Undone - Ayşe Erkmen

Undone, a compelling exploration of the unrealised projects of the artist, offering unique insight into the conceptual processes and imaginative breadth behind works that never reached physical completion. Rather than focusing solely on finished installations, the monograph gives voice to ideas halted by logistical, political, or spatial limitations – ideas that retain their force in conceptual form. In stark contrast to her directly commissioned public works, the fifty-three projects included in this volume were often based on competitions to which Erkmen was invited. Yet these unrealised works, far from being mere fragments or oversights, are brought to life through her own sketches, renderings, and concise descriptions, revealing their conceptual rigour and expansive imagination.

Edited by Ayşe Orhun Gültekin, the monograph also features two insightful texts by Friedrich Meschede and Cem İleri, which deepen the discussion of Erkmen’s artistic strategy, the broader contexts of public art, and the question of realisation in contemporary practice as a complex, multifaceted process. Rather than valuing art solely by its physical manifestation, Undone challenges conventional definitions of success, presenting Erkmen as a thoughtful practitioner who engages with space, society, form, and materials on her own terms.

The publication foregrounds the importance of intention, context, and potential – portraying Erkmen not only as a sculptor or installation artist, but as a thinker deeply invested in place, public space, and the poetics of what might have been. Instead of treating unrealised ideas as absences, Undone presents them as rich sites of meaning – testimonies to art’s ability to unsettle, reimagine, and ‘loosen the seams of reality’, as Fulya Erdemci once said. This volume was compiled in memory of Erdemci (1962–2022), a key advocate for art in public spaces.