Nil Yalter’s first comprehensive exhibition
in Istanbul, after so many years, “20th CENTURY /
21st CENTURY” has a retrospective aspect, as the
main themes that can be seen in the artist’s works
such as migration, womanhood and sexual identity
are comprehended with different perspectives
and various techniques. The most significant
interpretation that the artist states in her exhibition
is removing the passive stand point of the retro
(which means looking back) concept and activating it;
getting away from the magic of the days past while
discussing the old roads she walked on, again, and
creating an up-to-date declaration. From this point of
view, “20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY” has a unique
quality that can be interpreted as a dialectical whole
created by combining works that are produced in
1960-1990 together with the ones actualized in the
years 2000-2011, in a diverse way. Nil Yalter, not only
takes the viewers through a time tunnel by combining
her works produced by using various techniques
from two different centuries in every sense of the
word. She also, reveals her style of production based
on protesting and portrays by the divergent and
contradictory attitude in her works; questioning
prejudices, perspectives of male-dominated society,
capitalist agenda and alienation.
“20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY” exhibition is
a whole, structured on mutual dialogue with the
choices that was made both in the selection and
presentation of the works; therefore, exceeds the
scope of an ordinary exhibition and aims to use some
specific frames by using the artist’s own themes
together with the concepts: memory, time and
interpretation. In this article, I will try to concentrate
on these frames, including the artistic stand point
of Nil Yalter, moreover I want to highlight the
polyphony (multiple ideas working together) of the
works that arises by exhibiting them together. That
is because, from the day she started to produce her
works, she developed a distinct evolution line; and
in all her paintings, drawings, performances, videos,
multimedia sculptures and interactive installations,
she discussed the facts that are positioned on a
specific common ground by producing different
metaphors; consequently creating distinct layers in
her work.
The first of these layers is personal. Nil Yalter was
born in Cairo, due to his dad’s assignment there,
in 1938. She spent her early youth in Istanbul.
Yalter was painting since her childhood but during
her education at Robert College, she was also
interested in theatre, dance and pantomime. She
was visiting tobacco factories since her early ages
as her father was working at tobacco ventures, so
she chose the female laborers and factory workers
as the subjects of her first drawings. Utilizing the
resources her art lover family provided her, the
young Nil started painting with a tendency focused
on Paris, which was accepted as the center of art in
these years; with the support of the books coming
from this city and her education at Robert College.
Although she wasn’t educated in art in the classical
way, she started to produce abstract works in her
very early ages. Yalter’s first works that can be
considered professional are colorful compositions,
which she portrayed by the abstraction of the forms
seen in nature. Living a very active life, Yalter was not
only involved in painting but also closely interested
in pantomime and dance. Due to this interest, she
went on a journey starting from Istanbul, reaching to
India, and motivated by the things she saw, produced
several distinct works. It was not a coincidence that
she opened her first exhibition at Alliance Francaise,
in Bombay (1957). Her journeys in which she got
acquainted with various cultures both helped her
gain exceptional experiences in her earlier ages
and affected her works thoroughly. She started
exhibiting her works periodically in Turkish-German
Art Gallery in Istanbul, since 1959, and this was proof
that she was concerned about art intimately and
seriously, and decided to start her professional career
in this field.
1960’s: The Young Creative in Search of Her Path
Nil Yalter, who preferred abstract works in 1955-1965,
was getting the most important interactions for her
works, from her journeys. She visited Paris for the first
time in 1956 and continued to closely watch the art
scene there. At that time, she did not find the abstract
art tendencies (Ecole de Paris) observed in French art
to her liking and preferred Russian constructivism.
After her first visiting and observing the art scenery in
Paris in 1956, Yalter visited the city again in 1965 to
start living there. Her works that are spread through
1956-1965 have an abstract character that can be
considered in conceptual frames of Suprematism, Op
Art, Minimalism, Pure Abstraction and Hard-Edge
trends. During that period, she was also interested
in architecture and started to get acquainted with
the Art Deco trend, which she would interpret in a
different way in her later works.
