Melis Tezkan

Centrale Fies - Free School of Performance | Dro, Italy

SAHA supports Melis Tezkan’s new project at Centrale Fies between 19 - 21 July 2024. The performance piece titled 8938th song: With Nil Yalter revolves around an intricately curated playlist, primarily comprising conversations recorded with Nil Yalter. The recordings span across various moments, encapsulating voices that have resonated through years. They are snapshots of travel, collaboration, and cohabitation, capturing voices that comment, contradict, rectify. These voices delve into their personal perspectives on art, solidarity, feminism, love in diverse forms, companionships, citizenships, and the concept of home.

Melis Tezkan (1982, Istanbul) is an artist, director, performance-maker and researcher based in Paris. She currently teaches performance-sound-audio-visual art at the Grenoble- Valence Fine Arts University. In 2022 Tezkan completed her applied PhD in practice-based research in fine arts at École Supérieure d'Art de Clermont Métropole . She also graduated from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in 2012 with a PhD in aesthetics. She was an artist-in-residence at the Coopérative de la Recherche from 2018 until 2022.

A driving force in her work is long-standing collaboration. Tezkan and Okan Urun founded biriken in 2006. The artist duo uses various mediums such as theater, performance, video, installation, DJing. Their works have been invited to international festivals, exhibitions and biennials such as De Keuze International, iDANS Festival, Jerk Off Festival, Les Subs, Istanbul Theatre Festival, Pera Museum, Sharjah Biennial, Théâtre Ouvert, Under the Radar Festival, Wiener Festwochen. In addition to their artistic work, they translated the encyclopedic book The Dictionary of Homophobia (editor, Louis-Georges Tin) from French into Turkish. Melis Tezkan has collaborated closely with renowned artist Nil Yalter since 2009.They conceived together video and performance works. Tezkan curated an exhibition of Yalter’s work, wrote texts and exhibition scripts.

About Centrale Fies

Centrale Fies is a research center for contemporary performance practices located in Dro (Trento - Italy) inside an early 20th century hydroelectric power station, partly still active, owned by Hydro Dolomiti Energia. The project, started in 1999, is run by Cooperativa il Gaviale and builts on the experience of the Drodesera Festival, founded by thé cooperative in 1980. Centrale Fies supports production processes through expérimental residencies for performing and visual arts practicionners. Since 2013, Centrale Fies organizes the international platform Live Works - Free School of Performance.