Nazlı Gürlek Hodder

Phenomenal Hole

2019
Live performance, 40'

Performers: Tamer Aksu, Ekin Ançel, Ülkü Çağlayan, Derya Dinç, Kamilla Knysheva, Harun Kocabıçak, Gamze Öztürk, Deniz Yamanus
Sound design: Eda Urfalıoğlu

Video: Gülbin Eriş

First performed: September 2, 6 pm & September 13, 3 pm
“Happening Now” 
Curator: Özge İnal
Artnivo @ Akaretler Art Weeks
September 3 - 22, 2019
Istanbul

Phenomenal Hole is a ritualistic performance taking place in and around a hole in the ground. It consists of a series of interrelated processes such as facing the wounds, surrendering to death, returning to the womb and rebirth. It is inspired by Anatolian offering and sacrifice pits, shamanic healing rituals, Mediterranean Saint Agatha’s protective powers and eternal life cycles.

A community of eight individuals of various ages and genders are invited to develop a collective movement in search of their individual "wounds". A few objects are left at their disposition such as two clay jugs full of milk and some pieces of fabric beside the hole. A stage right at the heart of the city gets destroyed and the community sets out on a journey into the underworld, the depths of the earth extending beneath the surface, in the company of drum beats. The work suggests a return to a natural state of "being" embracing the fragilities, tension as well as comfort, in a collective effort of carving out a shared time and space.