MOEBIUS STRIPPING
Performance to the camera
Performance Video 55'12''
2019
© Istanbul Queer Art Collective
Presented by performingborders and Foreign Action Productions
In colloboration with
Live Art Development Agency, Contact, Attenborough Center for the Creative Arts, Artsadmin, Deptford Lounge,
Más allá del Muro, University of Sussex
Supported by Arts Council England
Performed by Tuna Erdem, Seda Ergul
Performed to the camera at May Day Rooms on 21 March 2019
Director of Photography Zelfi Elçin Kırca
Edited by Seda Ergul
Sound Recording and Mixing by Hakan Özkan
B Cam Operator Neil Rushton
Exhibited at Beyond the Wall/Más allá del Muro Festival in Nogales AZ/SON
In this performance to the camera, Istanbul Queer Art collective members Tuna Erdem and Seda Ergul, cut into pieces the documents they had to submit to the Home Office to extend their "leave to remain" in the UK. Once the documents, with the total weight of three kilos, are hand shredded the artists, clad in absurd costumes with exotic bird headpieces, process to turn them into Moebius strips: a "queer" topological phenomenon where there is no border between the outside and the inside. The process is accompanied by a cheerful live voice-over, reading excerpts with topics that range from migratory birds that visit the UK, to the rules and regulations governing the privacy of the documents submitted to the Home Office. The resulting mass of strips are subsequently attached to the poster covered wall of the May Day Rooms, which to the artists represent the kind of archive they are eager to be part of. All is done in a tongue in cheek manner, in accordance with the collective's firm belief in the "queer art of failure". After all, one possible definition of "queer" is shredding all identity and shedding feathers is one of the main motivation of migration.