Füsun Onur, who was born in Istanbul in 1938 and currently based there, is one of the most outstanding artists working in Türkiye today. Although her impressive and varied oeuvre has been readily accessible to an international audience in group exhibitions on a regular basis, it has not been sufficiently appreciated. The first survey exhibition of her work was held at Arter in Istanbul, ten years ago. Over the past few years, the Museum Ludwig has mounted major surveys on significant artists whose work had previously only been cursorily acknowledged, including Joan Mitchell (2015), Nil Yalter (2019), and Isamu Noguchi (2022). This exhibition with Füsun Onur represents another focus on a body of work whose significance has not yet been fully appreciated.
Her works challenge visitors to give space to their own imagination. This is especially the case for the synesthetic installations in which Onur transfers music into the surroundings using rows of everyday objects. Most recently, Once upon a Time, her contribution to the Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022, brought her back into the public eye. The large-format installation consists of miniature figures hand-made from wire that transport visitors into a world of fantasy. The exhibition in the Museum Ludwig comprises ninety-four installations, some of which fill entire rooms, from the past sixty years. In addition, Onur will create a new, large installation for her retrospective.