Eylem Aladogan's (Dutch and Turkish artist) work (1966) includes sculptures, installations and drawings. This exhibition highlights Vogels (Birds1999), where birds, washed upon the shore, are dying. They are displayed on a large metal table, and, made of clay, they are kept 'alive' i.e. regularly humidified by a sprinkler. It is an expression of our fear of decay and at the same time, our feeling of guilt about our exploitation of the environment. This piece compensates for the exploitation and suggests an imaginary renaissance. It was previously included in the exhibition Aesthetic Terrorism.' in Rotterdam at the Museum Boijmans van Feuningen. Equally the show will include new drawings.

Natural sciences and especially bio-engineering are of importance in the artist's work. Aladogan believes that for her work as an artist she needs to closely follow scientific and ecological developments. In a concrete and empirical way she particularly studies techniques of survival of the species. In following developments in society and the role of the media, she confronts not only a great amount of artificiality and manipulation but also an ineffectiveness. She is intrigued as much by the techniques which are used (for example medical skills or agricultural methods) as by the motivation to change or conserve something. Most often she finds in this world the motives for an almost procedural approach. quite literally speaking, to her work where animals and plants play an important role.

After completing her education at the Willem de Kooning Instituut in Rotterdam in 1999, Eylem Aladogan was invited by the Institute for the arts in Amsterdam to spend a post-academic year. This year she sojourned several months in Australia working on a new project financed by a scholarship from the Dutch government.