Nathalie Rey

“Rabbits” by Ayça Okay As a flâneur herself, Nathalie Rey presents the exhibition titled "Rabbits" as a reflection of her interdisciplinary practice, which combines conventional disciplines, such as sculpture and assemblage, with digital mediums like video and photography. The Rabbits’ project’s conceptual framework took almost a year and encompassed artistic residency programs, personal trips, and the indeterminate moments of daily life. Rey often uses making art as a collaborative way of working with art professionals who are experts in various disciplines as well as ordinary people passing in the street to create a common ground for discussion in her work. Thus, creating artwork is never the outcome; what’s important for Rey is always the process. In “Rabbits”, abstract concepts, such as mass consumption and the tragedy of industrialization, are rendered concrete by delving into traditional production methods, like the sewing of mass-produced objects, such as soft, colorful toys. These materials may refer to Baudrillard's basic argument: consumer society is a significant part of the simulation theory. The rabbit character, which also gave the name to the exhibition itself, is immersed in hyperreality through its experiences of media-created consumer products. Is the rabbit a depiction of ourselves in today's world? Can the socioeconomic systems of our society and the patterns alongside such repression, addiction, passion for media coverage, and virtual communities be the simulacra that have now become our reality? The exhibition examines these questions by dividing the gallery into two parts to create a duality between consumption and pleasure and by instrumentalizing the rabbit as both the object of the spectator’s desire and victim of the world. The amorphic form created by the heap of toys, which is sewn together and backed by three round-shaped dart boards on the wall, represents a welcoming piece for the audience that can be seen from outside the exhibition space. The repurposed toys, suspended and on the floor, deliberately create the feeling of an unsettling game about to be played. In addition to her conventional pieces, this time, Rey has included a short film titled "Pink Bunny's Travels." Even though the film was shot later to amplify the context of the exhibition, it now becomes an essential piece for completing its meaning. Perhaps the main rabbit character at the plot’s center was influenced by the two massive masterpieces of the literature and film industry–Alice in Wonderland and David Lynch's Inland Empire. We have yet to learn about that. The audience may reach a conclusion by following the clues that Rey has left them. In this movie, as an exploration of fracturing identity, the rabbit represents the human who, in many ways, feels lost in metropolitan spaces, an experience that can also be described as the modern maze of our lives. Although the rabbit is trapped, its gestures and reactions, like kissing the monuments and applauding costumed performers cheerfully, reveal adhesion to the dominant hedonism and consumption in the simulacra. However, this positive narrative tone takes a turn in the final scenes of the movie, especially when the audience is presented with a bird’s-eye view of the rabbit. From this vantage point, the cityscape below appears to be suffocating for the rabbit, contrasting with the ease with which the spectator can follow its movements. The spectator witnesses an inverted image of the ominous rabbit character when punching automat to achieve syringes for addicts. Nathalie Rey's "Rabbits" exhibition serves as a thought-provoking exploration of the complex interplay between contemporary society and the concept of hyperreality. Drawing from a diverse range of artistic mediums, theories, and processes, Rey delves into themes such as mass consumption, the impact of media, and the blurring of reality and simulation. Through her use of soft, colorful toys and a short film, she invites viewers to question whether the socioeconomic systems, patterns, and norms that dominate our lives have become the new reality or, perhaps, the simulacra that shape our existence. As both a symbol of desire and a victim of the modern world, the rabbit character invites us to contemplate the consequences of our immersion in the hyperreal. In "Rabbits," Nathalie Rey offers a space for reflection on our contemporary existence's complex and often disorienting nature, leaving us with questions that linger long after the exhibition's end.