Sarkis Zabunyan enhances art space with his own ‘fingerprints’ in ‘Opus’

The exhibition comprises a range of the artist’s works that include large paintings based on architectural plans of historic structures and his neon light installations, created for the occasion and displayed for the first time.

Music and interpretation

“I’ve been interpreting all the works that I’ve been doing since 1975,” the 72-year-old artist explains in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman. “When an installation or a work of mine goes somewhere, it takes all the interpretations with it because works don’t want to cease anywhere and they require to be continuously interpreted.”

“I call this the ‘prize of war’,” Zabunyan says, explaining what he understands from interpreting and his consideration of art as a living entity. “I recognized this when I was in Berlin. You go to a museum and enter, for example, a hall where African statues are on exhibit, and in another hall you see statues from the North Pole. One was born in minus 40 degrees Celsius, while the other was born in 40 degrees Celsius, and both have now been frozen at 20 degrees. You take these works and capture them, and there remains only the image where the living aspect of the work dies. My war is against this.”

“In Turkey, we don’t have any exhibitions created inside museums,” Zabunyan says, talking about the approach of museums and art centers while explaining his intentions in his previous exhibition, “Site,” which was displayed at İstanbul Modern. “Museums have always taken exhibitions as a whole and put them in their halls, leaving them motionless. That is not an exhibition for me. An exhibition is born in the space [it is displayed at], and I believe that museums should create exhibitions.”

“And in this process, the interpretation is revealed spontaneously just as in the interpretation of musical works. A song can be interpreted, and there are partitions in music that are realized in a different way by every musician. Some musicians perform the compositions of certain composers better because they either feel very close to that music or they analyze them better. The same holds true for art. I consider plans as partitions and I’m trying to perform them with my hands.”

In his exhibit, Zabunyan also uses watercolor applied with his own fingertips on paper. “I used a new medium for the interpretation,” he says. “I use the prints left by my fingertips just like musical notes. And in every plan the way I touch changes, too. I learn how to stroke and I begin to summarize. This is the same in music. There are some orchestra conductors who summarize the whole partitions and, just like that, I began to perform my works like a musical partition.”

With the enchanting addition of the artist’s own “fingerprints,” Zabunyan takes the audience to the world of architectural plans, from architect Sinan’s Selimiye Mosque and Atik-i Valide Mosque to other examples of Ottoman architecture, such as the Rumeli Fortress and the Ulu Mosque as well as the most significant figures of modern architecture, such as the Cathedral of Le Corbusier in Ronchamp, Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Parliament Social Complex in Bangladesh by Louis Khan. Zabunyan expanded the range of his works with his reinterpretation of the Ryoanji Temple in Japan and the Ajanta Caves in India.

“This is the plan of the Hagia Sophia of 1453,” notes Zabunyan, explaining that the later version of the plan is quite intricate due to the additional structures built during the Ottoman period. “But I guess I will work and try to interpret that plan one day,” he says. “How did Ottoman architecture touch this structure? I have to observe it very carefully because there are two different architectural styles interpenetrating. But I have not solved this yet. I’m working on it, and I will do it one day.”

Magnum opus

Even though the architectural plans on view at the exhibition are from very different places and cultures, there are some points in common among these structures for Zabunyan. “They are all spaces or plans which enrich me and influence me a lot,” Zabunyan says and asks: “Why does an architectural structure become a masterpiece? Why do you want to go and see these places continuously? And why do you want to leave some places immediately? Because these places are consumed in 30 seconds, and you feel this. For example, when you examine the plan of the cathedral of Le Corbusier, you see that it is like a signature. And this brought to my mind the Rumeli Fortress. And so they began to intersect in my mind.

“There are many religious structures in this exhibition, but this was not something I intended to do,” Zabunyan notes. “There aren’t many civil structures in this exhibition. This also reveals the analysis of the concept of sacred. I’m not searching for the relationship between the sacredness of art and of religion; rather, I believe an artwork has sacredness inherent in itself.” In this respect, Zabunyan does not discriminate between religions; there are monuments belonging to the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims and the Buddhists. “There is always dialogue between cultures,” says Zabunyan, who has had an intercultural influence in his own background. “Even though my family is Gregorian Armenian, they sent me to Catholic school so that I could learn French,” says Zabunyan. “But I couldn’t embrace that culture. After some time, you begin to realize where and how to nurture yourself. For example, when you go to the Hagia Sophia, there’s a fear because there is darkness when you enter; you can’t even see yourself. A mosque is very different. For instance, you feel yourself in the Selimiye; that huge dome doesn’t scare you, and I can work very well there,” Zabunyan says about the Selimiye Mosque, where he has his unique rituals, such as going there every year and observing the mosque being washed under the daylight right at 9 at 12 o’clock. “But, I can’t do this for some places because some plans in this exhibition have never been built,” he concludes.

The common ground among the architectural structures is reflected in the neon writing as well in one which expresses this character in the clearest way: that of “Sinan Kahn.” “There’s a vast silence both in Sinan and Kahn, and a voice,” says Zabunyan. “They both have an impression as if they were raised out of the soil. Kahn was an American Jew, and he realized his monumental works in India and Dhaka. I was so fascinated.”

One of the structures that influenced Zabunyan the most is the Mütevekkiliye Mosque in Samara. “I don’t know the architect of the mosque,” says Zabunyan, “but … it is unbelievable. It is such a modern structure, just like minimalist art. A mathematical plan was employed in its [design, made] in the eighth century. It was impossible for this plan not to influence me.”