The works that can be considered as the point of
origin of the “20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY”
exhibition are the canvases, which Nil Yalter
produced after moving to Paris in 1965, until the
year 1968. In these works, it is not a coincidence
that the artist structured her compositions on
plastic values that are stripped from all their defining
characteristics and used an approach which can be
called geometric abstraction, by interpreting forms
like circles, rectangles and cubes. It is not possible to
build connections between the aesthetical approach
of the group “Supports/Surfaces” that was active
nearly in the same years and Nil Yalter’s abstract
works, because Yalter does not demonstrate any
empirical approach on her canvases, but experiment
by producing different spaces in the classical meaning.
While doing this, she almost tries to create a different
perspective like the ones that can be seen in her
works “ArchiForme II” (1968), “2 Cubes” (1966-1969),
“Optical Cubes” (1966-1969) and “Triangle Deforme”
(1969). In her abstract paintings that are generally
painted on large canvases, both the geometric forms
and the usage of colors differentiate. The artist
sometimes enriches the shades of one color in the
proportions that can be called monochrome, and from
time to time do not stay away from using vivid colors
like powerful purples or green almond. Yalter did not
exhibit these works at the time they were finished
but revealed some of them during the exhibition in
1971, at Turkish-German Cultural Institute Gallery,
in Istanbul. Following that, she took these paintings
back to Paris. When she planned to exhibit them once
more in Istanbul, in 2011, she decided to reinterpret
them. When the forms in these paintings were
created, the artist did not use a compass, a ruler
or a square. After 42 years, she now interprets the
same forms, and produces videos by using computer
supported animation programs, therefore combines
her works in which she used completely different
techniques and which she produced in two different
centuries. Meanwhile, she practically puts the viewer
into a time tunnel both in the terms of time and in
the manner of production. As Nil Yalter exhibits her
canvas paintings that she produced in 1965-1968
together with her video works she made in 2011, she
performs a synchronized exhibition. This synchronized
quality, builds a bridge built on past experiences
between yesterday and today, as an approach that
“20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY” exhibition brings
up.
When I say past experiences, I am talking about
Nil Yalter’s biography advancing by breathtaking
leaps; I am mentioning her extraordinary life as a
transformation process and walking through her
path without turning one way or the other. We must
remember that, this characteristic is one of her layers
that we see frequently in her art. I want to emphasize
this point in more detail as the apprehension of it
supports the meaning of the “20th century / 21st
century” exhibition. Yalter was exactly 28 years
old when she moved to Paris and produced these
canvases, and there were many great experiences
that she had, compressed in a short period. Starting
her journey from Istanbul, and continuing to Tehran,
Tabriz and Bombay, then returning to Istanbul, Nil
Yalter lived a very different life. When she decided to
stay in Paris permanently, she was not only leaving
a comfortable life behind but also taking the risk of
getting on a new journey. For this reason, her canvas
paintings that are produced during this era always
grab my attention with their structure founded
on exquisite lines and forms that are far away
from all the chaos and hesitation. After producing
these paintings, she put them onto a corner of her
studio, and decided to go on a very different voyage.
The events of May 1968 did not only change the
perspective of Nil Yalter towards art and life, but also
by simply establishing a tabula rasa, which carried
her to a different stage. By actively participating in
the protests and assuming responsibility in student
invasions, she decided to carry her impulse to over-
turn which she gained from these events; applying to
her works; therefore, she burned the bridge for the
second time, and started to walk towards a different
destination, which was totally unknown to her.
1970’s: The Era of Questioning
From the socio-cultural point of view, the student-
laborer riots that occurred on May 1968 and the
chaotic-anarchistic environment of the period, in
Paris, are evaluated as a phenomenon that happened
because of the strikes; without a proper background
and further implications. These acts of protest, not
only brought some important reforms to the world
of politics, but also opened the way to a different
world view with its international initiatives, which
influenced many creative fields from painting to the
cinema, from literature to architecture. Besides, it
is interesting that there is no solid idea about the
effects of the May 1968 events, even after 40 years.
When we think about the events also under the
light of the information provided with the articles
written by the people who have experienced the
period firsthand, we can see that May 1968 events
that can be considered as the French Revolution of
the 20th century, have also influenced a group of
Turkish artists, who were living in Paris. These events
that were witnessed by Abidin Dino and Tiraje’s
drawings, Gunes Karabuda and Goksin Sipahioglu’s
photographs, also had a great impact on the art of
Nil Yalter.
