Zeren Göktan
Counter
15 March–27 April 2013
Cda-Projects
Istiklal Cad. Misir Apt. No:163 K.2 D.5
Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey
Cda-Projects is pleased to announce Zeren Göktan’s solo show, Counter, a tactical media intervention that works on various levels to build alliances between the physical and virtual realms to memorialize deceased women due to domestic violence in Turkey.
Counter consists of beaded shrouds with embedded quick response (QR) codes that act as “gateways” to an online memorial. Zeren Göktan cooperated with male prisoners to rearticulate the craft of beadwork, which is used by prisoners to tell love stories. Ironic lines from popular love songs and QR codes are brought together in the beaded shrouds, which are inspired by Ancient Egyptian versions that protect and lead the dead to afterlife.
The beaded shrouds act as passageways, leading to the virtual counterpart of the work. The audience is invited to scan the QR codes to go to the website of the memorial, where a digital counter indicates the number and names of women deceased in Turkey due to domestic violence. The counter is updated by an NGO (Platform of We Will Stop Murder of Women) after each death. It becomes a living counter-monument that articulates an online archive and memory of the murders.
The seductive beauty of the shrouds and the promise of love radiating from the embedded lyrics lead to a virtual world that records and reveals the violence.
Visit the counter monument at www.anitsayac.com.
About Cda-Projects
CDA-Projects was founded in 2009 and is located in Mısır Apartment, which is centrally located on İstiklal Street, cultural center of Istanbul. CDA-Projects is committed to support emerging artists from Turkey. The gallery also represents internationally acclaimed Turkish and international artists with outstanding works.