With ‘Relotion’*, I question the concept of revolution and progressivism. In the work, I mimic the backtrack act of current and historical social upheavals. Also in the work, with the reproduction techniques through the flyers, I invite the audience to reproduce the work by themselves and to mimic the act with me. By looking at the current politics of Turkey and the West Eurasian historical facts in the early 20th Century, I rethink and question revolution as a concept and an act. The work consists of video performance, an object, digital drawing (flyer).

*Relotion is a fictional word. The meaning of the word is stuck between the meanings of revolution, solution and relation. Also, it carries one’s misunderstanding and alienation to those three concepts

In my process, I observe the revolutionary acts that happened and/or are happening in the world from the eyes of the ‘Angel of History’, referring to Walter Benjamin’s interpretation* of Paul Klee’s painting Angelus Novus. I created the work and its concept around and through the concrete. The Concrete material gets its hardest state in 30 days. During the 30 days, the material indurates. On the video performance, I perform 48 hours after the molding process. During the performance, I demolish a concrete block that was molded by me. Thus the material performs and resists to me by indurating. Also, I reproduce the block and exhibit it as the object nearby the video and the flyers. In this way, I refer to the process of revolution and social “progress” that is stuck in the circle of demolition and reproduction. Also through direct playing with the sense of uniqueness of the object, I create a two-face situation in the exhibition space: On one side I demolish an object that I produced and on the other side I show the same object in solid. Thus emphasising the hypocritical motivation of progressivism. Who is the maker? Who is the destructor? Who needs to be demolished and sacrificed on the way to success? Since Relotion has quite complex dynamics, I visualized the concept by using vectorial drawings, quotations and poem-like text on the flyer. The work originated in an open workshop* that took place in Berlin and Istanbul as a solidarity demonstration/art-production for Osman Kavala

* W. Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History-section 9

During my video performance, I think about how fast political roles can change. Also, I question if we still talking about the same concept of revolution, moreover, do we still need it? The video in a loop is black and white, fast-forward and silent. By them as the effect, I refer to the early era of film production. I refer also to the propaganda movies from the same era. Eventually, the revolution is a suggested act and ideology by specific individuals. To realize it, the suggested act is expected to reproduce and mimic by the others. The propaganda tools were used for spreading the acts and ideologies

VIDEO

Object

In the exhibition space, indurating stage and the reproduction times of the object stay unknown. The audience can not know which version of the object they are serving. The information of reproducing time stays hidden. In this way, I create a mystery for the audience. With the mystery, I crush the uniqueness of the object and direct the audience to think about the concept behind the form and the material

FLAYER

Besides the propaganda films, the fanzines and the distributing leaflets were and are the main practice to spread the word of the ideologies and their needed acts. Thus I use the flyer format to refer to the concept of the work and invite the audience to reproduce the work also produce and destruct their own small revolution.
As I mentioned, on the flyer, there are texts that are referred to the concept of the work. Also, I add instructions and drawings about my production process and how to repeat the work again.

:: On the cover page 1, there is an instruction and an explanation about how I did the work and how to reproduce it.

:: On the inside page, there is a technical drawing of the mold of the object.

:: On the cover page 2, there is a quotation from Walter Benja min. It is his interpretation of “Angelus Novus” by Paul Klee. There is also a poem-like text by me. 49,5cmX80cmX15-20cm Object

On the next three pages, scanned images of the flyer can be seen: