Hale Tenger, We didn't go outside; We were always on the outside/ We
didn't go inside; We were always on the inside, 1995
Installation view at Arter, Istanbul
That local pulse was at its most reverent in Hale Tenger’s work “Appearance”. Set in the grounds of a ramshackle palace and orchard on Buyukada, a leafy, traffic-free island haven that acts as a retreat for Istanbul residents and is currently home to six Biennial installations, the soundtrack of Tenger’s melancholy poem is installed so cleverly it seems that one stately fruit tree in particular is whispering its own elegy.