A Collective in the Context of Gender in Contemporary Art: Atılkunst

Abstract

This research focuses on Atılkunst, an activist and culture-disrupting collective formed by three women artists (Gülçin Aksoy, Gözde İlkin, and Yasemin Nur Toksoy) in Turkey between 2006 and 2013, and their productions under the title "Gündem Fazlası" (Excess Agenda) which critically address gender issues. Atılkunst coined its name by phonetically combining the word "atıl" from the Turkish comic book character Tarkan's phrase "Atıl Kurt" (Wolf, Attack!) published in a Turkish newspaper (Hürriyet Gazetesi), and the German word "kunst" meaning art. Atılkunst, a collective that operates in various fields such as exhibitions, performances, artist books, and guest artist programs, produced their most significant works under the title “Excess Agenda”.Atılkunst created these stickers with an ironic attitude by keeping up with the constantly changing agenda of Turkey and the world. Produced once a week with an artistic approach, these stickers reached many people through the internet and email. Among the excess agenda stickers that covered political, economic, cultural, and social events, those specifically related to gender have been selected for this research. The productions of Atılkunst, an important artist collective in the contemporary art scene in Turkey, revealed the gender codes in Turkey and allowed us to discuss the recent history of Turkey.