The pioneering French art scene which she was in
close connections, directed Yalter to search for her
expression in the sociological, political and socio-
cultural facts that stand outside the canvas. Due
to the effects of 1968 events, the artist got into an
essential process of questioning identity; she focused
her explorations on daily events, social facts, and
prejudices. By inclining towards experimenting on
drawings, photography, videos and performance by
using different techniques, she went after a diverse
way of artistic approach. This era of questioning,
made her think and produce works about the
subjects like political discrimination, exploitation
of immigration duties by the capitalist system,
suppressant acts of male dominant society over
women, and racism. Nil Yalter primarily dealt with
the living conditions of immigrant workers (Turkish,
Portuguese and Arabic) with an approach based on
documentation, and generally stopped at the border
of sociological field studies. She built up an archive
with the conversations she made as a visual artist
with immigrant laborers, women who were arrested
and women laborers. With the help of sound and
visuals, she started to position the social classes
that were alienated into the center of her works.
The artist was also interested in the scientific fields
like anthropology, ethnology and history of belief
systems, in addition to sociology. She got into a
conceptual search in 1968-1972.
These events opened the doors of a personal
exhibition at A.R.C. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville
de Paris, the “Topak Ev” project for the artist. This
presentation in which Suzanne Page assumed the
duty of exhibition production, positioned Nil Yalter
at a certain place within the trends of Paris of that
time. The exhibition was not only reflecting the
distinct perspective of the artist towards the subject
of women, but also communicating some very clear
and precise messages about issues like immigration,
banishment and alienation politics that would become
the most important themes, to leave their marks on
the 20th Century. As a starting exhibition in which
Yalter found her own voice and theme, “Topak Ev”
is also a project that she generated a specific visual
accumulation for many projects that she would
realize in the future.
“20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY” exhibition
also contains a group of works from the “Harem”
series (1979-1980) that she produced on her way
towards the above-mentioned direction. Harem is a
whole that consists of a group of paintings of eight
photographs and drawings on paper and a video.
Yalter bases this work on numerous pieces that
she gathered in her research through many years
and takes the fictional story of two odalisques that
lived in the Topkapi Palace several centuries before,
as the starting point. The story with lots of tragic
details is the basis to the video work. The group of
drawings and photographs are based on a young
woman, whose ancestors once lived in Harem. The
photographs of the girl were shot in the Harem of
the Topkapi Palace by Yalter. By reinterpreting them
with her drawings, the artist starts from diverse past
experiences and gives a different identity to the
odalisques, who were at the center of the sexual
desires. “Harem” points out a turning point without
a past and a future in artist’s evolution line as a
metaphoric work that handles so many details (that
cannot be interpreted only by the feminist approach)
without getting lost in the excitement of stories and
decorative narration. The harem theme, which would
also be used by many other artists, become a visual
whole in Yalter’s work.
The video titled “Shaman” is one of the most
important surprises of the “20th CENTURY / 21st
CENTURY” exhibition. Although the artist completed
it in 1979, she never exhibited it, until now. The video,
that will be seen for the first time shows Nil Yalter
during her performance in Paris, using the masks
of Central Asia Shamans from the collection of old
Musée de l’Homme. This video of the artist, who
made comprehensive research on Shaman culture,
aims to bestow their old function to the masks, which
have become mere objects of a museum. The dancing
figure wearing Shaman masks is the artist herself. This
is another detail that must be highlighted because
Yalter developed a criticizing attitude by using her
own body in many of her works, in her installations
which she produced with the resources of New Media
Art, sound sculptures, interdisciplinary works and
especially in her videos. Artist’s second important
personal exhibition, which was titled “C’est Un Dur
Métier Que L’Exil” and realized at A.R.C. Musée d’Art
Moderne de la Ville de Paris (exhibition producer was
Suzanne Page), has a character that strengthens this
approach of Yalter.
