Cansu Cürgen & Avşar Gürpınar: When Pigs Fly

In the public artwork When Pigs Fly, designed by Cansu Cürgen and Avşar Gürpınar for Yanköşe, the Ambiguous Standards of Time appear on LED signs, which we have all become closely familiar with from daily life.

Time may be measured, expressed, and fragmented, precisely, with tools such as chronometers and alarm clocks or more coarsely with hourglasses and egg timers. The relativity of time is not solely within the purview of the sciences but is contingent on cultural context; time can also be manifested through relational perception and cultural connotations. As Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar writes in The Time Regulation Institute, “The clock itself is space; its ticking is time; its setting is human. This shows that time and space coexist with humans.” (Tanpınar, A.H., 2023, [1961], Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü, p.32, translation by the artists).

Located in Kabataş, one of the busiest transportation hubs of Istanbul, the installation challenges the viewers to question their perception of time. In this bustling crossroad where different modes of transportation intersect, and people and vehicles are constantly in a hurry, the daily fragments of time, whose mathematical translation is almost impossible, flicker, drift, flow, intersect, and flash.

About Cansu Cürgen & Avşar Gürpınar
Dr Cansu Cürgen is an architectural designer, scholar, and co-founder of the Ambiguous Standards Institute. She lives and works in the UK and teaches at Loughborough University School of Architecture, Building, and Civil Engineering. She holds a PhD, an MSc, and a BSc in Architecture. Her research interests include the economy-politics of design, daily life studies, urban interventions, open-source design practices, the history of design standards, and theory and criticism of modern architecture. Her design research projects have been exhibited in numerous design weeks and biennials internationally.

Some of her recent works are The Ambiguous Standards Institute’s solo exhibition, held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021, and her editorial and associate-curatorial roles in the The Shift / Vardiya project for the Pavilion of Turkey at the 16th Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennial. She co-edited and co-authored the four-volume project book Vardiya / The Shift, published by Yapı Kredi Publications, Istanbul, 2018. The Art Institute of Chicago has acquired several pieces of her work for the Ambiguous Standards Institute for their permanent collection.

Dr Avşar Gürpınar is a scholar, designer, and co-founder of the Ambiguous Standards Institute. In 2021, The Arts Council England endorsed him as an exceptional talent in arts and culture. Avşar is working as a lecturer in the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. He is a member of the Design Research Society, a reviewer for The Design Journal, and an occasional critic for DAMN and MONU magazines. His research focuses on critical design, cultural studies, and art and design history. His recent works include his solo exhibition It Was Your Toy that Was Broken in 2021 and The Ambiguous Standards Institute’s solo exhibition held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. The Art Institute of Chicago has acquired several pieces of his work for their permanent collection.

About Yanköşe
Yanköşe is a nonprofit platform for art in the public domain, realized by Kahve Dünyası, Turkey’s largest coffee chain. It provides a space of 260 square meters of walls for two invited artists every year to showcase their experimental contemporary artworks. A selection committee of five people—Kahve Dünyası executives Dilara Altınkılıç Kutmangil and Kaan Altınkılıç, art critic Evrim Altuğ, graphic designer Bülent Erkmen, and curator Fatoş Üstek—assesses the artists’ projects. A magazine-size publication accompanies the exhibitions.