Artist Patricia Piccinini has set out to explore the concerns and issues surrounding today’s technologies, consumerism and the construct of nature. Compiling work she’s done from 1997 to present, her Hold Me Close to Your Heart exhibition at Instanbul’s ARTER gallery includes sculpture, installation, drawing and video to challenge the viewer. Conventional wisdom has given us opposing ideas: 1) the end of time is approaching, and 2) the advancement in technology will save us from our current predicaments (e.g. limited resources, pollution, etc.). It is Piccinini’s belief that rejecting the premise that modern technologies will revolutionize our world for the better is just as worthless an idea as rejecting the technologies altogether. Her collection of work tackles the idea of ‘nature vs. culture’, but in doing so she uses hyper-realistic, monstrous freak-like creatures whose shear size make it impossible to not ponder the humanity behind each one. Every corner of the gallery you’re brought face-to-face with a creature who may not be pleasant to look at, but manages to keep you intrigued and even evoke a sense of sympathy or affection even while feeling disgusted. She suggests her mission in all this was to lead patrons away from individuality and ethnocentrism to a more unprejudiced and altruistic perspective on the world. The Hold Me Close to Your Heart exhibition will be showing at the ARTER gallery until August 21.