Exploring the potential of sculpture for a critical construction

Since the second half of 20th century, several strategies have been developed regarding a political and critical art practice. Within this practice that usually foregrounds installation, and conceptual art that coordinate various media, the potential of sculpture is not well researched. As such, this study aims to expand the potential of contemporary sculpture, through new concepts and practices to achieve a critical construction. It focuses on construction of precarious and unstable structures, and the potential of sculpture-installation relationship in terms of political reproduction. To do this, it explores the relationship between sculpture art of post 1960s and contemporary sculpture art with respect to object, construction, structure, process, space, and viewer. Implementing these concepts into sculpture domain, the everyday object that becomes a sculptural object by transferring into sculptural system, due to its role in redistribution of spatial powers, is proposed as a political tool that extends material and conceptual scope of sculpture. With this regard, by investigating the connections between capital accumulation and reproduction of urban space, strategies and concepts are developed that will occupy space, which was rendered invisible by the capitalist space. By showing the limitations of Installation Art, the study arrived at new conceptualisations regarding the relationships between sculpture and installation. Within these new conceptualisations, changing object-space-viewer relationships bring forth the critical political potential of sculptural installation. Sculpture transforms this space, in which it is installed, into its own political space. Keywords: Sculpture, construction, structure, object, installation