STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Woskob Family Gallery welcomes two new exhibitions: a sound installation by Penn State doctoral candidate Ilayda Altuntas, and sculptural lanterns made by first-year students of architecture from the Stuckeman School.
Altuntas’s exhibition, "Imagination," explores the various intersections between diverse forms of culture, identity and language. Traditional hand-cranked music boxes are installed throughout the gallery, with video projections laid atop them. Viewers are invited to participate with the work by turning the hand cranks and exploring the markings on the paper strips that emerge. Meanwhile, an aural collage in five different languages referring to the artist’s own identity — Turkish, Albanian, Circassian, German, and English — plays continually. The result is an immersive experience of light, shadow, word, movement and sound.
Altuntas is an Istanbul native who has lived in the U.S. for the past eight years. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in art education at Penn State, after having taught for many years in the New York City public schools.
The lanterns, made of paper and aluminum, were produced by first-year architecture students under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Architecture Benay Gursoy and teaching assistant Manal Anis. Students studied the geometry of polyhedra and how to digitally model them before designing and fabricating lanterns based on polyhedral geometry. Together, the lanterns celebrate light and shadow during a time of transition from the dark of winter to the light of spring.
Students who created the lanterns include Kriss Barr, Chris Castiglia, Mike Fillizola, Emily Freid, Hamza Jamjoom, Kate Loftus, Parachi Masown, Dawn Miele, Alexandros Naylor, Jillian Orlandini, Kenny Ramirez, Nikolai Sunday, Alycia White, Peter Vassil and Holly Zimmerman.
The exhibitions will be on display in the gallery from April 18 to May 24. The exhibitions open to the public with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 18. This event is free and open to the public, with light refreshments served. Ilayda Altuntas will give a brief talk about her work at 6 p.m.
The Woskob Family Gallery, located on Allen Street in downtown State College, is a space for contemporary arts, culture and community engagement, sponsored by Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture.
For more information, contact the gallery at 814-865-4710 or txb725@psu.edu.