M.A. Thesis Defense: Derya Yıldız

Key words: space, place, non-place, public art, relational aesthetics 

This is a supplementary text for the exhibition “Detour” and cannot be considered separately.  In this enquiry, the relation between art and space will be examined in detail, through my works in “Detour” –which are artistic installations– in order to find an answer to that question: How can boundaries between an artwork and space disappear? I will discuss a series of works that have been produced within the scope of their relation with space and social engagement. According to Marc Augé’s definition of ‘non-place’, chosen non-places of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Sabancı University will be evaluated and their characteristics as non-places will be reversed via artworks, which are the result of the concept, that Nicolas Bourriaud called ‘relational aesthetics’. As a conclusion, how and why these works relate to space, how medium affects their relation and the results of that relation will be reviewed.