Stabbing the River (2019-2026)
Film and installation
Duration 2:27 minutes, Super 8 colour 4:3, original soundtrack by Sophie Oetinger & medium format polaroids, negatives, drawings, broken glass
A quest with an irrational end: stabbing a river. An oneiric gesture towards the landscape captured by the river Seyhan, in Adana. Here, the act of stabbing repeated until the exhaustion of the subject (the river, or the stabber?), is declinated through the layering of the traces of those strokes. Secret instructions on how to wound a river to death guide the hands’ movements: “Hold the water firmly with your left hand”, “hit the surface of the water with the knife,” “repeat the gesture until the water stops moving.” The whole body engaged in a very physical gesture, the repeated slashing of a constantly renewed flow, a romantic duel with Nature towards a vain exploit.
This work was produced in collaboration with Pearlie Frisch during the residency Every Me curated by Mustafa Boğa, in Adana.
Film and installation
Duration 2:27 minutes, Super 8 colour 4:3, original soundtrack by Sophie Oetinger & medium format polaroids, negatives, drawings, broken glass
A quest with an irrational end: stabbing a river. An oneiric gesture towards the landscape captured by the river Seyhan, in Adana. Here, the act of stabbing repeated until the exhaustion of the subject (the river, or the stabber?), is declinated through the layering of the traces of those strokes. Secret instructions on how to wound a river to death guide the hands’ movements: “Hold the water firmly with your left hand”, “hit the surface of the water with the knife,” “repeat the gesture until the water stops moving.” The whole body engaged in a very physical gesture, the repeated slashing of a constantly renewed flow, a romantic duel with Nature towards a vain exploit.
This work was produced in collaboration with Pearlie Frisch during the residency Every Me curated by Mustafa Boğa, in Adana.
Exhibition view of Stabbing the River as part of the end of residency show Every Me (2019), MODA, Adana