Şakir Gökçebağ

Fountain Alla Turca, 2005, Ready-made, 65 x 51 x 21 cm

Duchamp holds a very important place in my art, particularly because of his use of the “ready-made.” In producing my own works, I am likewise interested in everyday objects and the things that surround us. Irony also occupies a significant place in my practice, although it is not a direct form of humour. I describe it as a kind of “under-the-moustache” humour. I once held a solo exhibition titled *Bıyıkaltı*. In a text about my work, the writer Michael Glasmeier emphasised this sense of humour by referring to Nasreddin Hodja.

My art incorporates movements such as Minimalism, Dada, and Fluxus, as well as different concepts including the conceptual, aesthetics, play, and experimentation. Another important aspect of my work is that it is both Eastern and Western.

The urinal is a Western object, while its Eastern counterpart is the alla turca toilet.

The idea of adapting Duchamp’s urinal into an alla turca toilet has a long history. I developed the idea in the early 2000s, after moving to Germany, and it remained for many years in the sketchbooks in which I constantly draw, waiting to be exhibited. Although I considered presenting it on several occasions, I either lacked the courage at the time or an appropriate exhibition context did not arise.

To mark the centenary of the ready-made and Dada, Kuad Gallery organised two exhibitions in 2014 and 2015 and invited me to participate: *Unhappy Ready-Made* and *Cut with the Kitchen Knife*. I took part in these exhibitions with works that incorporated ready-made objects, but I hesitated to propose *Alaturka Fountain*.

Then, in 2017, the centenary of the exhibition of Duchamp’s *Fountain* arrived. There could not have been a more appropriate opportunity to present the work. The moment I first saw the exhibition venue in Istanbul, I conceived the idea of showing it there. At Adas, I noticed a stairwell. It was a space separated from the area in which my other works were displayed. At the same time, it would evoke a sense of exclusion, just as Duchamp’s work had done a hundred years earlier. I therefore decided to exhibit *Fountain alla Turca* in this location.