Van Abbemuseum presents León Ferrari and Gülsün Karamustafa in parallel exhibitions

Parallel Lives, Parallel Aesthetics opened at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on November 27. The exhibition creates a dialogue between Argentine artist León Ferrari (1920–2013) and Turkish artist Gülsün Karamustafa (born 1946), highlighting their shared opposition to authoritarian regimes and distinct expressive languages. Ferrari's work responded to Western Christian civilization's influence in South America and Argentina's dictatorship, while Karamustafa focuses on gender relations in a transforming Turkey and reflects on the loss of Istanbul's multicultural climate. The exhibition combines two solo shows: Kind Cruelty, a retrospective of Ferrari's work celebrating his centenary, which was previously shown at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid in 2021 and will travel to the Centre Pompidou in Paris in summer 2022; and After the Cosmopolis, offering an overview of Karamustafa's work, including new pieces created for the show, which will be exhibited at Lundskonsthall in Lund, Sweden, after its Eindhoven run. Curated by Charles Esche, Andrea Wain, and Julieta Zamorano, the exhibition runs until March 13, 2022. These are the artists' first major solo exhibitions in the Netherlands, part of a Van Abbemuseum project to bring internationally renowned figures to the country.