Inspired by Michael Haneke, a still-image from The Seventh Continent (1989) was sent out to announce the talk-work. The video work From a Window was placed in the toilet of the exhibition space. During the talk, I used images of toilets, starting with the Haneke image and the quotation from the director that it was the destruction of the money in the toilet and not the suicide of the child in The Seventh Continent that disturbed viewers. I went on to elaborate on the symbolic values within images, referring to toilet scenes across film and other media.
The text below announced the talk:
It is only when a toilet ceases to function that we become aware of the space that it is included in. When function is disrupted, the walls feel like they are closing in, the decorative objects no longer evoke pleasure, and the tiles become menacing, slippery facades. Is it possible to disrupt this space through an image? Could this space of private corporeality become a space of private viewing and of “public” poetics? Merve installs a short video in marra.tein’s toilet, aiming to further this space as one of contemplation. She will also deliver a talk on thoughts stemming from and relating to this particular space.
merve ünsal 