conversations in ten questions 7 : Begüm Erciyas - Voicing Pieces
In this series of interviews we try to get to know the directors/choreographers who will be the international guests at the 23rd Istanbul Theatre Festival in November 2019. Our seventh guest is Begüm Erciyas.
Ayse Draz & Mehmet Kerem Ozel
Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Writer
[The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on art.unlimited]
What is the spirit of dance in your opinion? How do you define contemporary dance today?
I'm confused about this like everybody else. Many of us now create works beyond disciplinary traditions. Stage works that are not based on text or textual narrative as in theatre but structured by alternative compositional choices and based on a dramaturgy of affect might be called dance or music theater in Europe even if they do not contain dance or music in the sense we are used to. I personally oscillate between calling my work dance and not. I've studied contemporary dance in the past, but most of my work doesn't have dancers or actors on stage. Sometimes you are forced to categorize your work: Is it theater, dance or performance? When these are your only options, then I say it is dance. Perhaps because there is simply no appropriate term for such work, or because contemporary dance is the most open to innovation among other performing arts disciplines.
Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?
Of course :) Art invites you to spend time with yourself, to get to know your playful side and to lose your direction a little. These are exercises to get out of dominant thinking systems, to generate new awareness’ and connections. Besides, in the field of performing arts we frequently work in collective and collaborative forms. I think it is political to offer these ways of working as alternatives to hierarchical structures and to be an example for other fields.
When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?
I wonder how to break open the lock of the institution of family and how to motivate people to engage more actively in public life.
When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?
It has always been an inspiration for me to be in different countries because different cultures allow us to look at our daily habits from a foreign perspective. For example, I was in Japan in 2014, and while I was there, I saw people renting karaoke rooms on their own to sing karaoke. So I went and got myself a karaoke room and I realized that being alone with my own voice is a very valuable experience. This was the moment when I was inspired to create the Voicing Pieces that you will experience at the Istanbul Theater Festival. Apart from that, cinema among other disciplines of art is especially important for me. As well as theoretical articles. However I usually don’t remember my dreams therefore I can’t guess or know their effects. When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one? When the deadline for delivering the contents of the program booklet knocks at the door – I mean as late as possible.
What’s your favorite line (or moment) in this performance, and why?
"Why do you hide in the darkness and listen to my private thoughts?" Maybe it's not my favorite moment, but it's a sentence that I can share without spoiling its surprise. It takes place in the beginning of the performance. This sentence, borrowed from the balcony scene of Shakespeare's ‘Romeo and Juliet’, can divide a single person into two when spoken by him/herself to him/herself.
Is there any artist whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art the most? And if there is such an artist or a person, who is s/he?
The film director Werner Herzog. Almost with every one of his films he has left a significant impact on me due to the extraordinary aspect of his projects, his courage, his experimental approach to art, his solutions that go beyond expectations and the humor that accompanies them.
Does that fact that you have studied molecular biology and genetics have an impact on your work?
Perhaps the fact that I like experimental and methodical work is the result of this background. Also the fact that I'm not afraid to learn new techniques for each project.
What are your thoughts on audience participation in performing arts?
The audience's physical and auditory experience is an important part of your work, especially in the last two pieces that have been praised throughout Europe and shown in many cities.
What have you derived from putting the audience through such an experience, what did you learn from this process and what do you think this process might have brought to you?
Participatory works scare me as it does a lot of people. My last two works (“Voicing Pieces” and “Pillow Talk”) invite the audience to experience the work itself alone, on their own. You have no responsibility with regards to the other audience members or to the artists. You are free to take on the suggestions that the work offers or to decide how you will follow them. You're your own audience. In this respect, I see my work differently from the participatory works I have experienced so far. The relationship people have to their own voices and to their inner voice has been an important research topic for me in recent years. Interestingly, our most inner, most personal part is also the most foreign. So intriguingly foreign, that we can even become spectators to our own voice. Who speaks, when it is one’s own voice that speaks?
In “Voicing Pieces” in order to allow the audience to encounter their own voices, -or in order to make the feel close to an artificial voice in “Pillow Talk,” – I tried to create environments where the audience could stay on their own. In these processes, I have learned that representation becomes insignificant and that some sensitivities increase when people no longer have a responsibility for others. When there are no spectators other than themselves, people start making completely different choices. I also noticed the challenge of trying to be active (the performer) and passive (the spectator) at the same time. One becomes extremely occupied if s/he tries to be in these two positions simultaneously. You get so much into the work that you lose your orientation.
Is there anything in particular you want to tell people before they see this show? Is there anything particular you would like to tell the Istanbul audience?
Try to be both the speaker and the listener, the performer and the audience at the same time in “Voicing Pieces”. Don't get caught up in the distance of being just a listener or the affinity of being just a speaker. Try to be both at the same time. I wonder how the performances will go in Istanbul.
