Sunday, September 3, 2023, 11:30 AM Performance at the Gelsenkirchen Art Museum, admission is free

Held at the Gelsenkirchen Art Museum, Nezaket Ekici’s “At Nexus” spans nearly the entirety of the art institution. At five interactive stations, visitors are invited to shift their perspectives and experience the museum and its collection from new vantage points. A combination of local and artistic plants chosen by the artist are placed throughout, guiding the flow of a performance which centers on water and plant growth as elemental symbols of renewal. Nezaket Ekici harnesses these natural motifs to express a vision for a collectively imagined future—one in which the museum “blooms” as a vibrant, evolving space of connection. Furthermore, Ekici’s work oversteps the boundary of the conventional artist: having chosen these plants and their representative paintings (with the help of director Julia Höner), Ekici is both the performer and the curator of performance. The title ‘Nexus’, derived from Latin, underscores this idea of interconnection: linking museum and audience, spaces and artworks, visitors and artists, perspectives and locations, as well as broader social concerns and institutional questions. At the end of this performance, Ekici writes her name in washable children’s marker on her white costume gown. Stepping into a large bathtub, she begins to scrub, until the name itself has dissolved in the water. This water and her dissolved ‘identity’ are then used to water the plants she has placed around the museum, reflecting the symbolic ritual of life in which humanity and nature are intertwined as one, supporting each other. Even after the performance ends, traces of it will remain in the museum, encouraging ongoing engagement and inviting the public to take part in shaping the museum’s future. (Text Edited: Jono Wang Chu)

• 5 plants (Rubber tree, Autumn asters, Coreopsis, Mint-colored juniper, Ivy) • Various paintings related to nature/plants/landscapes from the collection depot • Costumes • Megaphone • Texts • Soundbox (bird sounds, water sounds, wind sounds, forest sounds, meadow sounds) • Watering can • Scissors • Bathtub • Water • Trays • Towels • Wax crayons • Notepads

1 h - 1,5 h

Director: Julia Höner, Performers: Nezaket Ekici with Aleyna, Akteke, Merve Yilmaz, Assistant: Sven Schreiber Costume design: Nezaket Ekici, Camera: Tanja Brzakovic, Andreas Dammertz, Sound: Zoe Linke, Lighting technician: Patrick Fuchs, House technician at the Gelsenkirchen Art Museum: Zoran Damnjanovic, Efendi Karatas, Harald Wiewiora, Art education at the Gelsenkirchen Art Museum: Katharina König, Thanks to Gelsenkirchen Art Museum and the supervisory team of Musiktheat and KITA Team