The ‘music rooms’ designed by the artist, who was born in 1972 in Van, Turkey - Aladağ's fourth for Athens after Berlin, Istanbul and Brussels - hark back to the salons of the Biedermeier period, where music was played in the home. Deviating from the model, the artist tears the furniture out of its passivity, transforming it into instruments thanks to the cooperation of local instrument makers. In Athens, she found suitable pieces of furniture at flea markets and in junk shops. ‘But the original function was to be retained,’ said the artist in the Monopol interview.
The installation in the Athens Conservatory served as the basis for performances in which musicians played the instrumental furniture.
Nevin Aladağ studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and lives and works in Berlin. In addition to Documenta 14, her works have recently been shown at the Venice Art Biennale, the Neues Museum in Nuremberg and the Museum Tinguely in Basel.
