The Türkü* of Turku
*“Türkü, literally “of the Turk”, is a name given to Turkish folk songs as opposed to şarkı (literally: “of the East”). In contemporary language, the meanings of the words türkü and şarkı have shifted: türkü refers to folk songs of all ethnicities within Turkey including the Kurds, Arabs, Circassians etc. whereas şarkı refers to all other songs, including foreign music.”
Wikipedia
As opposed to the Wikipedia author(s), the word Türkü is associated with Turku merely for the reason of a visual analogy, hence, an unavoidable word play. It attempts to lose its ethnogeographical subtext but maintain it’s meaning in terms of becoming the music, the song, das lied, the laulu of turku.
Lyrics of the “Türkü of Turku” are gathered from renowned rhetoricians, which makes the project a participatory one even though the participants are not aware of their participation. What you should get prepaid for is a performance, its documentation, a petition to sign and a perhaps the monumentalisation of the work.
But now we sing.
Tuuuurrkuuuuuuu, nmmmmm, nmm.
Tuurrkuuuu, nmmm, nmm…
About the artist
Tatari’s art practice is mainly based on conceptual and creative art in/about/within public space; playing, extending, exploring and changing the definitions of public space with a manner of scepticism, analysing the multi-layered structure of the relations between art and the city, architecture, society and history; trying to critique the ideological working operations of the public realm, the global power of marketing and the making of art in the frame of art (re)presentation and conception.
Hence, his works are not merely performances, installations or sculptures, they are constructions of ideas and feelings; they are free-designed situations.
Please also visit www.oguztatari.com to view his previous projects.
