SANATORIUM is pleased to present Kerem Ozan Bayraktar’s first solo show in the USA, titled “Spirits on the Ground”, curated by Ulya Soley, between the dates January 9 - February 16, 2025, at DIANA NEW YORK. Spirits on the Ground is a site-specific dump, a living cemetery of mechanical toys, plastic containers, LED lights, videos, batteries, nylon sheets, fake plants, water, soil, and sand.
Kerem Ozan Bayraktar builds a world with objects that are stripped of their purpose: they are neither animate nor inanimate. Plastic containers, dysfunctional batteries, broken toys, artificial fish, worms, chargers, cables, and dying plants carry the spirits of the familiar. The installation resembles an underground workshop, a disused warehouse or an artificial greenhouse—abandoned but full of past memories and future promises.
Plastic toys mimic nature as synthetic forms: birds, fish and other animals are represented by artificial objects. The toys are powered by batteries, which, in turn, makes them appear alive, although they are completely disconnected from the biological processes of life. Plastic, the remnant of ancient life forms, embodies a distant past. The batteries that power these remnants represent brief moments of life captured on camera. In geological terms, these objects will likely persist long after the batteries run out of energy and become part of the future layers of the Earth. Over time, these objects will return to a state of inertia, yet their materials will endure, reflecting the tension between temporal existence and lasting geological impact.
Spirits on the Ground echoes the childhood instinct to animate the inanimate: both in the installation and in children’s play, the floor becomes a stage where objects are imbued with life. It is an exploration of the boundaries between the organic and the inorganic, the living and the artificial. The installation brings together locally sourced materials as well as 3D-printed or modified objects. The exhibition can be visited between January 9 - February 16, 2025, from Thursday to Sunday, 12:00-6:00 pm. The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive publication featuring texts by Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Zeynep Sayın and Yağız Özgen.
About the Artist:
Kerem Ozan Bayraktar examines material transformations, accumulations, and interactions between natural and artificial forms through mixed media installations, digital techniques, and field research. He participated in several art & research programs, including Fellowship for Situated Practice (basis voor actuele kunst, 2022, the Netherlands) and the Berlin Senate Residency Program (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, 2021, Germany). His work has recently been featured in the Tokyo Biennale (2023, Japan), Non-/Human Assemblages (2021, South Korea), Sentient Matter (2021, D21, Germany), Timeless Curiosities (2024, Istanbul Modern, Turkey). Bayraktar received his MFA and DFA degrees from Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Painting deparment. He is currently a faculty member at Sabancı University. His recent publications include Marmara (2023), Spirits on the Ground (2021) and Dünyaların Haritaları [Maps of Worlds] (2021). Bayraktar lives in Istanbul and is represented by Sanatorium.
