Widely shown in the Netherlands and throughout Europe (including Israel) this Istanbul-born young artist travels between Turkey and Amsterdam, just as his work moves from the East and its traditions to the West and its critique of tradition. His explorations of Turkish life and domesticity bring a complex vision of his motherland, once an empire, and still a geographic pivot between Europe and the Middle East. This focus may have contributed to his recognition as the star of the 9th Istanbul Biennale of 2005. Kocyigit is a multi-faceted artist, a video and stills photographer who also makes complex installations. He is a graduate of Amsterdam's Rijksakademie.
Servet Kocyigit stayed at the JCVA over most of February 2006, for a remarkably fruitful and varied residency. He met with young artists from the Bezalel Academy of the Arts and Design MFA program in Tel-Aviv and reconnected with Israeli artists he had befriended at the Istanbul Biennale in 2005. He also explored several bodies of water on a private nature tour with Israel's Nature Protection Society, a tour provided by the JCVA at the artist's request. In the art world, meanwhile, Kocyigit met some of Israel's most visible curators as well as some high-profile collectors. The Israel Museum and a local collector each purchased one of his works.
The Bric-a-Brac Seller
Taken in Istanbul, this haunting photograph captures the paradox of the bejeweled, treasured and neglected city. The photograph materializes the abject situation of the residents of this pivotal city, who carry its symbolic, historical glory in a kind of denigrated wheelbarrow present.
Blue Side Up
Made for the the 9th International Istanbul Biennale, this piece well exemplifies Kocyigit's interests in Turkish tradition and domesticity. The gallery space, composed of several rooms, is empty except for a kind of upside-down track attached to the ceiling, which winds throughout the gallery rooms. A traditional broom attached to the tracks wonders repetitively through the gallery rooms, sweeping the floors. The broom, itself a well-crafted object made, in this case, from a human-hair wig, refers to a Turkish expression used by tired women to upbraid their husbands: you've turned my hair into a broom.
