This exhibition brings together international contemporary artists exploring the multifaceted experiences of pressure and its impact on the body. Through allegorical positions, the artists question political repression against queer and feminist existences, bridging Vienna and Istanbul.
Curated by Nazim Unal Yilmaz & Alper Turan, _How does the body take shape under pressure?_ features an international group of artists whose works confront the myriad experiences of pressure and question disproportionate forces. Working across passive and defensive, social and intimate dynamics, the exhibition presents allegorical positions that ponder political repression against queer and feminist existences. With a majority of artists from Turkey, it establishes an imaginary bridge between Vienna and Istanbul, taking place at the Queer Museum Vienna within the Volkskundemuseum.
The exhibition delves into the depiction of bodies under strain—unbalanced, hanged, pushed, and pressed—as well as objects of pleasure, protection, and ferocity. The artists' works create intimate scenes mirroring societal mechanics, unfolding intertwined narratives and posing primal questions about the manifestation of political coercion on the body, the parallels between power dynamics in sexual practices and society, and the transgression of pressure without active resistance. The bodies presented are in a state of being pressed, raising questions about whether this is submissive disobedience, pleasure-seeking, or an acknowledgment of helplessness. Works by Dorian Sari, İz Öztat, Zeynep Kayan, Toni Schmale, Can Küçük, Natalia Gurova, Cansu Yıldıran, Carlos Vergara, and Nihat Karataşlı are highlighted, each offering unique perspectives on themes of inequality, torture, freedom, coercion, sex and violence, balance, protection, social risks, heritage, and the destructive forces within domesticity.
