Artweeks Istanbul 2025
Liza Libenko, Julius Reichel, Eda Şarman and Serkan Yüksel 15.10.2025 - 26.10.2025Curator: Emin Akyar

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Between the Familiar and the Unknown - As if Alive

In an age defined by accelerating technologies, blurred boundaries between organic and artificial life, and shifting cultural narratives, the question of what it means to be human grows increasingly complex. This exhibition situates itself within the tension of the Uncanny Valley – the unsettling emotional terrain where things appear human-like yet remain unfamiliar – and extends it toward visions of a Post-AI humanity.

The selected works of Julius Reichel and Liza Libenko from the renowned Karpuchina Gallery (CZ), and the Turkish artists Serkan Yuksel and Eda Sarman, collectively explore a space where human, machine, and nature intermingle. They speak to the fragile, often uncanny, sensations that arise when our reflection in the world no longer fully belongs to us: when a face, a body, or a symbol is nearly recognisable but not quite; when the future appears at once utopian and dystopian; when technological artifice fuses seamlessly with organic forms.

The curatorial vision is deliberately human-centered yet entangled with non-human elements, underscoring the ways in which our futures, whether technological or ecological, remain anchored in deep emotional and cultural roots. The dialogue created here invites viewers to confront what is familiar, what is alien, and the ambiguous threshold between the two.

– Emin Akyar