Live Performance Premiere_Alexandra Bridge, Ottawa-Gatineau , 9.10.2019 Invited by Axené07, Artist Run Center , Gatineau Nezaket Ekici Artist in Resedency: 2-11.10.2019 Curator: Jean-Michel Quirion

On her art journeys since 2002, Nezaket Ekici is continually inspired to perform by different cultures and the people she encounters. Although she has already realized several works in Canada, this is her first time experiencing Ottawa and Gatineau (which includes the former municipalities of Hull, Buckingham, and Aylmer). These two beautiful cities are set in the heart of nature and favored by the climate of the Gulf Stream. Both places hold great importance for Canada due to their historical development in North America. Ottawa was deliberately chosen as the nation’s capital because of its location along the linguistic boundary between English- and French-speaking regions. Trade, in particular, has historically brought people together and symbolically served as a “bridge” between cultures. What may seem normal to locals stands out to visitors: despite cultural and linguistic differences, the two cities are deeply interconnected. Many people live in one city and work in the other, or have friends and family across the river. Nezaket Ekici seeks to make this connection visible and to symbolically express the unity between the two cities. In her performance, she stands at the center of the bridge. To her left and right are ropes approximately 250 meters long, held by assistants. Along with the artist, up to ten performers are positioned like sculptures across the entire bridge, each holding the rope at waist height. Ekici holds the two inner ends of the ropes and begins to tie them together, creating a knot every meter. She continues pulling the rope inward and tying knots, forming hundreds in total. The performers on the bridge become symbols of the people of the two cities: drawing ever closer together, being brought into proximity with each other. Ekici expresses an inherent kinship between different peoples, a shared humanity which intertwines them. These knots symbolically represent the approximately 400 years of Ottawa’s settlement history since 1610. Each knot also serves as a reminder of what people have achieved here over time. At the end of the performance, Ekici sets the knotted rope into the water, anchoring one end to the bridge. The long piece of rope hangs down like hair, with its end drifting in the river. It connects the bridge to the water that both separates and unites the two cities. Representing the difference in these people while also evoking their shared qualities as one. (Text Edited: Jono Wang Chu)

500 m rope, costume, pedestal, 10 Performer

1:30 h

Thanks to: Curator: Jean-Michel Quirion Performer : Nezaket Ekici and Alejandro Marchena, Aymara Alvarado Sanchez, Maxime Beauregard, Annie Cloutier, Vanessa Couture, Coco Simone Finken, Mathieu Marleau, Sylvie Myriam, Judith-Anne Poitras, Nathalie Ralph; Photo: Jean-Michel Quirion