Category: Portfolio
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Speak to the Water
Speak to the Water, 2021/2022 Performance Diren Demir The performance is based on the belief that the effect and emotional state of bad dreams can be healed by explaining it to the water. This belief has been a part of the Anatolian paganism and shamanism. Diren uses the wine, as a symbol of the subconscious,
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Spells
Spells, 2022 Sound Installation Diren Demir // The audio recordings sent by individuals who were displaced and whose life and emotional state changed due to the conflicts that broke out after February 24 explain how the war was experienced at an individual level. The “Spells” sound installation offers a space of expression that gives visibility
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Goddess
Goddess, 2022 Holographic Installation Diren Demir Idols were figurines that people used to represent the deities they worshiped in ancient times. The oldest of these are the statuettes of the Goddess Cybele, the representative of concepts such as “fertility” and “abundance”, found in Göbeklitepe. From a pagan perspective, the Goddess symbolizes the feminine energy of
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Entropy Series
Entropy Series, 2022 Ink and Mold on Canvas Diren Demir “The entropy of an object is a measure of the amount of energy which is unavailable to do work. “ Diren had to live in his grandmother’s garage at the age of 17 due to their family’s homophobia. Artist consider this as their very first
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Letter from the Other Side
Letter from the Other Side, 2022 Interactive Installation Diren Demir // The installation marks the Reunification period in Germany. Since the space plan established by Kollektiv Plus is quite in line with the principles of communicative aesthetics and art in the public sphere, the work “Letter from the Other Side” aims to create experimental dialogues
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Temple of the Virgins
Temple of the Virgins, 2022 Performance & Installation Diren Demir The Temple of Virgins was a piece of land located in the middle of the sea in Maltepe 75 years ago, which people could reach by swimming 50 meters in the sea. Although it’s image has remained as the logo of the municipality for years,
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Güneş Cinema
Güneş Cinema, 2021 Art Intervention Diren Demir // Located on Kürkçübaşı Külhani Street in Aksaray, Güneş Cinema had been publicly screening erotic films from the very opening date. The seats of Güneş Cinema had been used by gay men as a place for sex work and cruising. As a consequence of the raid on September
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Stage Dust Archive
Stage Dust Archive, 2021 Video Performance & Installation Diren Demir // In the process of “preventing the pandemic”, each administration takes different actionsaccording to its own economic power and socio-cultural structure, but each unites with onegoal: to produce new docile bodies. Theater stages, which were ignored because they could not provide a significant power to
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Prayer
Prayer, 2021 Performance & Installation Diren Demir // The artist performs prayer as a reaction to the radical Islamic regime rising in their country. A heavy stone, which does not allow Diren to put their forehead on the ground throughout this performance, is tied to their hair. On an individual level, this heavy stone represents
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Beyond The Wall
Beyond The Wall, 2020 Sound Installation Diren Demir // The sound installation created by artist Diren Demir through an open call started in 2020 with the pandemic, different people in different houses recorded sounds coming from “beyond the walls” in their living spaces all over the world. Installation collects the traces of life reflected on
Diren Demir 