Ayse Draz & Mehmet Kerem Ozel
Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Writer
[The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on art.unlimited]
Begüm Erciyas (Photo: Bea Borgers)
What is the spirit of dance in your opinion? How do you define contemporary dance today?
I'm confused about this like everybody else. Many of us now create works beyond disciplinary traditions. Stage works that are not based on text or textual narrative as in theatre but structured by alternative compositional choices and based on a dramaturgy of affect might be called dance or music theater in Europe even if they do not contain dance or music in the sense we are used to. I personally oscillate between calling my work dance and not. I've studied contemporary dance in the past, but most of my work doesn't have dancers or actors on stage. Sometimes you are forced to categorize your work: Is it theater, dance or performance? When these are your only options, then I say it is dance. Perhaps because there is simply no appropriate term for such work, or because contemporary dance is the most open to innovation among other performing arts disciplines.
Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?
Of course :) Art invites you to spend time with yourself, to get to know your playful side and to lose your direction a little. These are exercises to get out of dominant thinking systems, to generate new awareness’ and connections. Besides, in the field of performing arts we frequently work in collective and collaborative forms. I think it is political to offer these ways of working as alternatives to hierarchical structures and to be an example for other fields.
When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?
I wonder how to break open the lock of the institution of family and how to motivate people to engage more actively in public life.
When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?
It has always been an inspiration for me to be in different countries because different cultures allow us to look at our daily habits from a foreign perspective. For example, I was in Japan in 2014, and while I was there, I saw people renting karaoke rooms on their own to sing karaoke. So I went and got myself a karaoke room and I realized that being alone with my own voice is a very valuable experience. This was the moment when I was inspired to create the Voicing Pieces that you will experience at the Istanbul Theater Festival. Apart from that, cinema among other disciplines of art is especially important for me. As well as theoretical articles. However I usually don’t remember my dreams therefore I can’t guess or know their effects. When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one? When the deadline for delivering the contents of the program booklet knocks at the door – I mean as late as possible.
What’s your favorite line (or moment) in this performance, and why?
"Why do you hide in the darkness and listen to my private thoughts?" Maybe it's not my favorite moment, but it's a sentence that I can share without spoiling its surprise. It takes place in the beginning of the performance. This sentence, borrowed from the balcony scene of Shakespeare's ‘Romeo and Juliet’, can divide a single person into two when spoken by him/herself to him/herself.
Is there any artist whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art the most? And if there is such an artist or a person, who is s/he?
The film director Werner Herzog. Almost with every one of his films he has left a significant impact on me due to the extraordinary aspect of his projects, his courage, his experimental approach to art, his solutions that go beyond expectations and the humor that accompanies them.
Does that fact that you have studied molecular biology and genetics have an impact on your work?
Perhaps the fact that I like experimental and methodical work is the result of this background. Also the fact that I'm not afraid to learn new techniques for each project.
What are your thoughts on audience participation in performing arts?
The audience's physical and auditory experience is an important part of your work, especially in the last two pieces that have been praised throughout Europe and shown in many cities.
What have you derived from putting the audience through such an experience, what did you learn from this process and what do you think this process might have brought to you?
Participatory works scare me as it does a lot of people. My last two works (“Voicing Pieces” and “Pillow Talk”) invite the audience to experience the work itself alone, on their own. You have no responsibility with regards to the other audience members or to the artists. You are free to take on the suggestions that the work offers or to decide how you will follow them. You're your own audience. In this respect, I see my work differently from the participatory works I have experienced so far. The relationship people have to their own voices and to their inner voice has been an important research topic for me in recent years. Interestingly, our most inner, most personal part is also the most foreign. So intriguingly foreign, that we can even become spectators to our own voice. Who speaks, when it is one’s own voice that speaks?
In “Voicing Pieces” in order to allow the audience to encounter their own voices, -or in order to make the feel close to an artificial voice in “Pillow Talk,” – I tried to create environments where the audience could stay on their own. In these processes, I have learned that representation becomes insignificant and that some sensitivities increase when people no longer have a responsibility for others. When there are no spectators other than themselves, people start making completely different choices. I also noticed the challenge of trying to be active (the performer) and passive (the spectator) at the same time. One becomes extremely occupied if s/he tries to be in these two positions simultaneously. You get so much into the work that you lose your orientation.
Is there anything in particular you want to tell people before they see this show? Is there anything particular you would like to tell the Istanbul audience?
Try to be both the speaker and the listener, the performer and the audience at the same time in “Voicing Pieces”. Don't get caught up in the distance of being just a listener or the affinity of being just a speaker. Try to be both at the same time. I wonder how the performances will go in Istanbul.
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