ayla turan

ayla turan

A fairground is quasi-realistic venue. Its components are assembled and disassembled as the fairground moves from location to location. It is a joyful parade of objects that is constantly rejuvenated.

In her latest exhibition, sculptor Ayla Turan examines the sadness and suspense that goes along with the playful first impressions associated with fairgrounds and their rides. Turan examines the experience of frightening rides, the emotion of repetition, and the anticipation of disorientation.

Italian author, Italo Calvino's novel Invisible Cities has particularly influenced Turan as she embarked on this exploration :
Sofronia is made of two halves. Half of the city includes a roller coaster with its two humpbacked S-shapes and spiraling figure-eights, a carousel spinning by its chains, a Ferris wheel, riders flung over their motorcycles fighting against gravity, the dome of the circus tent with the trapeze ropes hanging from above. The other half of the city consists of banks, factories, tall buildings, meatpackers, schools, and things made of stone, marble and concrete. Half of the city is permanent, the other is temporary. When the time has come, it is disassembled and piece by piece transported to another location to be reassembled on the empty grounds of a specific half of another city. From one empty space to another, the fairground follows the same route each year. Sofronia stays incomplete with its shooting galleries, carousels, and screams hanging from upside down roller coaster carriages. A countdown begins for the days and months until the Ferris wheel will again revolve and its existence will revive.