Orkan Telhan is an interdisciplinary researcher whose practice resides at the intersection of art, design, science and emerging technologies. His biennial contribution is a continuation of his recent works Microbial Fruits of Istanbul (2021) and Where Do Gardens Come From? (2022), which reflect on the complex histories of Istanbul’s community gardens (bostans) from the perspective of biodiversity.

Telhan deepens his investigation of the Yenikapı/Langa district, one of Istanbul’s most contentious urban sites, where thousands of years of material history is hidden beneath layers of asphalt and gravel. Comprising two alternative ‘museums’ for Yenikapı/Langa, his work points to the inherently colonial function of museums, challenging the anthropocentric bias with which stories of land are told exclusively from material remains. The Museum of Exhalation is a printed publication featuring various residents of Langa – plants, ants, bones, stones – interviewing human researchers. The Museum of Digestion, meanwhile, takes the form of a public garden installation at Müze Gazhane, where different aspects of Langa are spatialised, re-contextualised, and ‘digested’ within the visitor’s body both literally and metabolically.