Doris Salcedo/Abyss

images and more at Alexander and Bonin @http://www.alexanderandbonin.com/artists/salcedo/salcedo.html

for an article on this work and the artist's other works see Joshua Mack http://www.artreview.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1474022%3ABlogPost%3A806

Almost one year ago I was thinking how it would be possible to create a space in Istanbul that would function as a temple for people from all beliefs and nonbelievers. The idea came out of a very basic need: to have one place for contemplation. This place should not have any signs, symbol, anything that reminds one of any religion. One friend at that time (a landscape architect) told me about the Garden of Poets in Japan. I could not find many images about the place but I liked the idea that the temple could actually be a garden, or even an inner court; a hidden place in the middle of the city. I know Istanbul is full of forgotten spaces like that. But later, I realized that people in Istanbul already have such places of contemplation which are the boats that transport people from one side of the city to the other. And the Bosphorus with its magnitizing beauty just saves these people to be drawn in the chaos of their inner troubles, even for a moment.

Doris Salcedo's piece with its direct reference to death and claustrophobic pressure seems to have the power to fear the audience at first instance. This architectural "trap" which looks like Noah's ark made upside down might really be dreadful for the audience who is not willing to face the existential questions the work poses. However, it seems to me that Abyss may also be experienced as a place of contemplation where we leave our eartly concerns out and think about death as the inevitable signifier of life itself. Design of the structure that allows for sunlight to enter from the gallery windows proves that life is just there to enter any moment and we are free to leave whenever we want (to either side).