Press release

At the edge of function and fiction, Gülbin Ünlü’s new commission for the staff entrance of Haus der Kunst unfolds in a space of ongoing suspension – where access is withheld and completion deferred. The work lingers at a dwelling in a state of anticipation that never resolves.

Nostralgia expands space and time through subtle interventions in the museum’s overlooked thresholds. Beginning at the staff entrance, Gülbin Ünlü invites visitors to navigate the building through inaccessible, yet fully present, doors. It is an invitation to move through the institution without destination, to attend to the act of encountering. The work becomes a quiet choreography of stillness, exploring the latent potential of spaces when activated through presence and liveness.

The site-specific commission series for the staff entrance was initiated in 2021 with the intention to support young artists from the region during the pandemic, as well as to provide the team with an uplifting moment whilst entering the building in one of the most challenging moment of our times. It continues as a support structure for local emerging artists since. Ünlü’s commission outlines the entire building as a speculative device: a structure to be navigated not only through its corridors and functions, but through the unrealized realities it holds in its walls.

During Open Haus, held on the last Friday of each month, Gülbin Ünlü invites the band TAF (Turkish-Armenian Friendship) to activate the portals through sound, movement, and presence. An opening performance will take place on 8.5.25. What begins behind closed doors – faint pulses, flickering gestures – seeps out slowly.

Curated by Lydia Antoniou. Nostralgia by Gülbin Ünlu is supported by SAHA.