Özgül Arslan
Manipulated Vision, 2015
In Manipulated Vision, Özgül Arslan explores the tension between the protection of personal space and the intrusive force of external reality, shaped by the socio-political atmosphere of Istanbul during the years in which the work was created.
Through the application of bleach and heat onto velvet, a window-like silhouette emerges — yet instead of adding colour, the material is chemically stripped of it.
This act of erasure questions the false promise of a bright sky and sunlight perceived from within.
The work, activating the agency of its material through colour loss, chemical traces, and embodied effects, makes visible both personal memory and the manipulated perception of social reality.
Created through a deliberate and conscious process, Manipulated Vision stands as part of the artist’s ongoing practice of critical reflection, stretching from the personal to the collective.
The Foam, 2010
In the captivating performance “The Foam,” the artist, clad in a white dress, blurs the lines between cleaning and creation in a boundless black space. A bird’s eye view video looped on the floor captures her determined actions as she covers the surface with foam, creating a fluid, temporary space. Transitioning from aggressive to graceful gestures, the artist, interacting with objects, ambiguously establishes a space of foam bubbles.
This symbolic act underscores our senseless compulsion for constant movement in daily life, revealing how we are influenced, manipulated, assigned roles, grouped, or sanctified. “The Foam” becomes a metaphor for perpetual labour, struggle, and resistance, reflecting the complex relationship between assumed identities and duties beyond the manipulated roles of objectified bodies and spaces.
