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Elmas Deniz - Eluding Humans, 2019 - Spazio Ferdinand Stuflesser, Pontives

Elmas Deniz, Eluding Humans, Still from Video, 2019 ©
Elmas Deniz, Eluding Humans, 2019. Lightboxes, Photographic Prints, Wooden Frames. Variable Dimensions. Courtesy of the Artist. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

Turkish artist Elmas Deniz explores the idea of nature and how it has changed in various value systems throughout human history, and investigates inequalities, consumer culture and how capitalism has affected our relationship with nature for the worse. Through conceptual works that adopt various media, such as installation, video or sculpture, the artist draws attention to the ecological changes underway in the Anthropocene.

In the video An Illusion of Encounter (2023), Deniz combines elements of experimental cinema and theatre to tell the story of species threatened with extinction at the hands of humankind due to global warming. The protagonists of the video are costumed characters playing animals and plants, such as The Beetle, the Cheliped-Man and The Council of Plants, proposing a non-anthropocentric vision of life on the planet. The three lightboxes that make up Eluding Humans (2019), on show at Pontives, feature images captured by camera traps placed in the forest, used to study the habits of nocturnal wild animals. The images allow us to confront animals that usually stay away from humans, providing us with a vivid and immediate portrait of their wild nature, of which the elusiveness and mystery may be perceived. (M.P.) 

ELMAS DENIZ

Elmas Deniz (1981, Bergama, Turkey), lives in Istanbul. Her works investigate the intersections of entanglement between economics and nature. She graduated from Dokuz Eylul University, Department of Painting, and Izmir Anatolian High School of Fine Arts. She took part in the 14th and 16th Istanbul Biennial; Colomboscope, Colombo, Sri Lanka; the 5th Gyumri Biennial in Yerevan. Recent exhibitions include Bilsart, Zilberman, and PILOT in Istanbul; Schloss Museum Moyland, Bedburg-Hau; Sonje Art Center and Boan 1942 Art Space, Seoul; D21Kunstraum, Leipzig; MOCAK, Krakow; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris; Pera Museum, DEPO and SALT, İstanbul; SECESSION, Vienna. She is the co-founder of K2 Contemporary Art Center in Izmir, Turkey. She was awarded IASPIS Artist Grant, Berlin Goethe-Institut Cultural Grant. Deniz took part in residency at Pistoletto Foundation in Italy; DIVA, Copenhagen; Vassl, Karachi in Pakistan; and at AIWA in Lebanon.

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Elmas Deniz - Eluding Humans, 2019 - Spazio Ferdinand Stuflesser, Pontives

Elmas Deniz, Eluding Humans, Still from Video, 2019 ©
Elmas Deniz, Eluding Humans, 2019. Lightboxes, Photographic Prints, Wooden Frames. Variable Dimensions. Courtesy of the Artist. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

Turkish artist Elmas Deniz explores the idea of nature and how it has changed in various value systems throughout human history, and investigates inequalities, consumer culture and how capitalism has affected our relationship with nature for the worse. Through conceptual works that adopt various media, such as installation, video or sculpture, the artist draws attention to the ecological changes underway in the Anthropocene.

In the video An Illusion of Encounter (2023), Deniz combines elements of experimental cinema and theatre to tell the story of species threatened with extinction at the hands of humankind due to global warming. The protagonists of the video are costumed characters playing animals and plants, such as The Beetle, the Cheliped-Man and The Council of Plants, proposing a non-anthropocentric vision of life on the planet. The three lightboxes that make up Eluding Humans (2019), on show at Pontives, feature images captured by camera traps placed in the forest, used to study the habits of nocturnal wild animals. The images allow us to confront animals that usually stay away from humans, providing us with a vivid and immediate portrait of their wild nature, of which the elusiveness and mystery may be perceived. (M.P.) 

ELMAS DENIZ

Elmas Deniz (1981, Bergama, Turkey), lives in Istanbul. Her works investigate the intersections of entanglement between economics and nature. She graduated from Dokuz Eylul University, Department of Painting, and Izmir Anatolian High School of Fine Arts. She took part in the 14th and 16th Istanbul Biennial; Colomboscope, Colombo, Sri Lanka; the 5th Gyumri Biennial in Yerevan. Recent exhibitions include Bilsart, Zilberman, and PILOT in Istanbul; Schloss Museum Moyland, Bedburg-Hau; Sonje Art Center and Boan 1942 Art Space, Seoul; D21Kunstraum, Leipzig; MOCAK, Krakow; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris; Pera Museum, DEPO and SALT, İstanbul; SECESSION, Vienna. She is the co-founder of K2 Contemporary Art Center in Izmir, Turkey. She was awarded IASPIS Artist Grant, Berlin Goethe-Institut Cultural Grant. Deniz took part in residency at Pistoletto Foundation in Italy; DIVA, Copenhagen; Vassl, Karachi in Pakistan; and at AIWA in Lebanon.