Entrusted Ground: Gözde İlkin

Entrusted Ground was developed as a solo exhibition of Gözde İlkin’s textile-based works with a 3-channel sound component, activated by a 40-minute performance. The installation can be understood as a landscape painting expanded into a three-dimensional space that doubles as a stage for sound and movement. The artist repurposes fabrics and embroideries from domestic settings (tablecloths, curtains, etc.) that come with associations of family, place, and memory. When she works with new fabrics, she transforms them through dying, stitching, stuffing, and patchwork. For coloring her fabrics, the artist uses materials such as peganum harmala, hibiscus, and other seeds. She collects stories as she collects fabrics, and these stories are abstracted and become embodied on the surfaces of her work. The installation is punctuated by sculptural pieces that are also “choreographic objects,” acting as stage, costume, and prompts for movement. Videos of dancers interspersed throughout the installation show dancers’ early improvisational interactions with İlkin’s works. The installation is accompanied by a 3-channel acoustic environment, each channel corresponding to earth, fire, and water.

The performance that activates Entrusted Ground is choreographed by Aslı Öztürk. As in the installation, the flow in this 35-minute performance revolves around the fundamental elements of nature: air, water, fire, and earth. In her choreography, Öztürk emphasizes sensation by applying Eastern practices such as meditation and somatic body work. She combines this with other choreographic arrangements created with Fibonacci numbers as well as more classical dance forms. While the initial iteration in Istanbul used four dancers, its adaptation in Abu Dhabi had three dancers, and the project remains adaptable. The music for the performance, also by Berke Can Özcan, can be performed live or played through speakers, both iterations have been performed previously.