Page 73 - Art Review

selected by Nil Yalter

Nil Yalter is a Turkish artist, based in Paris, who works in a variety of media and is a pioneer of feminist art. She is a nominee for the 2018 AWARE Prix d’Honneur

I shut down my heart until the apocalypse, 2016, theatre play. Photo: Ali Guler. Courtesy the artists

Istanbul- and Paris-based artists Melis Tezkan and Okan Urun have During the past year alone, biriken has written and staged two
worked together as biriken (which translates, roughly, as ‘accu- theatre pieces, in Istanbul and in Paris – I shut down my heart until the
mulated’) since 2006. I met Tezkan two years later, when she was apocalypse and THE WEST IS THE BEST – they have created an installa-
researching ‘identities’ and the relationship between the ‘intimate tion-performance in Istanbul (This is the end, beautiful friend, commis-
and political’ in video and performance, and, as part of that research, sioned by Sharjah Biennial 13) and they’ve produced (written, directed
wrote several articles on ‘nomadism’ in my work. During that process and edited) the videoclip Sanki Hic Durmadi (As If It Never Stopped) for
we began to collaborate on new works: in 2009, for example, we created the Turkish band Kim Ki O.
and performed Untitled as part of Temps d’Images festival, in Cluj. This is the end, beautiful friend – inspired by The Doors’ song
I’ve also followed biriken’s theatre, performance and video works, as The End (1967) – is a representative example of biriken’s artistic style.
well as its interdisciplinary creations (which also span writing, film- It’s an autobiographical installation-performance that draws on both
making and more general curatorial projects), which are the product personal and collective catastrophes. The work focuses on Tezkan and
of a subversive political commitment and a unique poetic language. Urun accompanying one another in a rhythm created through light
The first work that I saw live was the theatre piece Lick But Don’t and sound, centred around the act of breathing and holding one’s
Swallow! (2010; directed by biriken and written by Özen Yula), which breath. The layered work suggests two bodies accompanying each
has subsequently been shown in contemporary theatre festivals other through life, but also of migrants trying to cross a sea or the last
around the world. In this work, poetic and political engagement is minutes of a life or a birth. But its true power comes from its simple
combined with humour – the set of a porn movie becomes a stage uniting of personal and collective images.
for the denunciation of global economic and political systems. The Biriken’s fusion of different media and its symbiotic, collaborative
strength of the show comes from the way its storytelling components way of working are a promising indication of future directions for art.
are layered through a variety of media – video, music, text, dance. But In their representations, the complexity and ambiguity of what we
it was biriken’s stage language – both visual and physical – that most know of reality is in the foreground. What makes biriken’s treatment
impressed me: the way in which the visual power, acting (performa- even more original is that this complexity is not just a provocation for
tive and theatrical at the same time), humour and political aspects of self-reflection, but is also present in the emotions, the gender and the
the work combined. attitudes of the subjects they show us.

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