Performance
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
2 October 1995, ODTU, Ankara
Event:
• Announcement of the performance
• Setting up of the “pump station”
• Decoding of power
• Power of decoding
• A speech by a volunteer imam: Fatwas to Young Ladies
Materials used:
11 plungers and a white bedsheet
Surgical gloves,
Packaged shit,
An imam’s fez
Hand made ‘macrophone’
Notes:
In order to announce the performance, I walked around the campus and gave small leaflets to 400 people. I wore a “happy-face-mask” and performed with black plungers on my head and over my crotch.
I shouted loudly with a handmade amplifier to start the performance. People curiously gathered, and I commenced the performance.
First, I set up the “pump station” by spreading a white bed sheet on the ground and putting the 11 plungers on it.
In order to decode the power, I had to perform the power of decoding. I gave packaged feces to the audience while I spoke about the importance of this decoding process.
People were at first confused about the content.
Finally, as a volunteer imam, I delivered a prewritten speech called “fatwas to young ladies”. I preached about Islam and sex-related issues giving everyday advice to young women. I directly referenced sacred texts, the Koran and hadiths (sayings of Muhammad). Hadith are considered the literature of the Koran and describe every minute detail of social life.
