumans is essential to loving and living together.