2000’s: Sharpening the Images
“20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY” exhibition
also contains the video installations “Sound of
Painting” (2005-2008) and “Lord Byron Meets
the Shaman Woman” (2009), in which the artist
reveals her criticizing attitude bodily. Even though
Yalter started to develop her works by using the
experimental possibilities of New Media Art, since
1973, she is also strongly interested in the canvas
painting in the classical sense and interpreting it
with a modern style. “Sound of Painting” (2005-
2008) brings out the synchronized dialogue that
she constructed between video, canvas painting
and performance techniques through an endeavor
that can be described as interdisciplinary. The artist
recorded herself on video while painting five large
canvasses by using just a spatula and colors; then
by reinterpreting her practice, she performed with a
different point of view from the eye of the camera
and editing it; she produced an independent video
piece. The sounds that can be heard in this piece,
is basically the scratchy sound made by spatula on
the canvas, then these sounds are recombined by a
using a specific sound choreography. Although the
five paintings exhibited together with this video
refer to the abstract works of Yalter’s from the end
of 1960’s, they also have a structure referring to
some other contents. When the viewers look at these
canvases, they also hear the sound of the paintings
since the video plays simultaneously. As a work that
captures the sound and constructs it on a conceptual
character, “Sound of Painting” gives the message that
it is a work of Nil Yalter’s artistic age of maturity as
well.
“Lord Byron Meets the Shaman Woman” (2009)
is another significant video work of Yalter in which
she brings together some notions that seem to be
totally unrelated with each other at first sight. The
performance in this video was also executed by the
artist herself and got through many extensive and
different editing processes that concluded with this
piece of video art. Yalter, who is interested in Central
Asia’s shamanism, interprets this belief system in
which people communicate with spirits, as a field
of abstraction, and especially fascinated by the part
that this transformation in the Shaman world is
made through women. Influenced by a verse from
one of the poems of Lord Byron, the artist makes a
metaphor out of the Shaman woman theme. When
the viewers start to think about who the Shaman
woman is, they find themselves in the attraction
field of Nil Yalter’s work, which she enriched with an
impressive sound system.
While the “20th CENTURY / 21st CENTURY”
exhibition brings her works (earliest from 1965-
1968 and latest from 2009) together with a theme,
it took its shape through a special dialogue that I
made, as the exhibition producer, with the artist.
When I first rang the bell of Nil Yalter’s studio, the
it was 1992. During a seminary work on video art
that I was performing at the Gutenberg University
Art History Institute, I had seen the work “Topak Ev”
and was very impressed. The “Project ‘74” catalogue
that I came across while doing research on this work,
has become my guide instantly. When I went to see
the works of Nil Yalter, I had some idea about what
she was doing. Although we had scheduled this
visit to be a short one, it continued longer than we
expected; and together with the various catalogues
and exhibition invitations that I acquired from this
visit, it directed me to get involved with New Media
Art more. In 1994, the experience I have gained while
arranging the first video exhibition of Nil Yalter, at
the Akbank Art Center in Istanbul, opened the doors
to numerous fields for me. I had the chance both to
know Nil Yalter’s art more closely and carried away
by the wind of her character that is swift, excited and
running after the innovative and different without
ever turning back. The articles that I wrote about her
and the conversations we had in her atelier always
opened new doors for me. During a conversation that
we had on February 17th, 2000, Yalter told me that
one of the signboards that she set around the Topak
Ev contains excerpts from the poems of the Russian
futurist poet Welimir Chlebnikow. As a result of this,
I had the chance to encounter poems of Chebnikow,
which I will continue to read ever after. Every feast
that I enjoyed at Nil Yalter’s atelier brought me some
new adventures enriched with various details. When
we finally had the chance to work together again at
the “Türkische Realitäten / Turkey Reality” (2008,
Frankfurt) exhibition that I arranged, I felt that I was
ready to prepare a personal exhibition for her. This
exhibition that I prepared for Galerist in 2011, above
all is the product of many memories that I have
accumulated by following her art for nineteen years.
One of the main themes of the “20th CENTURY /
21st CENTURY” exhibition is the unity of sentiment
that I built with the artist, all through the stages,
from the selection of the works, to the framing and
installation.
I have mainly tried to bring out Yalter’s questioning
artist attitude, while aiming to make an unusual
connection between yesterday and today, past
experiences and the things that are current. This is
because the divergent and contradictory qualities of
Nil Yalter’s works take her above the position of just
being a historical artist. In today’s global inequality
environment that shows itself explicitly, the artist
refers to various questions and issues, and invites the
viewers to think actively.
October 2011
Istanbul-Düsseldorf