O.B.A. , 2023
Performance Research Project
The project is described as an imagination of posthuman sensory geography and takes its name from the initials of the sentence "Organisms Are Algorithms" (in Turkish; “Organizmalar Birer Algoritmadır”) and from the structures named “oba” where the artist lived, from their childhood to youth, for months in summer.
As part of the project, a different performance and event will be experienced each Saturday at the same time. The first performance titled "Organisms Are Algorithms" starts on April 1, with a sound/space experience in the Courtyard of the Sokullu Mehmet Pasha Mosque Complex situated in Istanbul's Fatih / Kadırga district and continues with a collective walk from the courtyard to İMÇ (Istanbul Drapers' Bazaar) Blocks. Following the walk, the performance is brought to the corridors of İMÇ and finally to 5533.
Each Saturday of the upcoming weeks comprises four distinct-performances of four hours, each associated with the letters O, B and A respectively.
The project, which can be experienced three days a week, lasts for four weeks with a live process / performance installation called "oba" open to visitors on both Mondays and Fridays.
Performances and events that are part of the O.B.A. project process will be announced to the audience via weekly e-mails. They can also be followed on the @oba.proje instagram account and the digital diary blog at obaproje.tumblr.com
O.B.A. project is expressed by the artist in the following sentences:
O.B.A. is a performance research project on sound. O.B.A. explores the posthuman body/space/time issue. O.B.A. shows the collaborations of Mk Yurttaş with other fictional artist personas in the artist collective titled mikaye*. O.B.A. shows posthuman entangled time & space understanding of Uzay Kere. “time space —> space time —> space times” “The name of Uzay Kere is a counter-false translation of the words time and space from Turkish to English and back to Turkish. This double translation process reflects Uzay's bended view of spatial encounters." O.B.A. shows temporary architectures of Efe Meral: “Efe Meral is the architectural wing of mikaye and proposes temporary architectures.” O.B.A shows Rhodesia's versatility intentions and actions: “Rhodesia proposes corporealities in-between, transforming into each other and not being fixed.” O.B.A. is shaped by the producers, participants, visitors and viewers involved in the project process. O.B.A. consists of three interconnected performance works, an open studio / workshop / lecture (presentation) performance activity, two separate sound installations, a process / performance installation, and reading / watching / listening suggestions. O.B.A. starts in the public space, is located at İMÇ 5533 and continues by infiltrating the İMÇ Blocks and its immediate surroundings from 5533. O.B.A. turns 5533 into a performance research studio for four weeks. O.B.A. includes different performances and events that take place every Saturday between 14:00-18:00. O.B.A. includes a performative installation and two separate sound installations, produced live every Monday and Friday between 14:00 and 18:00, spanning a total of 32 hours.
*Mk Yurttaş, Uzay Kere, Rhodesia and Efe Meral are fictional personas in the mikaye artist collective.In mikaye, personas live and produce together. Although they all have different names; none of them has a clear, fixed appearance, mode of production and identity. They like to flow into each other, dive from one part of the (schizo) plane and emerge from another persona, sometimes staying in the depths for months, and being thought to have disappeared.