ATLAS

A solo exhibition by Arhun Aksakal tracing connections between landscape, geological time and technical infrastructure, centred on Timothy O'Sullivan's photographs of the American West. About HAFEN is pleased to present "ATLAS," a solo exhibition by Arhun Aksakal tracing connections between landscape, geological time and technical infrastructure. At its centre are light boxes featuring photographs by Timothy O'Sullivan, made during nineteenth-century geological and geographical surveys of the American West carried out under the US War Department. Titled HELLO AMERICA, the work introduces a further layer of meaning through its reference to J. G. Ballard's eponymous 1981 science-fiction novel, in which the same continent is revisited in a post-catastrophic future following an energy crisis. Transformed into illuminated black-and-white images, colour anaglyphs and their separated red and blue layers, the historical photographs acquire a renewed spatial presence, bringing into focus their dual status as documents and constructions. In this process, scientific observation, cultural imagination and territorial appropriation emerge as intertwined forces in the making of landscape. Drawings, sculptures, an architectural model and urban frottages extend these encounters between image and matter. Together, the works form a spatial atlas exploring how the world is recorded, measured, imagined and transformed. Opening: Saturday, 7 November 2026, 6 to 9 pm On view: 7 November to 5 December 2026 Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday 13 to 18, Saturday 11 to 16 Read more Toggle Photography Installation Prints Mixed media Performance / Live Art Sculpture Film / Video