ÇARK
2019-2021
Side-specific participatory installation (videos, objects and collages)
The ongoing project Çark addresses hypocrisy at the intersection of street and sexuality. It began in a way of urban observation in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu, Şişli and Fatih neighbourhoods during my time at Daire Artist in Residency Program Hasköy/Beyoğlu.
In the beginning, I documented the sex worker and (male-dominated) queer cruising areas. It was important for me to visualize in this way sexuality that is generally denied in public life in Turkey.
Because of this taboo, “normal gestures” - such as normal looks, among other things - often become gestures of over-sexualization. In my work, I play with this inversion.
In order to see the videos and collages, the audience must assume certain positions reminiscent of sexual acts in the participatory installation, which consists of 5 videos, 3 objects, and 2 digital print collages.
The process started with the collages. Some colleges evolved to videos and some of the videos evolved to participatory objects.
The work can be exhibited outdoor and indoors. Thus, on the PDF, images from both versions can be seen.
All videos are shown in a loop. 3 of the 5 videos can be projected on a free surface or shown on 3 different screens. The other 2 videos are shown from the 2 objects
This object is provided with two holes, from one of the holes a video can be seen. In the video, there is a mouth of a waiting person, whose gender is not recognizable. The second hole is close to the top of the object. The hole, which is non-functional and difficult to reach, is intended to create a nervous sense of curiosity. Besides, from the object, shower sound comes out tenuously. The sound can be recognisable only near the object and it is really not connected to the video. In this way, the audiences’ curiosity about the inside of the object will be increased. Yet the sound will stay in ministry and the curiosity will be never satisfied
To watch the video is shown from the object, please click HERE:
This object has three holes. From all three holes, two-channel performative video can be seen. On the channel top right, by using sexual gestures, I interact with a street food dessert (Kerhane Tatlısı). On the channel left bottom, scenes from the production of the dessert are shown. With my performance, I refer to Andy Warhol’s performance in the ‘66 Scenes From America’ by Jørgen Leth. In the context of the work, the dessert comes to a state of a cliche as the hamburger in Warhol’s performance. Also, the dessert carries the traces of the hypocrisy that I focus on: On the one hand, in a non-sexual context, it is part of daily life. On the other hand, it is a visual, gustative and tactile representative of a tabu
To watch the video is shown from the object, please click HERE
I took the form of this object from a small building* located in one of Istan- bul’s popular queer cruising areas. At night, despite the light of the street lamps, it is possible to find a hidden and unseen place in the shadow of this building. In my installation, the audiences can enter the shed-like object and ob- serve/”peep” the exhibition space through the mirror glass. At the same time, they can be also observed from the outside through the non-func- tioning “keyhole”. In this way, visitors are invited to a cycle of observation. Due to the height of the object, it is not possible to stay inside in an up- right position. In this way, I would like to make the audience change their posture from observing to hiding.
*The building can be seen on video
The collages refer to the production process of the work. The process has started with the observation walks and documentation. During the walks, I collect many materials such as screenshots, photographs taken by me and found images. While I was categorizing the materials based on their context, I made the collages.
As I explained earlier, some of the collages evolved to videos. Then the videos evolved into objects.
The collage(upper-left), is consisting of two imag- es that have been taken by me and a found image. Images are taken in Berlin in a cruising toilet that has a glory-hole. Thus, it refers to my production process from Berlin to İstanbul and the hole meta- phor I use on the objects.
The collage(lower-right), is consisting of four im- ages I took and one screenshot. It refers to the sex-working industry in İstanbul and its memory and visual traces.