‘I wish I were a fish in a raki bottle’ (Orhan Veli Kanik)

The last verse of the poem ‘Eskiler Aliyorum (tr. I buy rags)’ by the Turkish poet Orhan Veli reveals itself as a metaphysical quest; feelings of desperation leading to the fantasy of being “a fish in a raki bottle.” The fish symbolises the fragility of existence within its ecosystem which relates to the impotence of the peoples in Turkey in the face of political and economic challenges across the country; the ontological crisis faced by the individual leads to the creation of Utopia, and the frantic attempt to overcome reality through Dionysian feasts and celebrations.

Elvan Tekin (she/her) is a dance artist and translator from Turkey based in Hamburg/Berlin. As a dancer she worked among others with Eyal Dadon (ORPHEUS, Thalia Theater Hamburg), José Vidal (EMERGENZ, Kampnagel Hamburg; EMERGER, NAVE Santiago de Chile) and Edan Gorlicki(LOST BODIES-URBAN ENCOUNTERS, Inter-Actions Heidelberg). In her choreography, she focuses on socio-political dimensions of the individual body as a form of resistance, implementing and experimenting with translation theories as a tool for creation.

[Source: www.ada-studio.de]

TFB Nr. 1587