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Why Turkey's performance artists take to streets

Turkey’s best-known performance art work is the dignified immobility of a man at the height of the Gezi Park protests five years ago; many young artists have followed in his footsteps since.
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ISTANBUL — Located in a narrow, high-ceilinged apartment in Istanbul’s bobo Cihangir neighborhood, “This is Not a Performance” is not an exhibition for those who prefer traditional art. Used black duct tape, with strands of hair and bits of skin stuck to it, cover one wall. A pink porcelain sink, broken and soiled, stands in a corner; a plastic bag filled with water in another. Through the black earphones suspended from the ceiling, the recorded voices of the performance artists explain how they have used these objects in their past performances.

The black duct tape belongs to Ozlem Uslu, who taped it on her body and asked the audience to take it off in a performance Nov. 11. Some tore at the tape savagely while others did it more carefully, afraid to hurt the artist. The pink sink was part of an 11-day performance on the past and present of Tarlabasi, a marginalized neighborhood just a stone’s throw away from the chic Cihangir area.

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