Molecular (Istanbul) Serge Spitzer

Molecular (ISTANBUL) is a breathtaking installation by Serge Spitzer in a former synagogue in the Istanbul district of Haskoey. The artist (born 1951 in Romania and living in New York since the 1980s) was immediately fascinated by this location, which functions as an aluminum workshop, rubber factory, storage hall, billiard room, and meeting place. From the outside, one cannot see that this former synagogue accommodates an international art project. Everything is completely built up; an entrance is not visible, but the workers busy in the side room immediately point the way to a hidden gray door. Spitzer had tons of marbles produced and brought to Turkey for his installation. Merely a tiny window above the entrance allows daylight into the space, which is then refracted by thousands of small green and blue glass balls lying next to and on top of each other on the stone floor. Depending on the vibrations, the glittering sea of marbles gently sways to and fro. This book not only presents fascinating pictures of the installation, it also offers images of Spitzer’s other molecular works in Sydney or in Zug and Basel in Switzerland. The texts were chosen from the most interesting contributions to a symposium held in February 2010, attended by, among others, David Chipperfield (architect), David Elliott (artistic director of the Sydney Biennale 2010), Stella Rollig (director of the Lentos Museum, Linz), Jerome Sans (director of the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art, Beijing) and MarcOlivier Wahler (director of the Palais de Tokyo, Paris). A supplement presents the guestbook entries of several of the many thousands of visitors who have viewed the installation since autumn 2009 as a facsimile reproduction.