DULCİNEA

Sewing Classes in the Supervision of the Famous Tailor Ali Ceyhan / Concept: Nadi Güler
(Performance)
17-26.10.2000

Ali Ceyhan is a man in his eighties, who used to be an expert tailor and now he is living out the last days of his craft by doing little sewing jobs here and there such as patching up clothes or adjusting their lengths. He is rather far from preparing a desired design, but he someway finishes up the job and hands it in. He makes great conversation- though it is hard to understand most of what he is saying- and with the feeling of trust that you get from his warmth, you start to believe that he still sews well.

Uncle Ali unintentionally turns objects intended for daily usage into art objects with his craft. You ask him to make a real simple canvas bag and while doing so, he chats with you and sews the handles the wrong way. This is something outside of the conventional form of a bag, but instead of objecting to it, you look for creative ways of making uses for this particular object. The preserved principles of the tailoring craft, and the fading strength of habits, carries within itself important clues for contemporary art. This is a situation where the thing you were planning to use as an article of clothing is turned into an 'object' by Uncle Ali.

For this performance Nadi Güler asked Ali Ceyhan and his assistant to move in the gallery for ten days with their sewing machine and fabric. A video projection of Ali Ceyhan explaining the delicacies of this craft was also at the same time displayed in the gallery. The visitors would be able to order clothes to Ali Ceyhan, therefore got the opportunity to have dialogues with him and became participants of the performance. Along with his own production, Ali Ceyhan saw simple cotton or linen clothes upon wishes of the participants and sold these. The clothes to be saw could also be designed by the participants.

The prepared clothes were signed by Ali Ceyhan through out the performance, these clothes were displayed on dummies, in the gallery space. To conclude, a fashion show was organized at the end of the performance.

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