Muta-morphosis

The different traces left by various people and slices of time co-exist as layers in cities that have a particular past. The global trends and economical conditions strain this multi-layered traditional urban structure. An architecture with a language that cannot be considered as local anymore but universal, attacks the old texture of cities during the urban growth. This intervention usually implemented through gentrification supported by big capital, causes the urban tissue and its components to face mutation and even beyond this, undergo metamorphosis. Following this interaction and consecutive natural selection, some constituents disappear and some survive after being transformed. The concept of “muta-morphosis”, a combination of the notions of mutation and metamorphosis, and the connected artwork series was obtained by reducing panoramic images on one axis. The image compression on the horizontal level points to the dynamics between the urban components that can persist and the ones that give up, vanish in the various historical, residential and business urban districts. The visual urban result obtained after this contraction process points to the much discussed notion of evolution, where stronger components of existence survive the others after a natural selection process and change the course of life. Muta-morphosis series fits contents of multiple glances into one. These photographs are of documentary kind, there is no conscious insertion or removal of any details during post-production; mere components that disappear are the ones that get lost in horizontal compression. The photographical expression in the series is actually a synopsis of piecemeal words that remain in my mind during the visits to various cities. In other words, it is like a video footage that includes jerky movements of a typical stop-motion study that has dropped frames and no smooth continuity. The lack of a single perspectival structure due to multiplicity of perspectives after panoramic imaging, can be linked to Ottoman miniatures, which in turn, connects the global contemporary representation to its local traditional counterpart. Web sites, publications, auction, venues, art fairs, events at which Muta-morphosis series is covered: INTERNATIONAL - Christie’s (Dubai) and Sotheby’s (London) auctions / http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5546493 – http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5486454 – http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5362274 – http://bit.ly/TBFP7o - Vignette magazine / United Kingdom / http://www.vignettemagazine.com/ - Empty Kingdom, contemporary art blog / http://www.emptykingdom.com/main/featured/ek-interview-murat-germen/ - GUP magazine / The Netherlands / http://www.gupmagazine.com/portfolios/212-muta-morphosis - living design blog / http://bit.ly/njGIfO - 500 photographers / http://bit.ly/mTtl1w - Ahram online (Egyptian newspaper) / http://bit.ly/yoSm1R - fotofever art fair, 2011, Paris - VIP photo art fair, July 12 – August 12, 2012 with Rosier Gallery, USA - The SoloProject Basel / 13 – 17 June, 2012 with C.A.M Gallery, Turkey - artMRKT San Francisco May 17 – 20, 2012 with Rosier Gallery, USA - Art Marrakech (WIRED magazine) / http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2011/10/marrakech/?pid=1237 - EVA London 2012 / http://ewic.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/46083 - ISEA 2011, Istanbul / http://isea2011.sabanciuniv.edu/mr.germen - Computational Aesthetics 2011, Vancouver, Canada - O Estado de Sao Paulo, Brazilian newspaper - IJACDT journal article (IGI Publishing), USA / http://bit.ly/xbUVCr