LIMBO Canan Tolon

Contemporary Istanbul Foundation is proud to host Canan Tolon’s work titled “Limbo,” which references suspended communal living spaces born from the interplay of artificial and natural materials with balance and gravity. 

 

This site-specific installation, sharing its name with Tolon’s 1997 book, reinterprets at Fişekhane the rescued, used, war-witnessing spaces devoid of belonging and the concepts of freedom, imprisonment, or exemption—intrinsically encompassing struggle, resistance, and healing—that have shaped her artistic practice over the years.  

 

“Limbo” invites us to focus on the cyclical systems of existence—“being and non-being,” “construction and destruction”—and reflects an uninterrupted flow of ideas without comparing the present to the past, making it as unique as all works in the artist’s oeuvre. Viewers might assume they recognize familiar materials, entropy, or danger from earlier installations such as “Precaution” or “Topographer.” Yet, they would be mistaken. The essence of Limbo lies in the balance and process between the cycles of disappearance and existence. The rhythmic volumetrics and suspension—familiar from architectural culture—evoke a perilous game of attempting escape, a struggle to forget…  

The Game and the State of Limbo  

Swings arranged in succession, reminiscent of a battalion of soldiers and evoking innocent times from visual memory and childhood, invite play within Fişekhane’s former military structure, now transformed into a place of gathering contrary to its destructive historical function. In this innocent yet menacing game, one must engage with the swings to liberate them from stasis and freely swing; paradoxically, the artist obstructs this action in Limbo. With a nuanced perspective akin to Raymond Queneau’s “Exercises in Style,” favored by Tolon, which recounts the same story in 99 different ways, we confront an absurd situation.  


This rhythmic structure, where the reference point indicating our location begins to dissolve entirely, parallels the repetition frequently constructed by the artist on canvas. Past, future, belonging, and perceptions of reality gradually fade. The rhythm generated by repetition signifies struggle and, inherently, a process. According to Tolon, discerning something beneath layers of paint always demands attention and participation—a condition equally true in Limbo. The struggle to engage in the game becomes an escape from being enslaved by the inevitable cycle of life and death.  

Much like expansionist policies in urban planning, the ground metals in the exhibition space—arranged like adjacent ships centering on a part of the venue—have rusted due to erosion caused by contact with water. Just as water erodes metal to destroy it, the grass withers and dies from lack of water. It is precisely at this moment that the work begins to realize itself.  

In times of recurring uncertainty shaped by epidemics, wars, and economic crises, humanity lingers between death and life, as if in a limbo. With each passing day, we grow more inert, inhabiting a suspended state of mind akin to that in Limbo. Canan Tolon invites us, as if through a game, to confront all that we have chosen to forget in our repetitive lives. In this place where we occupy ourselves, she reminds us once again of the essentiality of not forgetting the concepts of life and death, and the gentle cycles of nature.

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“To learn whether any of your personal data is processed; to request information regarding the processing activities; to learn the purposes of processing; to learn these persons in case they are transferred to third parties at home or abroad; to request correction if they are processed incompletely or incorrectly; to request the deletion or destruction of personal data if the reasons requiring processing disappear or the Company does not have a legal basis or legitimate interest to process the data in question; to request the Company to ensure that third parties authorized by the Company and processing personal data respect your rights within the scope of this section; to object to adverse results that may arise as a result of processing personal data through automated systems and; to request compensation for this damage if you suffer damage due to unlawful processing.”

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Data Controller Title : Akyön Tesis Yönetim Hizmetleri A.Ş. 
Mersis no : 0045030935600001
E-mail address :  [email protected] 
Registered Electronic Mail Address :   [email protected]    
Physical Mail address : Kazlıçeşme Mahallesi Kennedy Cad. No: 52 C/4 Zeytinburnu/İstanbul