Crisis / Kriz

Crisis

Selling bags in public space: Caddebostan, Istanbul

2009 Video documentation: Screen projection showing the performance

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Crisis is a scene set in public space, with the artist exhibiting a bunch of shopping bags on street floor and trying to sell them to the passer by. The venue is Caddebostan, İstanbul- one of the classiest shopping districts where millions of people pass and stop by the shops especially on Saturdays. Spotting a 3 square meter space in the middle of the street, the artist puts DKNY, ADIDAS, GUCCI, ZARA and more branded bags on a piece of canvas textile on the floor and starts to sell them like a street seller.

Gul tries to question the production of space physically and socially; first, setting up the cheapest vending scene for such brands that are well appreciated in that certain area, and secondly, producing curiosity, “Could this be real?”

Gul crosses over unspoken myths and daily rituals. Her setting up in a certain public/semi-public/private areas reproduces cults of that particular social space. She often involves performative elements in her actions; those that are being performed by herself, or by the people that are in their own social environments.