Füsun Onur; her innovative, critical and provocative works. Space, time, rhythm and form.

After completing her education at the Sculpture Department of the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, Füsun Onur pursued her passion for sculpture at the Maryland College of Art in the United States, with a Fulbright scholarship for her master's degree. Throughout her artistic journey, Onur has consistently delved into the realms of form, space, time, and their unconventional relationships, employing a diverse range of materials. Integrating elements of the everyday, narrative, and even the autobiographical in her works, she explores the boundaries between sculpture and painting. Blurring the lines with a unique array of materials, her pieces are accompanied by elements such as space and time, light and shadow, sound and silence. Not only does she challenge the distinctions between sculpture and painting, but she also often draws inspiration from the spaces she inhabits, reinterpreting them in her distinctive artistic language.
In addition to various personal and group exhibitions in Istanbul, Füsun Onur's artworks have been featured in numerous international exhibitions, including the Paris International Young Artists Biennial (1971), Istanbul Biennials (1987, 1995, 1999, 2011, 2015), Moscow Biennial (2007), dOCUMENTA 13 (2012) and 59th Venice Biennale. Her pieces have been displayed in renowned art institutions such as Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2001), ZKM, Karlsruhe (2004), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2005), and Ludwig Museum (2023). Some of the important international museum collections that feature her works are Arter (Istanbul), Tate Modern (London), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris) and MAK Vienna.
Füsun Onur's works, subtly alter the function and use of the materials, molding the spaces they inhabit. These sculptures and installations, often utilizing common objects, possess the ability to eloquently articulate social narratives from the minutest details.
Füsun Onur continues to be acclaimed for her critical and provocative works that challenge conventional notions of art and its temporal context.
Music:
(The text below is provided by the artist Begüm Çalımlı.)
Title: Füsun Onur Retrospective: Room with a Muse
Music Composition: Begüm Çalımlı, "In Memoriam Ilhan Onur" music for solo violin, D Major, 2023. Duration: 10’ 42’’
Description:
The music for solo violin featured in Füsun Onur's latest work "Room with a Muse" was composed by Begüm Çalımlı. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Ilhan Onur and is titled "In Memoriam Ilhan Onur," written in the key of D Major.
The composition begins with tuning the violin and continues with improvised scales, trills, and finger exercises involving techniques of the right and left arm. This section is a reference to moments Ilhan Onur spent in her childhood with the violin, a tribute crafted to evoke the feeling as if she is practicing in the side room.
Later in the composition, an occasional theme emerges, spelled out by the letters "i-l-h-a-n" (re-la-fa#-do#-si). This theme is played rubato and intertwines with other passages performed until the end of the piece, embodying the prevailing sentiment throughout the composition.
Begüm Çalımlı chose to play this passage on all strings except for the D string. When she started working on the piece, a broken D string led her to decide to play the theme on all strings except for the D string, reminiscent of Georges Perec's work "La Disparition," where the letter "e," the most frequently used letter in French, is omitted. Additionally, the decision echoes the sense of loss stemming from Ilhan Onur's childhood violin being given to someone else and Füsun Onur's decision to discard her works into the sea after creating them, creating a narrative filled with profound thoughts.
Towards the end of the composition, a section in the Sarabande form is heard, emphasizing the harmonic and melodic coherence, inspired by Füsun Onur's appreciation for the sounds produced by the pizzicato technique on bowed instruments. This section focuses on the time Füsun Onur and Begüm Çalımlı spent together, contemplating sound and rhythm dialogues after their first meeting, following Ilhan Onur's passing. The pizzicato sounds highlight the melody with soft and delicate tones. The composition concludes on a cheerful and childlike note, paying tribute to Ilhan Onur's youthful world and the dreams she nurtured with her violin.
Brief Description:
"In Memoriam Ilhan Onur" is a tribute to Ilhan Onur's childhood moments with the violin. The composition starts with improvised scales, trills, and finger exercises and continues with a theme composed of the letters "i-l-h-a-n" (re-la-fa#-do#-si). The piece concludes with the Sarabande section played using the pizzicato technique. It is a homage to Ilhan Onur's childlike world and the dreams she cherished with her violin.
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[@visualarts3304]

Ah Füsun Onur, ne güzel bir ruhun var. Çok seviyorum sizi.