Past Exhibitions

The Breath of the World

6 September 2021 - 30 January 2022

A Selection from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection

The Breath of the World: A Selection from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection brings together Borusan Contemporary and the venerable educational institution, Hisar School celebrating its 25th year, for a mutual projection of future.

The worldly, natural and futuristic prospects by some noteworthy names of the contemporary art scene from diverse geographical origins, who are represented in the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, including Kemal Önsoy, Sol LeWitt, Eelco Brand and Marina Zurkow will be presented to viewers from all ages between September 6, 2021 and January 30, 2022, in collaboration with the Hisar School, which commemorates its 25th year with the motto “…”.

Deriving its title from the contemporary philosopher, Emanuele Coccia’s ontology that refers to the synthesis of multiple disciplines like medicine, philosophy, and cosmology – dubbed as the “Metaphysics of Mixture”, the exhibition centralizes on the critical perspective towards the privileged position of humankind within the framework of the ecological crisis experienced in our day. Taking an alternative path alongside the history of philosophy, which is adorned by the likes of Lamarck, Heiddeger, Hippocrates and Simmel, Coccia reevaluates our relationship with the world in terms of pneumatology:

“[Breath] is not only the most elementary movement of any human body, it is also the first and the simplest of the acts of living beings—its paradigm, its transcendental form (…) Sight is breath: it is to welcome light, the colors of the world, it is to have the force of letting oneself be pierced by its beauty, of choosing a portion and a portion only, of creating a form, of initiating a life starting from what we have extracted from the continuum of the world. (…)

Everything is a repetition, intensification, and variation of what takes place in breath. This is why the most different kinds of knowledge—from medicine to theology, from cosmology to philosophy—have used it as the noun that characterizes life in its most different forms, in the most diverse languages (spiritus, pneuma, Geist). (…)

To breathe is to know the world, to penetrate and be penetrated by it and its mind.” ¹

About Borusan Contemporary
Borusan Contemporary is an institution devoted to contemporary art, providing a multi-platform programme of exhibitions, events and educational activities rooted in the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection whilst promoting the production of new artworks and publications through commissions.
Since 2011, these programmes are defined by their specific focus on international artists who work with photography, video, sound, light, software, data and other technological mediums that are, by and large, pertinent to New Media art.

The exhibition and event programmes take place at the Perili Köşk housing the headquarters of Borusan Holding, thus creating a distinctive art center within an office paradigm.
With its breathtaking views over the Bosphorus, along with its exhibition and office spaces, the Museum Café and Borusan ArtStore, Perili Köşk will be closed to visits due to health measures during the pandemic. You may visit our website, subscribe to our newsletter or follow our social media accounts for the updates.

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