elephant on top I,
2024
50x55x50 cm, plexiglass, lathe, steel, acetate, rope, wood pieces, bolts.
Exhibited in GlogauAIR Berlin, Germany.
From the exhibiton "Proem"
consisting of the works by
Öykü Özgencil, Yasmin Alt, El Méchin-Angot, Melike Beşik, Dilara Koz, Elif Bayram, Ela Mete, Lena Becerra, Miranda Holmes, Max Adams, Erro & Vincent
Curator: Ece Manav
I take a step up
my hand is on the cold, damp steel doorframe
I, or we insert the key into the lock, turn it,
one,
two
I enter, and see the elephant on top
It smells like dog food here.
I don’t remember locking the door when leaving
Actually, I do remember,
only on another temporality.
Elephant on Top is a spatio-temporal narrative that reimagines my former home in Berlin, used intermittently over four years. This reconstruction attunes to my textural, sensory, and affective recollections regarding various corners within the house. This attempt is unconcerned with the accuracy of the past, instead, it embraces the unreliable ambiguity of remembering and translates it into a mode of spatial making of this ground-floor space, an occupied art gallery that has been used as a home and now transformed into a wine bar. The work embraces the act of remembering as a disloyal architectural practice, to experiment with the poetics of spatial intimacy regarding an elusive and furtive use of a space that was not designed for accommodation.
Each of the four overlapping floor plans corresponds to a different moment within four years and roughly maps the movement of objects and beings within the house. As an architectural representation tool, the floor plan offers a top-down view, attempting to suggest the potential movements of those inhabiting the space. Yet, remembering this space through plan drawings— a space that has always been used for more than its intended functions— introduces an almost ironic narrative layer, as it is not possible to capture the elusive spatialities in this method of drawing, such as an ambiguous room created by two massive paintings within a vast, open exhibition area without walls. Furthermore, the textures, scents, corners, conversations, cabinets, dust, and debris that form the spatial experience tend to infiltrate through architecture’s inherent aversion to intimacy.
Image: Zeynep Fırat