MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

Alptekin was always thinking about the relations between banality, boredom and depression in the modern world. From his own experiences, the artist believed that resignation to depression was superior to struggling with it. Rather, the mental space of depression was for him an alternative form of reality and wisdom, and was the source of inspiration for much of his practice. He created numerous installations about depression, each including the central presence of the psychoanalyst’s divan used for diagnosing patients. The first of these was Artist in Depression, which is a simple, rather clinical setting with a hospital screen and other curious objects such as boxing gloves and a massage roller.