Gian Maria Tosatti's Istanbul Installation Addresses Gentrification

Italian artist Gian Maria Tosatti (Rome, 1980) has opened the Istanbul episode of his ongoing project "Il mio cuore è vuoto come uno specchio" (My Heart Is Empty Like a Mirror), titled "Dittico del Trauma" (Trauma Diptych). The first episode took place in Odessa, Ukraine, exploring the crisis of Western democracy. The Istanbul iteration, curated by Devrim Kadirbeyoğlu and Antonello Tolve and organized by The Blank Contemporary Art (Bergamo) and Depo in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture in Istanbul, is installed in a Liberty-style building in the Kurdish quarter of Tarlabaşı. The installation reflects on the gentrification transforming Istanbul, with construction erasing historical identity and displacing lower-income residents to the periphery. Tosatti describes living in Tarlabaşı as "a powerful and painful experience," comparing it to "observing a dying star." The work features a deaf girl in a semi-empty apartment who perceives the outside noise through vibrations on glass objects, while an old gramophone emits harmonic vibrations as a prayer to calm the chaos. Tosatti is preparing for his most important exhibition: the Italian Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale. The project is supported by the Italian Council (7th Edition, 2019). The exhibition runs until June 4, 2021 at Ömer Hayyam cd. 11.