Borusan Contemporary has officially unveiled Haunted, a major new collection exhibition that interrogates the complex relationship between contemporary technology and human perception. Curated by Dr. Kumru Eren, the exhibition explores how artificial intelligence, advanced data technologies, and algorithmic systems are fundamentally transforming the ways in which images are produced, perceived, and archived within our collective memory.
The Evolution of the Digital Image
The exhibition shifts the discourse beyond treating technology as a mere medium, instead focusing on how computational systems act as active participants in the shaping of reality. By tracing the movement from the image as a static representation toward the image as an evolving, autonomous system, Haunted examines the unstable boundaries between human and machine, the physical and the digital, and reality versus simulation.
A Curated Dialogue of Innovation
The exhibition features an impressive roster of artists whose works span artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and interactive systems. Memo Akten explores the intersections of consciousness and nature through deep learning, while Rafael Lozano-Hemmer utilizes responsive technologies to integrate the viewer’s physical presence into the data-driven architecture of his work. Similarly, teamLab creates immersive digital environments that dissolve the traditional barriers between the artwork and the observer.
The technical precision of Quayola’s computational reinterpretation of art history sits alongside the kinetic, industrial soundscapes of Zimoun. DRIFT contributes by exploring the behavior of natural systems through interactive technologies, while Marco Brambilla offers immersive moving-image environments that reassemble fragments of cinema. Furthermore, Daniel Canogar translates digital information into dynamic, spatial experiences, providing a tangible form to the invisible data streams that define our era.
Contrasting Temporalities
A notable inclusion in Haunted is the work of Kemal Önsoy, whose layered works on paper introduce a distinct temporal dimension to the exhibition. His practice, grounded in the physical act of painting, gesture, and material accumulation, serves as a vital counterpoint to the machine-generated forms surrounding them. By placing Önsoy’s tactile, human-centered work in dialogue with computational systems, the exhibition poses a critical question: what occurs to the nature of the image when its production is no longer exclusively human?
The Ghost in the Machine
The title Haunted is deeply rooted in the history of Perili Köşk, the iconic mansion overlooking the Bosphorus that has housed Borusan Contemporary since 2011. Originally constructed as the Yusuf Ziya Paşa Mansion, the building’s history of interrupted construction during the First World War led locals to dub it the “Haunted Mansion.” The exhibition recontextualizes this local folklore, suggesting that our contemporary “ghosts” are no longer spirits of the past, but the invisible, omnipresent systems of data and algorithms that permeate our daily lives.
As machines continue to learn how to perceive, process, and generate imagery, Haunted asks what it truly means to be human in a world increasingly mediated by nonhuman intelligence. The exhibition serves as a mirror to a future that is already inhabiting our present, manifesting as a technological presence that is impossible to ignore. Haunted is currently on view in parallel with Time Space Geometry, the inaugural solo exhibition in Türkiye by the acclaimed Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri.
