Nezaket Ekici

Born in Kırşehir, Nezahat Ekici studies performance art under Marina Abramović during her MFA studies at the University of Fine Arts Braunschweig, Germany. Ekici’s works are informed by topics such as art history, mythology, the banality and contradictions of everyday life, and social and cultural differences between Turkey and Germany. In her performances, testing the limits of physical endurance she explores it as a means of expression and a field of investigation, possessing abstract and spiritual references.

In “But all that glitters is not gold”, the challenge is to choose the right one from among the many identical-looking keys hanging at various distances around the cage. What initially looks like a fun game over time becomes an agony. In her unique, humorous style, the artist conveys the opposition between the concept of freedom and the symbol of the “golden cage” that has appeared in stories since ancient times.

“Human Cactus,” Ekici positions her body like a sculpture. She makes small movements like a plant and creates a congenial habitat. She gathers stones around her, maneuvers to turn toward the sun, lifts her roots out of the soil and steps into a pot. The artist mimics a life form utterly different from humans.

 “Blind” is based on the painting “Saint Cecilia (The Invisible Piano)” (1923) by Max Ernst, a key protagonist in the Dada and Surrealist movements. Saint Cecilia was a third-century Roman martyr who was delivered from torment through her virtue and faith.