Friday, August 28 2009, 6:30 pm
Former Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center
Istiklal Cad. No: 136, Beyoglu
Towelflag is a temporary intervention in the public space of Istanbul. A 60-meter piece of white towel fabric hangs from two pre-existing flagpoles on the façade of the former Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center headquarters. From the flagpoles located on the third floor, the white flags drop and enter through the first floor windows, crossing rooms and corridors until they meet in the toilet where hanging from a towel rack they can be used as a hand towel.
Towelflag will be exhibited on the façade of the building, currently undergoing renovation, and located on the pedestrian Istiklal Avenue, one of the most populous streets in Istanbul (said to have nearly six million people walking through it on weekends). Amidst blasting loud vendors, neon lights and all the visual and acoustical overwhelming cacophony of this street, Towelflag stands as a fairly quiet and partially hidden work, accessible in its entirety only to the building’s security guard, the one person able to use the flag as a towel.
Spanish born, Berlin based Jasmina Llobet & Luis Fernández Pons are an artist collective working together since 2002 across the fields of installation, object sculpture and art in public space. They are currently artists in residence at Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center.
Towelflag has been realized with the generous support by Can Xalant, Mataró and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul
