Performance Installation 2018

Kongress "Kunstgeschichte im Unterricht" AdBK München 15.11.2018

Nezaket Ekici’s performance “Lines” is inspired by an old, unnamed painting. Rather than recreating the work directly, “Lines” becomes a unique kind of picture description—one that centers on absence and invites the viewer’s imagination to fill the void with meaning. The artist begins by taking a long rod and positioning herself on a pedestal beside a large white surface (a partition wall made of MDF board), matching the dimensions of the original painting (approx. 2 x 3 meters). The empty white plane becomes both canvas and stage. Adopting a sculptural pose, she then describes one of the figures in the painting—its posture, placement, or symbolic meaning. Next, she installs the rod onto the white surface to represent that figure’s position. She returns to the pedestal, assumes a new pose, and narrates the story of another figure. This process repeats—story, pose, rod—until a dynamic structural composition emerges. Gradually, the collection of rods forms an architectural framework that reflects the essence of the original painting. What begins as empty space transforms into a living composition—one shaped by memory, gesture, structure, and voice. Through her storytelling, Ekici not only describes the characters but also animates them—making the unseen painting palpable and tangible. The audience is guided not only by what they hear, but also by what they watch unfold in real time: the emergence of a new, performative artwork born from the structure and memory of another. The painting is thus reimagined as a sculptural and temporal experience. Art-savvy viewers may recognize the original artwork being referenced. However, the identity of the painting is never explicitly revealed. Instead, the void—the white space—remains deliberately unfilled, a blank awaiting individual interpretation. Ekici’s goal is not to instruct her viewers on what to believe or see. Rather she enacts her performance as a fundamental discovery of the art within art; she seeks to evoke the latent sensibilities in the original painting, that which of it was physical, felt, but still unseen by the eye. (Text Edited: Jono Wang Chu)

White surface (MDF board) 200x300 cm base 80 cm x 80cm x 80 cm. Nails, hammers, rods (metal different length) Spotlights radio microphone, hifi sound system

35 min

Camera: Hubert Sedlatschek, Christian Botez

Coordination: Sabine Grünauer

Assistant: Sandra Zech

Wood and Metal technician: Mr. Spindler

Sound u Light technician: Mrs. Ferg