The Disinherited Fitment,
2022
Exhibitited in Freyaalt, Istanbul.
From the exhibiton Run of Luck; consisting of the works by
Ece Duran, Lal Melisa Öztaşkın, Melike Beşik, Yunus Aras
The Disinherited Fitment spatially narrates a lived experience of politically charged violence through two temporally distinct speculative drawings. Superpositions of records from the actual site allegorically engage with disowned states of what Deleuze refers to as the cramped space. Here, the witnessing of fitments that humbly sustain the buildings around intimately engage with politically othered subjects. Thus, narrative unfolds its potential to be a spatial agency that reveals the plurality of political space, away from assigned meanings and canonical expectations.
Narrow, idle, and secluded Arslan Yatağı Street is the site of trauma in which The Disinherited Fitment came into being. The street consists of technical units (AC units, water drainage, manhole covers) that maintain the surrounding buildings and below the street. Such humble units that keep the building functioning can be seen as spatial residues as they are sent out of sight, in this case, into the cramped minor street. On the other hand, broken paving stones, graffitis, and degraded wall paints on the street set an example of effortless and barefaced residues. In Drawing #1, these residues narrate the politically intense moment of police violence that has targeted us, the protesters. Here, various spatial elements set the allegory between disowned states of architecture and excluded identities of politics.
Drawing #2 attunes to the silent, effortless, and humble existence of the residues and accepts the mystical, fragmented, ambiguous, yet complex nature of this event. Therefore, it reflects its contemplation on a temporally distorted ground. Parallel to their appearance, these drawings resemble an intimate scan of this site aimed at revealing its intimate accumulations.
Image © Zeynep Fırat