Hysteria – Elif Öner

Hysteria, Web based art work, domain name, software, 2012

As the work titled Hysteria was on display in Elgiz Museum, the artist was sued with breach of trademark by Elgiz Museum. After the judicial process continuing in Turkey, and then the proceedings in the international court the work was shut down. The domain address www.elgizmuseum.com, which is a part of the work, was turned over to Elgiz Museum. The work can be viewed over at http://web.archive.org/web/20120529052155/elgizmuseum.com/. Hysteria is a web based project, that took place in Elgiz Museum, which was created over an exhibition invitation titled ‘museum in a museum’. The exhibition prresents works that include museum criticism, as its title suggests, from 12 artists. When you access the work over www.elgizmuseum.com, you can see a gif of a penis enlargement ad that allegedly sponsored the work. When you click on the ad, you come across the manifest of the work. The work brings forward the discussions concerning artistic fields in Turkey through the problems seen in the preparation and exhibition processes. At www.elgizmuseum.com, the web of relations between artist/museum during the exhibition period is revealed, and artists’ rights in Turkey are opened up for discussion? What are the essential qualities of a museum?