Aslı Çavuşoğlu’s site-specific installation “Both Roots and Stems, Both Are Both Not”, produced for the exhibition “Souvenirs of the Future”, is inspired by the mangrove trees that grow on the shores of tropical regions. Just like these trees, whose roots stretch down into the earth, traditional modes of production and memories surface through the installation. These entangled roots, which also evoke Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s rhizome model, based upon diversity, multiplicity, and non-hierarchical relationships as an alternative to the hierarchical tree model of Western philosophy, allow for the consideration of different time frames simultaneously. Inspired by the forms of Kınık, Phrygia, and Hittite and the traditional Kınık pouring technique, the ceramic cups were shaped in Kınık Village. This near-forgotten pottery tradition was introduced to the region by Bulgarian immigrants. The ceramic cups form a web, with branches rooting from the wall. These ceramics, branching out to the museum walls, storage areas, archives, and exhibition space, establish a continuity between the building, the works, and the past and present. The entangled roots on the surface render visible the memory of the region.

*Excerpt from the exhibition text by Ulya Soley

Installation, ceramics, 3D print. Dimensions variable.
Commissioned by Pera Museum, Istanbul.