Trying out some ideas
Over the last few days I have been getting increasingly frustrated with the amount of talk, talk, talk which has been happening. For example, yesterday we spent most of the day in the hotel lounge doing just that, when I have been personally itching to get out and do things. I think perhaps that this is because in my normal practise I do not sit around endlessly thinking about what I do but instead usually just try things and see if they work (if so great, if not try something else, and so on). Of course, in a collaboration situation like this one that is not going to cut it, so it’s just a case of getting on with it whether you like it or not.
We were finally able today to get out and try some things, though. We had been talking about using the action of physically cleaning a section of waste ground near to the prison which had been chosen as a possible site for out art work, and this is what we decided to start by doing. We borrowed some wheelbarrows from a helpful man with a small shed nearby (he had about 7 of them, not sure what for), but before we could start doing anything a crowd of children had gathered round and decided to start helping us. We were happy for this to happen, as any kind of spontaneous event like this was bound to open up interesting artistic possibilties. What exactly is still unclear, but any kind of action at least was a start.
We spent the rest of the day trying out other ideas, including interviewing some old men passing by who it turned out had spent time in the building mentioned when it was still a prison. One claimed that he had been jailed for killing someone in connection with wanting to marry a girl whose family did approve of such a union, and that upon his release had married her and now had 10 children (6 boys, 4 girls). Nonsense, maybe, but very romantic.
Later on we happened upon a group of men doing a traditional dance in the poor quarter of the city, complete with traditional Kurdish music. There was a large crowd of people sitting out in the open air watching this phenomenon; they were very welcoming to us, bringing little stools and asking us to sit down, offering cigarettes, and generally being very hospitable.
There were two lectures to be attended in the evening, which it turned out were not so exciting as I had seen most of the work before. We’re only here for another week or so and this is not really how I would choose to spend my time given the choice.
Back at the hotel we were having a few beers and were about to go to bed when some Turkish guys sitting in the hotel lounge called myself and Bani over to have a drink with them; they were drinking Raki, a strong Turkish spirit. They were nice guys, but it was one of those very surreal conversations which happen when neither group can speak the other’s language – we managed to find out that one has an uncle in Germany, that they were mostly from Istanbul, and that they support Fenerbahçe. Quite a surreal experience, but not the first to be so here and likely not the last.
