Nothing Further Beyond
2021
The work is displayed as part of the permanent exhibition
Sculpture/ 3D object
Installation
Industrial carpet, metal and wood
Approx. 405.13 x 600 cm
Inv. No. 1444/22
Through her artistic work, Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (1984, Istanbul, Turkey) looks back on tumultuous histories rooted in territorial disputes, displaced populations, and ruptures often centering on the history of the broader geopolitical region of the former Ottoman Empire. With her sculptural installations, in-situ interventions, drawings, and films; she addresses concepts such as absence and the non-visible to retrieve memory and restore forgotten social and political narratives to the fore. In her artistic work, we often encounter archival or architectural elements that bear within them traces of extinction in order to revoke memory and allow the past to be rewritten.
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan’s work Nothing Further Beyond (2021) traces the layers of history beneath an architectural ruin in Istanbul, more specifically, the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Theodosius I, which was erected in 395 AD and today is situated in Beyazıt Square. As Büyüktaşcıyan discovered through research, the teardrop-like motifs that adorn the monument’s columns symbolise the club of Hercules, the weapon he used to accomplish his twelve labours. Theodosius ordered that the arch be installed in such a way that it would point towards the Pillars of Hercules, which, according to legend, were placed by Hercules himself at the far end of the West to signify the end of the known world and protect it from sea monsters. With the Latin phrase “Non plus ultra” (“Nothing Further Beyond”) inscribed upon them, as the legend goes, the Pillars delineate the borders of western civilisation, designating anything beyond them as “other”. For her sculptural installation, Büyüktaşcıyan uses carpets that resemble geological strata in order to mimic the multiple narratives that exist among the ruins and remain latent within each layer.
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan was born in Istanbul and graduated from the Department of Painting of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University in 2006. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include: Resonant Grounds, Centre International d’Art et du Paysage, Vassivière (2023); Earthbound Whisperers, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall (2023); Neither on the Ground, nor in the Sky, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) Gallery, Berlin (2019). Recent group exhibitions (selection): A rehearsal on legacy, Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati (2023); All Images Will Disappear, One Day, Autostrada Biennale, Kosovo (2023); Soft and weak like water, 14th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2023); Enmeshed, Tate Modern, London (2022), Biennale Matter of Art, Prague (2022); Biennale of Sydney (2022); Soft Water Hard Stone, New Museum Triennial, New York (2021/2022); What If a Journey..., Autostrada Biennale, Kosovo (2021); Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum, London (2021); LB02: Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale, Lahore (2020); Every Step in the Right Direction, Singapore Biennale, National Gallery, Singapore (2019/2020); The Shoreline Dilemma, Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, (2019); Planetary Planning, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2018). She was awarded the Emerging Artist Prize at the Toronto Biennial of Art in 2019.