Panicattack Duo was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018. As part of this exhibition, we realised a durational performance piece titled entitled “Nothing Really Mattress” [NRM] on a double size mattress which is our ‘mobile studio’ where as a duo we would exchange conversations, research, readings, opinions and debates. These conversations peaked into more performative actions, experimental spoken word, sound and movement.
We also considered the mattress as a backdoor to artist ownership, a space where we open up to anyone who wants to join in conversation and exchange. We wanted to expand our views and knowledge by speaking to the local public. We think that today, we shouldn’t feel like we are alone within the walls we build for ourselves, so our aim was to prove that intimate public spaces can exist, if only we dare to explore. Thus, we considered the mattress as an exhibition space which enabled us to curate a series of events, talks and workshops on our mobile studio and promoted 35 more artists who were not part of the BNC 2018 programme. Throughout the three months, NRM hosted a different artist for two days each week, who had various curatorial interests as well as spontaneously engaging with large numbers of the local public.
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Q&A with Panicattack Duo June 2020
How did you get started?
We think that making art starts with an intuition and it just comes from inside; deep in your heart. At the beginning, you don’t really know why you choose to do it or maybe you are not exactly aware of it. You don’t become an artist as soon as you start making art. It is more of a process and a thinking method that you discover in a personal journey. Being an artist is not only about making an accurate statement or a valuable artwork. Being an artist is about confirming the circumstances that it brings to you. These causes could be the confusion of being an artist or its unsustainable lifestyle which makes you question why you are making art. When you realise that you will live on an edge for all of your life and when you come to a point that you don’t regret it, you become an artist. An artist who really embraces those circumstances and is available to sacrifice or ready to fail during the journey of making and interrogating art. It is an enduring voyage which will never end and you have to realise that you have to keep going, enjoy and learn from that process.
What type of work do you make?
As Panicattack Duo, we mostly work with performance, storytelling and sound, as well as curating, to express our thoughts and feelings. We think that medium is only a tool that you choose for fulfilling the expression you prefer. It is about selecting the ones that you feel most comfortable and acquainted with. Within this selection you find the most honest way to explore yourself and how to describe it to others. This honesty is related with the joy and excitement that you get from that chosen media. For instance, we choose to perform because it is a medium that has a certain connection with organic life; a determined time, a space and an audience which are the main elements of the performance art practice. Without them you cannot perform or at least you need one of them. For us, this creates an honest relationship and an awareness of trust between the artwork, artists and audience. Other producers create this equation with other media and concepts to find ways of internalising honesty, personal intuition and bliss.
We choose to curate because our practice is based on exchanging ideas and collaborating with other artists. Curation is a useful tool to achieve this aim and it is very approachable and wide. There is a lot of chance to modify the ways of curating and finding tactics to create personal measures and policies.
Describe a typical day in the studio?
We haven’t had a studio since we graduated from art school. Also the practices we have do not require a determined working space. We use our personal and public spaces as studios most of the time; a mattress, a kitchen or a living room could be examples for this or we work by walking in a park sometimes. The relation we make with the studio space is depending on where inspires us the most at that moment.
For instance with our work Nothing Really Mattress, we have exposed our process of making it into our mobile studio which was on a mattress that can travel to any site. This was not only aiming to show how we work and practice but also making a statement for the economical problematics of having a studio space as an emerging artist. An artist should create work in any circumstances if they have the urge of making a work. This does not mean an artist should make work all the time. But rather should know how to create opportunities when the urge comes and turn those problems into a prospect and form new strategies to make work. A studio is not a must for an artist, it is rather a tool.
What are you currently working on?
As Panicattack Duo we are both slowing down within this moment. Since we realised we have not stopped for six years – producing according to how we felt under the pressure of the capitalistic London lifestyle and wielding power to be productive all the time. This neoliberal ‘individualistic success goal’ society made us feel like if we spent fruitless time for even a minute we would be unsuccessful in what we are doing. But artistic practice requires time and space to consider how we can think about the society that we are mirroring. It needs research and engagement and these are correlating with the notion of time. As a duo we were always questioning the speed of our old lives and to be honest always felt uncomfortable with it. We need quality input to have quality output.
Within the midst of the coronavirus the future became blurred, we found ourselves in a state that we have to concentrate on ‘now’. Therefore the process of making and the idea of work turned into its slow organic rhythm, which had to be all along. It takes time and value and depends on the consideration of now.
Since the beginning of the pandemic we have stopped our artistic practice but we still continue to work on other things. Naz has been working with Performistanbul. where they have been running a project called Stay LIVE at Home for artists who need a space to heal through their work within the current situation. The programme exists through online platforms and invites artists across the globe to perform and nominate another artist. Thus they created an organic cycle where the artists can choose each other rather than directing an institutional cycle as a result forming a movement without borders. Naz also has stopped for three months but now she is ready to perform within the next month for the programme. Emily has been working on a film she never had time to make as well as concentrating on research for future projects back in Cyprus. She is also trying to be part of the Covid-19 community support in Margate.
What are some of the key influences for your work?
Experiencing the embodiment of migration and exploring the connections between personal experience and larger social structures was what evoked the beginning of our collaboration. There is a challenge that has been constant, it has been there before our collaboration began. Coming from Cyprus and Turkey, our respective societies claim that we should be enemies, so we have employed the model of friendship to counter such national barriers, as well as a way of testing the limits of collaborative practice. Collaboration is our greatest skill and we use it as an internalised policy and a tool to rediscover political and emotional joy against the individualistic tendencies formed by commercialised structures.
Together, we tackle issues around the topics of migration and home; class and minorities; xenofeminism; the critique of new conservatism and the ‘perks’ of being a millennial against the neoliberal patriarchy. Currently, our work stimulates these issues through a collaborative female voice that questions the history of the occult and magic; mystical practices making a conscious effort of perceiving the earth as a living organism. We analyse the power structures and processes implicated in the evolution of capitalism through the control, governance, domination and regulation employed over female bodies which has been destroying our climate and future dreams.
What kind of cultural engagement are you turning to while we are temporarily unable to get to museums, galleries, theatres and events?
There have been many pioneers and comrades that we get inspired from and this changes according to our research and states of social politics. Currently we are both reading The Women Who Run with Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola. During this time we also red PANDEMİC! Covid-19 Shakes the World by Slavoj Zizek. Followed online exhibitions and happenings like Covid Room, Transmissions 2020 and Stay LIVE at Home. Naz has been following mainly the happenings run in Turkey from OMM, Bilsart IKSV and SAHA Association. Emily has been watching curated cinema on MUBI, hand-picked cult, classic and independent movies.
What is the most surprising thing to you about the Chelsea Arts Club?
To be honest the idea of a members club in the heart of Chelsea was a bit intimidating for us at the beginning, but when we met people who were willing to connect and were interested in what we are doing it made us feel like the class barriers are not always a limitation for communication. It is amazing to get support from a club that is able to contribute to others through different opportunities, as well as to be involved in cross-generational conversations.
The thought that gets me out of bed each day is…
Another day to learn about concentrating on ‘now’