Odunpazarı Modern Museum (OMM) in Türkiye's Eskişehir sets to offer a unique experience by opening its doors for 40 days – 960 hours – to host Ata Doğruel’s solo performance entitled “Light Source."
Curated by Simge Burhanoğlu and realized in collaboration with Performistanbul, the performance will be held at OMM as a part of the current exhibition "Grief and Pleasure." Testing the limits of museums and going beyond traditional exhibition methods, the artist will live in a pitch-dark room throughout the performance and see the light only when a visitor with a candle comes in.
The performance can be experienced at OMM 24/7 as of Monday, until Dec. 17. “Light Source'' is the first performance of the artist's "40" series, composed of different, continuous, 40-day performances to be undertaken by Ata Doğruel until the end of 2031, when the artist turns 40.
The artist will photograph each visitor who brings a candle and will hang them on the wall to document the experience. This will allow the visitors to participate in the performance and engage with the performer as they will be “the sight” of the artist with the candles they bring. “Light Source” also offers a performative interpretation of people's need for each other.
Throughout the 40 days, within the liminal space of art and life, Doğruel will offer a window to observe social life; communication, and connection as well as the physical, spiritual, and mental boundaries and shifts involving the participants in a domain where the artist/audience distinction blur. The performance is born out of the thought that “we are each other’s light," which the artist repeated in his mind during the three-year period in which he lived in isolation, pre-pandemic. "40" takes its name from references to the ancient history of the number 40 in various eastern and western cultures, as well as being a ceremonial welcome of the artist turning 40. With an emphasis on the mystical nature of 40, the series reconstructs the story of the number within the scope of the discipline of performance art.
Recognized by his performances that push his physical and mental limits, focusing on concepts such as isolation and endurance, Doğruel commented: “The whole world has experienced the isolation that I have lived in for three years due to the pandemic. People who were suddenly isolated began to see the need for social relations as the process progressed.”
He explains his perspective on performance art as: "My life between performances is just waiting for the next performance and getting ready for it, my main world, my life is the times I perform." The artist stayed in a room that is not exposed to the sun for six weeks and tried to understand the phases of the day, time and night – by changing the concept of daytime, he is preparing to create a rare work in the history of performance art.
The longest nonstop performance hosted by OMM will be on display for 40 days, 960 hours, including nights and Mondays.
OMM, designed by the famous Japanese architectural firm "Kengo Kuma and Associates" and inspired by Ottoman dome architecture, traditional Japanese architecture and Odunpazarı civil architecture, has attracted great interest from art goers and visitors since it was opened.
The museum was previously awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as an expression of gratitude and thanks to those who contributed to Türkiye's cultural heritage and the world of art with their original works, practices, interpretations or scientific research. It received the Special Commendation Award as part of the "European Museum of the Year Awards" organized by the European Museum Forum (EMF).
