Tulips Archive, Performance by Ilker Cinarel, 2022

Tulips Archive is a new performance piece exploring queer identity. The title ‘Tulips Archive’ is inspired by a symbol from the Ottoman empire's golden age which in Turkish was called “ Lale devri '' 1713-1730 - the Tulip Age. The work responds to the artists’ own experiences of the military process through actions and movement, historical and contemporary images and materials, music and poetry, including a well known love poem “Makber, 1885” by Abdulhak Hamit Tarhan. This work also takes inspiration from the Turkish artist Kultlug Ataman ”Jarse, 2011” - who has also explored this subject, having had the same experience. 

In 2008 Ilker Cinarel received his pink health certificate issued by a Turkish Military Hospital.  This gave his “military status” and declared his “unsuitability” for the army. 

It stated: “Self-care: good. Disposition: calm. Sociability: respectful. Speech: effeminate. Tone of voice: effeminate… Fails to show interest in women, shows interest in men.” 

This conclusion is reached by a set of findings that officially place Ilker away from the accepted heteronormative masculine realm. His speech, tone of voice, mannerisms, gestures and movements are marked as effeminate by the State,  reflecting how gayness is viewed in contemporary Turkish culture.  

Murat Aktas is a songwriter and recording artist who had the same experience in 2001.  Murat and Ilker met in London in 2008 and started to explore what this deeply personal interaction with the State meant for them and thousands of other Turkish men and women, and indeed for the state officials.  Their journey starts as isolated individuals but come together far away from Turkey with shared memory, experience and community.  This contrasts the sensitivity of the individual with the elaborate system built by the Turkish military to discriminate, making explicit the prejudice faced by many around the world. 

Time: 07-05-2022

Duration: 15 min

Curated by Lucy Stein and Sarah Hartnett  Commissioned by Kingsgate Art project space, London

Script: 3 phases in the process

Sound: The artist created a new sound for the performance based on,  and using, the violin.

Projection: Images of artist own archive