Video Performance 2017

CONCEPT Lying down on a wide red pillow, Nezaket Ekici is shown upside down. The camera, zoomed-in close, discloses only her face and the crystals of ice that lie around her. Clenching her eyes shut, Ekici grabs at the ice in the dark, pushing them onto her face, sometimes into her mouth. The performance “Ice Crystals” is an homage based on her own mentor, Marina Abramovic’s performance “Dozing Consciousness.” In “Dozing Consciousness”, Abramovic uses crystals for their specific energy content—charging and imbuing the moment of her performance with a deep spiritual power that is both unseen and not physically felt. Ekici’s performance operates in a different form of energy—her ice crystals cause intense palpable sensations, and their melting water transfers and spreads that form of physical energy across her face. Over the course of the performance, Ekici scrutinizes a dangerous almost spiritual exploration of the body at its ‘freezing point.’ The metaphorical and symbolic ice crystals introject a palpable sense of discomfort, and the sight of them against Ekici’s bare skin prompts the audience to consider how we ourselves may be compelled to ignore the threatening ‘coldness’ around us: the increasing anonymity of online society, the unfriendliness of strangers, and more. As Ekici pushes the crystals over her face and into her mouth, the intentional absence of music makes the cackling, clinking, and soft melting of the ice audible. The water dripping down her throat from the melted ice evokes a gurgling noise almost akin to a fountain. Her hair, is tangled across her face, almost as if she has gone for a swim. The slow dissolving of the ice also points towards a broader question of time in Ekici’s performance: the human urge to escape from discomfort or pain is often placed against the longevity of what bothers us. In this sense, there can be no physical escape for Ekici: she is stuck face-up amongst the cold for as long as the ice itself lasts—and in order for her to speed up this process, it means getting closer to the source of the discomfort, placing the ice in her body, and on it. The camera work close up shows her shivering in this cold, her eyes clenching to keep the water from getting in. The upside down lens allows us a very specific view of her body, both limiting what we can see and isolating her face as well as the crystals. In the very last scene, Ekici forces her eyes open and stares up directly. As if all her energy has now gathered in her pupils, her sharp unwavering gaze searches for a deeper power somewhere above. (Text: Jono Wang Chu)

Red Pillow, Ice Crystals

Video Performance: 7:29min

Camera and Editing: Branka Pavlovi?