Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Mehmet Güler, TR
Der Dorn [The Thorn], 1970 © Mehmet Güler. Photo © Manifesta 16 Ruhr / Silviu Guiman.
Mehmet Güler's main subject is the clash of different cultures. In the 1960s and 1970s, Güler deeply engaged in this subject through the rural areas of his own country, especially through the people who lived and worked on the barren land. From the mid-1980s onwards, he observed life in the East and West and worked with different techniques. His paintings combine subject matter, content and form in a homogenous way. History, present and future intertwine in a meaningful way.