Inci Eviner: Runaway Girls

THE D R AWI N G CENTER

THE LAB

İnci Eviner Runaway Girls

May 29 – June 28, 2015

Curated by Brett Littman

Runaway Girls

In order to survive in a male-dominated society, girls who run away from home for the sake of love and hope, and to escape violence, need to develop certain skills. Girls flee in despair, looking for shelter, their desperation appearing playful and painful by turns.

Opening shot: two women in striped uniforms lie together on a rolling pallet; others stand in the background holding drawings in front of their faces like masks. Pairs of disembodied pants stand mysteriously upright. One of the girls seems to be trying to take refuge in another’s body, putting her head and arms under her companion’s shirt, as though she were trying to crawl inside her skin. As the camera spins, we see an unfinished construction site with wires, tarps, large air ducts, and metal equipment. Men wearing upsidedown unitards and silver heels stomp their feet. A figure of ambiguous sex drags another across the space and outside the frame. Others, holding large drawings of hybrid animals, dance in place. A woman rolls by on a pallet, pressing her face against a sheep.

The tension in this scene—in which it is not clear who is chasing whom—resides in time between dream and reality.

Drawings take the place of actors and become involved in the story. Drawings demand to be free. They want to tear themselves from the paper.

Two girls run by in the background. The space is becoming more active, perhaps gaining momentum. Two policemen wearing Shalwars perform a graceful dance with billy clubs.

A woman lies on her back playing wooden spoons; two others roll around on pallets, hugging each other and also clicking spoons together. The camera rests on them for some time as

motionless figures stand in the background holding drawings of human-faced animals. A young woman runs in the distance. A man welds a metal structure, throwing sparks.

The men in unitards stomp faster.

I do not have any prescriptions or suggestions that I can offer the runaway girls. I can only highlight these unspoken urgent problems in a circular space and time.

The policemen appear again. Two young women run into the frame and collapse. Several others embrace and dance closely.

Another woman runs by. Figures appear wearing painted, baglike masks over their heads. Two women appear on a wheeled pallet. One of them removes the other’s sweater as the latter lies prone and inert. The sweater is turned inside out, and she is re-dressed. We see this woman’s face close up. Now there is less activity. People stand with drawings in front of their faces. Two women lie motionless on a pallet that slowly circumnavigates the space.

The runaway girls are not capable of having a story, only a circular narrative that is constantly folding up on itself. There is nowhere to reach, just the running…

Everything that the camera sees must be rescued immediately, before it turns into an image.

—Nova Benway, İnci Eviner, and Brett Littman

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in Ankara, İnci Eviner has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. She has been invited to participate in numerous biennials including in Istanbul, Venice, Taiwan, Thessaloniki, Shanghai, and Busan. Her work has been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, MASS MoCA, and Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. She has had solo exhibitions at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and MAC/VAL Vitry-sur-Seine, among others. Eviner lives and works in Istanbul.

İnci Eviner, Stills from Runaway Girls, HD. Video loop, surround sound. © İnci Eviner 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nev, Istanbul.

The production of İnci Eviner: Runaway Girls is made possible by SAHA Association, Istanbul and Sarah Peter.

3 5 W O O S T E R S T R E E T | N E W YO R K , N Y 10 013 T 212 219 216 6 | D R AW I N G C E N T E R . O R G

İnci Eviner Runaway Girls

May 29 – June 28, 2015