arrival or the return, 2025
Performance
Installation
Sultan returns to the city she left ten years ago, arriving as Sultan Çoban. She enters through the staff door of the museum and stands with her back to the audience. A red ribbon marks the border between her and the spectators. An Arabesk song from Ebru Gündeş voice plays through the radio, and she sings along. A second Arabesk-style song which is more pop follows. When she turns toward the audience for the first time, a contemporary pop track by Jennie begins. Throughout the work, the soundtrack moves across different musical languages — Arabesk, Kurdish melodies, contemporary pop, and older love songs — tracing the emotional and cultural thresholds she crosses. The tracks change as she moves, shifting between different languages and genres throughout the performance.
Her speaking voice is heard only through the radio, and it is unclear whether it is her own. She removes the red ribbon, activates the work, and exits through the same door with the ribbon in her hand. After she leaves, the audience can move closer, listen to the radio, and look at the objects.
The work was created while travelling between cities, hotel rooms, and airports. The curtain is installed, but the stage is not fully built. A black-and-white image stands in a gilded frame with a golden plaque. There are no external speakers; the sound comes only from the radio. Personal belongings that travelled with Sultan Çoban through New York, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Basel remain in the room. She performs the action and leaves the objects behind before departing again.
Presented at Kunsthalle Basel, part of the group show "Wish You Were Here", organized by Kunstkredit Basel
