deniz's dubai residency: March 2012

Art Dubai is over now. After 80 days of intense and laborious work, which passed in an eye blink, Art Dubai Fair, which is no longer than 4 days, actually took years to pass! The feedback was very satisfying though, and it was worth all that hard work. My coffee smell filled up the space, despite its outdoor location, and the meditative sound of my drum felt like a messenger of something about to happen.


With Special Thanks to Simon and Martin for their amazing helps with the magazine. I wouldn't be able to actualise this project without their contributions.

I finally could meet Simon Johnson, and Martin (Martin what's your surname?!) from That Magazine, and I met Zeynep and her amazing magazine Ice that she prepares and delivers herself. Martin did an amazing job with propping my project into a very convincing book format, and I loved the way it looks! I can't wait to see them again when I go back to Istanbul. Many thanks guys!!

For the ones who could not find any chance to see the project, it is basically a half real, half mock up scientific article, where it is not possible to discriminate where the reality stops and the lie starts. It is suggesting alternative energy supplies which is very relevant especially in UAE context, who is about to run out of its oil supplies approximately in 10 years.

Fayçal had a performance in Art Dubai, as well as his amazing giant imitation incense burner he installed. Groups of cleaners overwhelmingly cleaned the space for a very long time. It was really spectacular, when the invisible becomes that much apparent.

I am soo happy to be able to meet this amazing person you see on the right hand side, Jasmina, who is a very good friend of Fayçal and Kapwani. She is such a lovely soul! And beautiful Nameera, from Sabancı University was there on the performance night too. It is indeed a great and comforting feeling to see a familiar face from the past.

It was very sad not to have Tom, after meeting adorable Kapwani and sweetheart Adrian on the week of Art Dubai. We were at this incredibly luxurious house for a private party. Champagne was a waterfall, and the food booths were from 30 different countries.There were 4 living rooms, and one of the living rooms was an island surrounded by water! This is the best part of being an artist, living a very poor life and owning the worlds for one day a year, and having your old life back again. I really love it! (I wish Tom was with me too...)

After I had my one to one tutorials with five very good, mostly Dubai based artists, I participated to Jamjar's site specific workshop with very young artist candidates. The departure point of the project was my Dubai Windcatcher, and then the kids built up their own tower from cardboard tubes. It was very enjoyable, very colourful and inspirational.

After having extremely busy days with meetings, presentations and workshops, today finally I could meet up with Denise and we had our picnic at the Creek Park, that I was dreaming for a long time. It was an unforgettable moment with lovely Denise, and hoping to see her again either in Beirut, or Glasgow. (Maybe in Dubai again!)

The rain for the first time almost 'blessed' this beautiful moment, and accompanied us with our journey back. I will always remember today.

Now it is 6.18pm in Dubai, and Studio 11 is officially closed 18 minutes ago. It is sad really. Just the word 'closed' gives me emotional moments. It has been three full on months, and now we came to the end, but in 'cheesy' words, a new beginning.

Deniz Uster’s homeland of Turkey is a mediatory culture deriving mainly from an oral history, which can be traced back to Middle Asia, Anatolia, and the Islamic Middle East. As an artist who collaborates with the language of epics and storytelling, she discovered that no tradition is original; which suggests that influence is an essential tool in the construction of culture.

The distinctive windcatchers of Bastakiya could be regarded as one of the clearest and oldest references to this ‘cultural crossbreeding’ in Dubai with its Persian influence. They are also one of the earliest basic mechanisms in Dubai that were built and expected to fulfill a specific function.

Utilising reverse functionality as her methodology, Uster constructs three windcatchers dedicated to Istanbul, Glasgow and Dubai, the cities that have welcomed her and shaped her identity and practice; undressing them from their ‘capturing’ function, and turning them into ‘disseminating’ monuments. The kinetic components of each tower fortifies the idea of influx, transition and even failure if necessary. Furthermore, spreading respectively scent, humidity and sound; these towers house inner mechanisms as well as carrying a ‘vagrant’ look on the exterior.

Uster also strives to utilise remnants of construction materials to build her towers in order to explore the fabric and the economy of Art Dubai. She seeks to question the idea of ‘reusing’ and to propose a form of ‘opposite alchemy’ that plays with the hierarchy of values we place on objects.