Bettina Pousttchi’s “Vertical Highways” at Istanbul Modern

The German artist of Iranian descent Bettina Pousttchi’s sculpture “Vertical Highways V02” has taken its place in front of Istanbul Modern. Using overlooked elements of urban furniture such as highway guardrails, barricades, street poles, and bollards in her practice, the artist presents a 5,9-meter-tall sculpture whose dynamic forms evoke the energy of Istanbul.

The work takes its name from a series that began with Pousttchi’s 2019 exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie. It was later produced specifically for the “Unlimited” platform at Art Basel in 2024, curated by Giovanni Carmine, where monumental installations, large-scale sculptures, and expansive video-photography works were brought together. An identical sculpture of the same form, color, and scale has been on view since 2023 in the square in front of Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), for which it was specially commissioned.

In “Vertical Highways V02,” Pousttchi bends and reshapes highway guardrails, assembling them into a vivid red, fluid form. By employing techniques such as bending and pressing, she detaches everyday objects from their functions, loading them with new meanings while dissolving boundaries between speed and stillness, movement and space, the public and the private.

Istanbul as a historical center of cultural dialogue
Expressing her excitement about having “Vertical Highways V02” included in the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art Collection and displayed on the museum’s façade, Pousttchi stated: “The new building of Istanbul Modern and its location on the Bosphorus offer a striking context that amplifies the fluid form of my sculpture. Istanbul is a historical center of cultural dialogue and at the same time an extremely dynamic city. This is also a theme at the core of my artistic approach.”

Art in public space means forging new connections with the city
 Çelenk Bafra, Artistic Director of Istanbul Modern, emphasized that exhibiting art in public space means forging new connections with the city and its surroundings: “For a woman artist from countries such as Iran and Germany—both of which share cultural ties with Türkiye—to present a sculpture in Istanbul that directly engages with the concept of the metropolis reinforces the museum’s relationship with the city. While creating a visual and conceptual dialogue with Istanbul Modern’s new building, the work also reflects the city’s complex, fluid, and dynamic structure through intertwined vertical spirals.”

Sculpture highlights from the collection on the museum’s ground floor

Pousttchi’s sculpture, acquired into the Istanbul Modern Collection through the donation of Oya and Bülent Eczacıbaşı, was installed on the museum’s front façade, while Tony Cragg’s “Runner,” which had previously occupied that spot, was moved to the side façade.
 

On the freely accessible ground floor, visitors can encounter works from the Istanbul Modern Collection, including Adrián Villar Rojas’s “The Most Beautiful of All Mothers (I),” Anselm Reyle’s “Atop an Underworld,” and “As Dust Settles,” Koray Ariş’s “Movement and Equilibrium Series I & II,” Richard Deacon’s “House Version,” Selma Gürbüz’s “Red Shadow,” Yılmaz Zenger’s “Ayça, As I See Her,” Olafur Eliasson’s “Your unexpected journey,” Richard Wentworth’s “False Ceiling,” and Zhan Wang’s “Jia Shan Shi 121# (Artificial Rock).” 

About Bettina Pousttchi
 Bettina Pousttchi studied fine arts, philosophy, art history, and film theory in Paris and Cologne. Between 1995 and 1999, she studied under Prof. Rosemarie Trockel and Prof. Gerhard Merz at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and in 2000 completed the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Based in Berlin, since the 2010s she has produced site-specific monumental installations for building façades and large-scale sculptures that respond to the architectural, social, and cultural contexts of those sites.

Artwork credit:

Vertical Highways V02, 2024

Highway guardrails, steel

590 x 150 x 240 cm

Istanbul Museum of Modern Art Collection

Oya–Bülent Eczacıbaşı Donation