The red, brick mansion, located at the foot of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, is quite eye-catching with its unusual exterior and grandeur. Constructed at the beginning of the 20^th century, this 10-floor building is widely known as Perili Köşk (Haunted Mansion), and has been serving as the headquarters of Borusan Holding since 2007.

On 17^th of September, Borusan Holding launched an innovative art project called Borusan Contemporary, turning their headquarters into an office-museum, granting access to visitors to see their incredible art collection on weekends. Apart from some notepads, phones, family photographs, and personal libraries, employees clear away everything on their desks so that visitors can enter the Haunted Mansion and walk around the admirable office-turned-exhibition-space. 

Borusan Contemporary is currently housing two collections on view until 11 December 2011: Segment #1,the selection of works brought together by Dr. Necmi Sönmez, an independentcurator, art critic, and writer based in Düsseldorf; and Yedi Yeni İş (Seven New Works), the contemporary art collection curated by Sylvia Kouvali and Mario Codognato.

The prioritization of New Media Art, including photography, video and light art, is the departure point of the Segment series, which will be renewed every three months.  The title ofSeven New Worksis quite self-explanatory as the exhibition features seven new works by artists Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Burak Arıkan, Cevdet Erek, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Esra Ersen, Gülsün Karamustafa, and Nasan Tur.

According to Dr. Necmi Sönmez, what unites the works presented in Segment #1 is the zeitgeist, “the spirit of the times,” and Seven New Works surely mirrors the same theme with a focus on contemporary art from Turkey.

Upon entering the exhibition space on the second floor, five works of theSeven New Works exhibition greet the viewer. The first work is Burak Arıkan’s interactive projection Collector Artist Network: Phase 1, which allows the visitors to explore the mansion through a self-referencing project. Arıkan’s mapping investigates the relationships between collectors in Turkey and artists here and abroad. The viewer can click on a name on the touch screen and follow the thread of network connections with more clicks and drags. Even though the piece is visually unresolved now, better coherency may be reached when this ongoing project develops.

Around Arıkan’s on-going mapping project are four video pieces. One of them is Ergin Çavuşoğlu’s Desire Lines (Duende), a three-channel video piece that deals with the dissonance between history and destiny with regards to what is considered rational. While two of the screens show scientific approaches in archeological excavations, the other screen is dedicated to two fortunetellers who interpret the findings by “reading” the objects found on the site. The work is quite overwhelming since the audience has to follow all three screens simultaneously. Regardless, Desire Lines (Duende) is sure to encourage the viewers to have a fresh look at one of the oldest discussions in the world: the relationship between history, truth, and rationality.

Nasan Tur’s video The Histories of Maraş/Varosha brings together the stories told by tour guides in the deserted district of Maraş/Varosha in between northern and southern Cyprus. The division of Cyprus is one of the unresolved political issues of modern European history, and it is still a touchy subject for many. Tur’s video work is based on the narratives of three tour guides who offer different views of Maraş/Varosha, which became a tourist attraction after military control of the area ceased.

The 3^rd 2^nd Bridgeby Cevdet Erek is a video work about the construction process of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the second bridge that connects the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. The work is pieced together by photos and videos that the artist took and also found in archives. Although an inspired piece, the lack of narrative and linear visual unfolding inevitably force the viewers to tackle with the play on spaces constructed in the video.

In Different Estimations Little Moscow, Aslı Çavuşoğlu attempts to build a collective memory by capturing remnants of the violence that took place in the northern town of Fatsa in Ordu during the 1980 military coup. Right before the coup, Fikri Sönmez, mayor of Fatsa, formed “People Committees” to install a participatory democracy in the district, only to be imprisoned during the coup and to have the democracy project destroyed. The video features visuals of abandoned spaces (one of which is where the “People Committees” took place), police cars, informer’s masks, and books, aiming to find a connection between present-day Fatsa and its past. Although, the visuals seem to focus on absence, they also reveal the traces of that violence and the scars that it left behind.

Upon exiting the space where these brand new works are featured, the viewer walks face first into a piece from Segment #1—the interactive mirror sculpture that Daniel Rozin installed in the second floor elevator hall. These mirrors “sense” the person standing before them and change their angle, thus changing the shape of the sculpture depending on the viewer’s motions. 

From here on, the white-wall exhibition space ends and some of the best works of 20^th century contemporary art in Segment #1 take over. One signature work of the office/museum is Peter Kogler’s wall paintingcalled Untitled (2008), specifically designed for the mansion. The digital print of Kogler’s abstract labyrinths carries one all the way up to the tenth floor, covering the elevator halls and staircase walls of the entire building. It is highly recommended that the visitors walk up, instead of taking the elevator because surprising artworks await them, one of which is Alan Rath’s Flying Eyeballs on the way up to the fifth floor.

Before one reaches the fifth floor, Esra Ersen’s video Casting for a Canary Opera and Gülsün Karamustafa’s Insomniambule—the two remaining video works of Seven New Works—can be seen on the fourth floor across from the office space.

Meticulously installed on the walls and hallways all around the 10-floor building are pieces by 20^th century’s leading artists, such as Liam Gillick, Jerry Zeniuk, Sol LeWitt, Marina Zurkow Donald Judd, Keith Sonnier, Robert Mapplethorpe, Daniel Rozin, as well as works of Turkish contemporary artists, such as Ayşe Erkmen’s ceramic tilesColorful (2009), Kutluğ Ataman’s sculpture form Journey to the Moon (2008) and video Water (2009), Bengü Karaduman’s video Mirror Shadows (2007), and Bedri Baykam’s I’m Bleeding painting series.

Overall, the office allows the viewer to have a more personal experience with the artworks as family portraits and personal notes of executive directors mingle with paintings, sculptures, and photos, as well as the fantastic views of the Bosphorus. Especially the light sculpture Ballroom Chandelier Installation by Keith Sonnier in the meeting room at the top floor and the Istanbul Wall Painting on the two adjacent walls of the room commissioned to Jerry Zeniuk are must-sees for the ultimate office/museum experience.

If you would like to see one of the most inspiring collections in Turkey coupled with an innovative approach to exhibiting, head to the Haunted Mansion. The museum can be visited on weekends between 10:00 am and 08:00 pm. The entrance fee is 10 TL for adults and 5 TL for students and seniors.

When: 17 September - 11 December 2011

Where: Borusan Contemporary; Perili Köşk, Hisar Caddesi No.5, Baltalimanı; P: (0212) 393 52 00