Gülmen, Controversy Teeter/Totter, 2025

The swing placed on the Union area I’m so in Love – I need my space It makes visible a tension that shapes many interpersonal relationships: closeness and distance, attachment and autonomy. Two opposing statements confront each other at the ends of the red sculpture and become dynamic through their use. Balance is achieved only in interaction with another: it remains fragile, temporary and ever-changing. Uncertainty, willpower or chance determine the balance and point to attitudes that can be shifted as easily as they can be lost.

The work invites interaction and functions as a social situation: a device for play and a model for thinking at the same time. What at first appears playful and graphic, unfolds in space as a physical metaphor for negotiation processes between positions, perspectives, and people. The terms are not only juxtaposed; they tilt, react, and strike back. With Gülmen’s work, the public space becomes a place of dialogue, movement, and shared negotiation.

As a perceptive observer of contemporary society, Esra Gülmen she speaks to her audience on equal terms. Her works address central issues of our present, such as love, identity, racism, and human rights. They employ a media-driven visual language, such as intentional blurring, pixelation, and typographic reduction. Thus, closeness and distance, clarity and ambivalence are visually and physically explored.