AMCN exhibition 2025

Erdal Bilici, ‘Push & pull’
Porcelain, cast iron readymade, steel connection
2025

A fleet lies in wait on the lake. Gray figures swaying on the water’s surface. They have the same shapes as the jaws of large excavators, but they could also resemble prehistoric sets of teeth that have risen to the surface. They are made of porcelain, but they are not going anywhere; they are tethered to the bottom of the lake by their own metal casting moulds that work as anchors. Or maybe as umbilical cords, connecting past and present, underground and above ground, destruction and creation. Water and earth.

Bilici’s sculptures might appear like oversized residual waste from the dental clinic, if not for the meticulous arrangement, reminiscent of an altar or a cultish ritual. In ages past, people would use animal teeth to make jewellery or thought of them as magical amulets. Today, little magic is left in our relationship with tools: they are expected to obey human commands, submitting to the slightest press of a button.