mentalKLINIK

mentalKLINIK mentalKLINIK is an Istanbul, Brussels-based artist duo composed of Yasemin Baydar and Birol Demir who began their collaborative practice in 1998. :mentalKLINIK deftly walks with undisguised dexterity invisible political strategies and social dynamics through ultra-contemporary devices of apparent lightness. Like a disco ball, :mentalKLINIK's exhibitions are a selection of his multifaceted approach to his universe. Resisting the limitations of a single vocabulary or style, his world is a playful world full of hedonistic appeal that can be experienced as festive and glamorous but also surprising when one approaches to discover with a closer look an underlying violence that suggests a bad trip at an afterparty or a spooky beginning of the end. Their works move between emotional and robotic attitudes. The artist duo reclaims the sparkling and authoritative visual language of the media and nocturnal spheres in a climate of sensory hyperstimulation engendered by multiple neons, slogans, beams of light, mirror balls and confetti while playing with our unanimous attraction to shiny and seductive objects. It's all the encryption work we are summoned to, between the real and the fake, the artificial and the superficial, as if it were all a case of forgery. :mentalKLINIK has an open laboratory approach to process, production, roles, conception and presentation. His works are a mix of oxymora and paradoxes, black humor, ranging from immersive time-based installations to sculptures and objects that thwart categorization. The experimental approach of :mentalKLINIK has been praised in numerous international exhibitions, such as Bitter Medicine#01 (Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade) curated by Carl de Smet, Bitter Medicine#02 (Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul) curated by Necmi Sonmez, 'FreshCut' (MAK, Vienna_ Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art) curated by Marlies Wirth and Co-operation Would be Highly Appreciated at SCAD Museum GA, USA, curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg. They have participated in numerous international exhibitions, including Istanbul Modern-Rotterdam at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam, 2012); Izmir Contemporary Art Triennial (Izmir, 2010); and Tomorrow, Now (MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2007). They opened an introspective at La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, curated by Jerome Sans in 2018. They have had two major solo exhibitions at Galerist, Istanbul, titled That's Fucking Awesome curated by Jerome Sans (2011) and rABBIThOLE (2009); and a solo exhibition at Isabelle van den Eynde Gallery titled Thank You For your Cooperation (2014), a solo exhibition in Belgrade in 2018 titled Catastrophically Gorgeous at Eugster II Belgrade, curated by Yasmina Reggad.