Perasma will present All Things Become Islands Before My Senses, a group exhibition of site-specific installations in dialogue with historic venues across the island of Leros this summer. Opening from 30 June – 18 August 2024, the exhibition will feature a mixture of new and existing works by more than 17 international artists including William Kentridge, Goshka Macuga, Cevdet Erek, Maryam Turkey and Lindsey Mendick, installed across six significant locations on the island.
The exhibition will explore the intricate relationship between time, water, and the history of the island of Leros. It will revolve around the idea of how the fluidity of existence can give rise to both beauty and adversity, especially on an island with such a complex and rich history. The cyclical nature of time on Leros is intertwined with its maritime heritage. As ships come and go, carrying with them stories of trade, exploration, and conquest, the island becomes a nexus where past and present intersect. History, mythology, fantasy, ghosts and reality, overlay themselves upon the island like the currents of its waters.
Nestled in the Dodecanese Islands very close to Turkey’s mainland, the island bears the marks of a diverse and sometimes turbulent history, including decades of Italian occupation, which shaped the island’s distinctive architecture. Leros’s architectural landscape, characterised by urban neoclassicism and early Italian modernism in tandem with the archaic tradition and nature of the island, becomes the setting for All Things Become Islands Before My Senses.
Press release from Perasma
Image: Necla Rüzgar. Invisible Garden. 2023. Image courtesy of Perasma
