A Question of Taste

Group exhibition

February 23, 2021 – August 8, 2021

The Pera Museum, Meşrutiyet Cad 65, Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul

A Question of Taste is all about kitsch, a German term coined in the 1860s and ’70s for cheap, popular paintings or sketches. In today’s age of diversity, ambiguity and ineffability, does kitsch still have meaning? Should avant-garde and kitsch be partners rather than rivals?

A Question of Taste brings together the work of 13 artists and focuses on the rise of mass culture. It examines concepts of taste and class divisions.

Assembled by the curator and writer Ulya Soley, the show features work by Alex Da Corte & Jayson Musson, Bruno Miguel, Cameron Askin, FAILE, Farah Al Qasimi, Gülsün Karamustafa, Hayırlı Evlat, Miao Ying, Nick Cave, Olia Lialina & Mike Tyka, Pierre et Gilles, Slavs and Tatars and Volkan Aslan.

Farah Al Qasimi
It’s Not Easy Being Seen 7, 2016
Archival inkjet print, 120 x 96 cm
© The artist, The Third Line

Alex Da Corte
In collaboration with Jayson Musson
Easternsports, 2014
Soundtrack: Devonté Hynes
four-channel video, 146’
Tile, carpet, neon, metal chairs, artificial oranges, diffusers, orange essential oil
© The artist, Sadie Coles and Salon94

Pierre et Gilles
Flowers and Tears (Lolly Wish), 2016
Inkjet photograph printed on canvas and painted, 174 x 126 cm
© The artist, Galerie Templon

Olia Lialina
In collaboration with Mike Tyka
*Treasure Trove*, 2017
HTML, JS, GIFs
© The artist

Gülsün Karamustafa
Watermelon, 1986
Textile, found object, 100 x 143 cm
© The artist, Büro Sarıgedik

Volkan Aslan
Nice to See You, 2021
Installation with porcelain figures produced by the artist, and Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection
© The artist
Commissioned for the exhibition A Question of Taste.