Turkish visual artist Deniz Sağdıç is making waves with her latest exhibition at Istanbul Airport. Her art is made out of waste materials like zippers, buttons, old museum tickets, intricate computer parts, and trash bags. The exhibition, titled “0” Zero Point, features 31 artworks, including portraits of well-known faces such as David Attenborough and John Malkovich. The exhibition at Istanbul Airport’s international and domestic terminals is open for visitors until mid-March 2023.
Transforming Waste into Art
Sağdıç’s use of waste materials is a response to the traditional approach to art. She seeks to challenge the notion of what is considered art and create new intellectual areas by giving new meanings to objects that have lost their function. Her art is an immersive exhibition of ordinary objects as they are, instead of classical methods of art, such as oil painting or sculpture, which is called conceptual art.
Sağdıç sources her materials from the airport’s waste management center, drawing attention to the amount of waste airports produce daily. As the busiest airport in Europe and the 13th-busiest in the world, Istanbul Airport generates a considerable amount of waste. Sağdıç’s aim is to create a new intellectual area where people can re-question the new meanings of such objects.
Working with Waste Materials
The process of creating art out of waste materials is not an easy one. Sağdıç observes and experiments with each material for days before she decides how to use it. Through this process, she tries to get to know the material and listen to what it is saying. She then gives life to the material in the form of an artwork.
Sağdıç’s use of textile waste products like zippers, buttons, and discarded fabric is particularly fitting, given Turkey’s dependence on the garment and textile industry. She has also experimented with denim, a material she calls “a communication platform” that is recognised worldwide.
Sağdıç wants to bring her art to the people rather than have it seen only by a select few in a gallery or museum. Sağdıç’s art is a unique and innovative way of transforming waste materials into art, and it is gaining attention worldwide.
