An Institute Within An Institute
Solo Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago
Architect Cansu Cürgen (born 1988) and designer Avşar Gürpınar (born 1982), founded the Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI) in 2014 in Istanbul to investigate how our lives are inevitably shaped and impacted by standards—whether for time, measurements, building components, food, or health care. Most often conceived as a way to maximize efficiency, standards have been envisioned as a way to organize an increasingly complex world.
Through their investigations, ASI reveals the invisible networks of standards—codes, quantities, or qualities—embedded in everyday objects and interactions that we use on a daily basis, ranging from birth control pill packets and carry-on bags, to hand gestures, kitchen utensils, and items used during public protests.
Their research also makes clear that although the world is becoming more standardized, nonstandards—or ambiguous standards—are equally pervasive. ASI’s investigation into the airline industry makes evident that airline guidelines for standard cabin bag sizes are not the same. In Turkey, drinking tea out of a tulip-shaped glass is a ubiquitous part of daily life, yet there is no definitive size for a glass of tea, as underscored by ASI’s assembly and study of more than 100 of them.