and then I left with & without a trace (bi xatirê te), 2025
Installation
Video 10 minutes
Sound 3 hours
Some parts of the body long for belonging, and belonging forms slowly. You adapt, and in the moment you feel settled, you leave again. Wherever you go, you leave a piece of yourself behind, whether you intend to or not. Adjusting takes something from you; what is lost cannot be reclaimed. And yet you also carry each place with you. It becomes a cycle — like circling a town square one last time in the early morning. Like Sultan Çoban, who once walked through Amsterdam.
“It is 6:30 in the morning, and I am leaving Amsterdam. I am Sultan Çoban. During the time I lived here, I stopped singing. I almost forgot how to sing; I lost my spark. I am moving to Rome to re-start singing. The city looks different in the light of leaving it. I already miss it. I am already filled with grief…”
The work consists of a performance, a video, text, objects tied to belonging, sound, and a farewell.
The sound comes from the radio inside the cabinet. It supports the video in the wooden frame while also acting as an independent source, playing songs Sultan Çoban listened to during her two years in Amsterdam.
Presented in June 2025, at Bradwollf Projects Amsterdam as part of the group show "Constellations of Return"
Presented in September 2025, at Halle für Kunst Lüneburg, as part of the group show "EN/COUNTERS"
