Emre Hüner

Born in Istanbul in 1977, Emre Hüner lives and works in Istanbul. He now lives and works in Amsterdam as resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten.

To create his animations Hüner collects hundreds of objects in personal encyclopaedias of his own drawings. He then brings these images together to create imaginary worlds, such as that of "Panoptikon", which combines Ottoman-era miniature aesthetic with scientific representations of invention and war. While "Panoptikon" hints at a dystopian future for society in this region and beyond, a more recent work, "Boumont", which is filmed on hand-held camera, focuses specifically on Istanbul and the story of a lone man wondering the inner city's already deserted and decaying industrial areas.

Hüner's approach to cataloguing the world around him is unlike other archiving practices, as it is not about noting key happenings, events and images (whether real or factitious), but rather about creating the possibility for these moments to be imagined. While he touches on the problematic political relationships of the region, he does so through references to independent layers of history that he converges to present mythical, yet recognizable events. A key theme in Hüner's work is the effect of excessive consumption, dense population growth and shifting customs and beliefs. To describe a world that is being planned and progressed too rapidly, Hüner has filmed forgotten areas of Istanbul, previously unexplored by artists in preference of sites of development. While Istanbul's rash of new high-rise housing and gated communities may speak of a certain prescribed future, one that craves documentation and theory-based response, it is the decaying inner city industrial zones and the environments of Hüner's animations that allow one to imagine possible futures and the potential for change.

Hüner's work "Panoptikon" is included in the Bidoun Programme screened during the 2008 Dubai Art Fair. Hüner’s solo exhibitions in 2010 include Adverse Stability, Extra City, Antwerp; The New Horizon, Stroom, Den Haag. Hüner’s participation in group exhibitions has included in 2010 Diversity, CCA Warsaw, Warsaw; The Future of Tradition, Haus der Kunst, Munich; Living in Evolution, Busan Biennial, South Korea and Cross Section, Flux/S, Eindhoven. Hüner lastly also participated to The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Gallery of Modern Art of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (2009), The Generetional : Younger then Jesus, New Museum, New York, USA (2009) , at Manifesta 7 – The Rest of Now, South Tyrol Italy (2008). In 2007 Hüner participated in the 10th International Istanbul Biennial and in Fairytale at TICA in Tirana, Albania. In 2006 his work was included in TORINO e MILANO INCONTRANO..L’ARTE, a permanent public work contest organised by Artegiovane and the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, Milano, Italy; VIDEOARTE YEARBOOK 2006, curated by Renato Barilli, C.di Santa Cristina, Bologna, Italy; MIGRÈ, En Parallele, Centre Culturel Français de Milan, curated by Katia Anguelova and Alessandra Poggianti, Milan, Italy; VIDEO INVITATIONAL #2, curated by Milovan Farronato with collaboration of Els van Odijk, Via Farini, Milan, Italy.
 

For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art