When the Gods Have Been Done (2024)
Porcelain tiles, cotton rope, 16mm projector with looper
The work titled ‘When The Gods Have Been Done’ looks at the climate crisis through the historical and anthropological evolution of human’s relationship with nature. It was commissioned and produced during SAHA Studio residency period in Istanbul, Türkiye. Field research for this project was carried out in Western Anatolia and the Aegean coast of Türkiye. The route followed active mining sites for coal, gold and limestone as well as the remains of shrines built for Cybele, the archaic goddess of Anatolia. Cybele’s shrines were positioned at the peaks and slopes of mountains to express the unreachable power of the divine. By comparing the historical and contemporary landscape, the work examines the shift from worshipping the land to its commodification.
Photo Credit: Kayhan Kaygusuz
Photo Credit: Jake Caleb
The installation includes a six minute loop of 16mm analogue film projected on a custom made porcelain screen filling the space with the repetitive and mechanic sound of the analogue projector. The tiles are produced using dried luffa plants which is a technique often used in Kılıçer’s practice. By overlaying the porcelain soil from Western Anatolia with the landscape footage captured in the same region, the work gets materially layered with meaning.
This project evolved further in preparation for a duo exhibition with Jake Caleb in punt WG Amsterdam (November–December 2024). For this iteration, an altar like stand and a wall drawing was designed to present the analogue photographs and interviews recorded during the field research.
The stand that hold the photography album is inviting the audience to take a seat and dive into the photographs while reading the two interviews by a volunteer from Muçep (Muğla Environment Platform) and by Nejla Işık, one of the leading figures of the Akbelen Forest resistance against coal mining.
The drawings on the wall brings some of the images outside the frame format and expands into the space. The use of red ochre pigment for these drawings is a direct reference to the excavated archeological goddess figurines dated back to Paleolithic times.
Photo Credit: Jake Caleb
Photo Credit: Jake Caleb
Storytelling & Performance
In December a new narrative component was introduced: a short story written in the style of Anatolian folk fables which talks about a land where the rise of industry and an authoritarian figures’s ambitions severed people’s connection to the earth. As miners now hollow out the mountains, they unknowingly awaken echoes of the ancient goddess, revealing a cycle of destruction and resistance that has endured for centuries.
This 20-minute-long story narrated by the artist was played from the recording as she accompanied it performing live with a frame drum, shaken percussions and by singing. Artist Lili Huston-Herterich was invited to conduct the analogue projector and make live interventions on the footage with colored light gels and by changing the focus and size of the projection in relation to the story.
Excerpt from the story:
“Hear ye, hear ye! We are the veziers of the Sultan. We are here to find the child that was promised to face the mountain mother. This child must tear the mountain to pieces and bring the core to the Sultan. Whomever comes forward with the whereabouts of this child, will be rewarded with a life time of wealth.
The villagers start gathering, looking around wondering. Where to find this kid? Many come forward with their bairn, looking for a sign in desperation. They call their neighbours, Neighbor neighbor hu…do you know who?——- who is the one?—— Is this even true that the mountain can be undone! What would happen if we…if we upset the mountain? All the water that flowing by our homes, what would happen if our crops and animals suddenly died? Isn’t she the one that keeps it all in balance? What good is wealth to us if there is no life left behind? “
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Artist and writer Anastasia Shin wrote a review for the duo exhibition of Merve Kılıçer and Jake Caleb, “out of sight, out of mind” , realized at punt WG in November 2024.
You can reach the piece titled “A Frame to Feel: out of sight, out of mind” by clicking the image on the left.
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