Leftovers of a Body
Solo Exhibiton
Diren Demir
28.10.2021 – 12.11.2021
Center 424, Belgrade

The “Leftovers of a Body” exhibition consists of artworks which make visible the authority that rule the body context. Through the re-coding and contrasting of the body, identity and nudity relations, Diren explores new areas of resistance that can be created by using only the mere presence of the body as a tool. In Diren’s performances, spaces are recoded as a field of struggle through the mere existence of the body, or the already existing struggle is disclosed through the body. At this point, Diren generally deals with the Middle East geography and the political conflicts that emerge from there.

When the body is positioned at the right time, in the right way and in the right place, the contrast it will create against the place and social codes is enough to make all the social / geographical / political rulerships -that are not spoken in daily life- visible. The mere existence of the concept of body turns into a strong and silent word. The recipients of these silent words, which arise from the presence of the body in Diren’s performances, are not the minds of the audience but their bodies. The field of dialogue that emerges from these encounters between bodies, which oversees the liberation of docile bodies, creates a new form of communication and solidarity in which bodily autonomy comes to the fore.

Objects and structures associated with the body are frequently encountered in Diren’s performances. All these different objects are usually in the center or at the edge of the performance; but somehow they are in a position to be associated with the body. Diren sees every object that the body touches during the performance as weapons that reproduce or complete the bodies dialogue. In the “Leftovers of a Body” exhibition, the objects that Diren relates to through the body are revived. Thus, it is announced that the “remains” of the performance gain autonomy in their existence in the way of becoming a work of art through the power and energy given to them by the body. Each of the installations acquired their own identity and soul through their association with the body. The body is not born of the soul, the soul is born of the body.

The transience of conceptual body movements based on a certain process -which we call as performance- and the permanent nature of what remains from it, contrast with each other. Although every object in the exhibition owes its autonomy to the performative impulse from which it emerged; they now declare their individuality, which rebels against them, resists and seeks other worlds. The ongoing tension between the works in the exhibition itself finds its manifestation between the physicality of the object and the spirituality of the performance.