Invisible Cities: Karisman

The interview is conducted as part of the SuperRare April Exhibition: Invisible Cities, curated by an and Elisabeth Johs.

Karisman is a generative artist with a CG background who has been feeding himself with urban culture, glitch art, and futurism. He tries to challenge the mediums to meet analog and cyber, past and future, real and surreal. He believes that every asset around is natural, and already is a muse as well as an instrument to create. In his works, he asks the what-if questions about life and surroundings.

A. Describe the cities in your art

I create anonymous cities. They haven’t existed in the past, nor are they a pure projection of the future; but they are cities that are real and imaginary at the same time. The cities I use are every city that ever existed and like no city ever. 

B. How did you become interested in using cities as the subject in your art? Which aspects of cities fascinate you the most?

I love the cityscapes in particular because they are made up of different buildings that are all unique, but also repetitive at the same time. Cities have fractal properties that I play within my art.

C. What do cities mean for you?

Cities are like shared memories of collective consciousness. The human mind always operates with the ideas of time and space. It is impossible to imagine otherwise, where there is no time and no space. We assign meaning to a series of events with the help of time and space, and make them into memories. I am interested in the idea of infinity and timelessness. It’s very hard to visualize time; therefore with manipulating places and cities in particular; I try to indirectly play with the idea of time.

D. Which are your favorite cities? How do these cities inspire you and influence your art?

Every artist’s first inspirations are their immediate surroundings. Mine was my hometown Istanbul. Istanbul has a very multicultural history, where it was the capital for many empires throughout history. Therefore Istanbul is very diverse in its architectural and cultural elements; where there are historical monuments near the futuristic skyscrapers. I love the chaos in it. I also like New York and Tokyo; for their skylines with tall skyscrapers; and also for the chaotic element they all share. New York,  Tokyo, and Istanbul are all vivid, dynamic, and living cities; which inspire my design aesthetic. 

E. What are you trying to express through depiction of cities? In portraying cities, what are the (bigger or…