Save Me

İMALAT-HANE will host Nancy Atakan’s solo exhibition, Save Me, from February 15 to April 12, 2025. Curated by Can Küçük, the exhibition explores how Atakan incorporates places she has visited and wished to preserve, people with whom she has formed strong connections, and memories that have stayed with her into her artistic practice. The exhibition’s three-part narrative moves between different forms of togetherness shaped around Atakan’s works and a more personal space where she shares her inner voice.

The exhibition’s first section focuses on the parallels between the artist’s practice of combining fabrics from different periods, people, and places on the same plane and her process of bringing loved ones together through her work. The second section opens up her personal space through words embedded in the works and images of personal objects. In the final section, Atakan addresses the concept of friendship, reflecting on the transient nature of existence through images of her own body and close friends.

Save Me brings to the exhibition space the collaborative working practices that Nancy Atakan and Can Küçük have developed in various contexts over the years, presenting works they have co-produced for the first time. Additionally, a video installation co-created by Atakan and her longtime collaborator Dilek Aydın, with whom she has worked on video projects, will be on display. Atakan’s photography series Save Me / Beni Yok Etme, initiated in 2010 to document buildings demolished in the city, expands its focus to locations in Bursa, evolving into a new production specifically for this exhibition.

About Nancy Atakan
Born in the United States, Nancy Atakan has played an active role in the Istanbul art scene since the 1970s as an artist, educator, and art historian. Her research-driven and collaborative work focuses on ecology, femininity, identity, gender politics, memory, globalization, urban transformation, and the relationship between image and text. She observes contemporary events with a light and humorous approach while referencing Turkey’s history and culture. Prioritizing conceptual engagement, her diverse practice includes textiles, embroidery, digital prints, photography, neon, and video.

Her works have been exhibited in Turkey at institutions such as Arkas Art Center, SALT Beyoğlu, Elgiz Museum, OMM (Odunpazarı Modern Museum), CerModern, and Istanbul Modern Art Museum. Internationally, her work has been shown at Gazelli Art House (Baku, Azerbaijan), Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis (Bregenz), Pi Artworks (London), Akademie der Kunst (Berlin), Riksidrottsmuseet (Stockholm), ISCP – International Studio & Curatorial Program (New York), Nordic Art Association NFK (Stockholm), and Vasteras Art Museum (Vasteras, Sweden).

In 2007, Atakan co-founded the artist initiative 5533. She is represented by Pi Artworks Istanbul/London.

About Can Küçük
Born in 1993 in Antalya, Can Küçük graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University’s Industrial Design department. His practice explores elements of the industrial environment, particularly those connected to the body. He investigates their potential functions and meanings, examines their impact on social conditions and lifestyles, and seeks to make the personal and emotional visible within rigid structures.

His exhibitions include: Girilmez (with Cem Örgen), İMALAT-HANE (Bursa, 2022); How does the body take shape under pressure?, Queer Museum Vienna & Volkskundemuseum (Vienna, 2022); Koyun Koyuna, Arter (Istanbul, 2022); Hav Hav Hav Hav Hav, Pilot Gallery (Istanbul, 2020); Problem gelöst? Geschichte(n) eines Virus, Shedhalle (Zurich, 2019); Pozitif Alan, Operation Room (Istanbul, 2018); Otelde Bir Gün, Zilberman Gallery (Istanbul, 2018).

He lives and works in Istanbul and served as the director of the artist initiative 5533, located in the Istanbul Manifaturacılar Bazaar, from 2021 to 2024.