3 days with MASA

2019 Performance, Sound
Wide view of a rough, weathered interior with exposed stone and mottled red-brown plaster walls, arched openings and a dark concrete floor. MASA, a pale wooden table with a broad rectangular frame and recessed centre, stands in the foreground. The performer bends deeply over its far side, with their head and upper body lowered toward the wood.
Wide frontal view of MASA in a weathered interior with exposed stone, peeling plaster and two tall arched openings. The performer stands behind the pale wooden table, leaning forward with both hands close to its broad rectangular top as they sand the surface.
Wide view of the performer bending deeply across MASA, their torso folded forward and one leg extended diagonally away from the body. One arm reaches across the pale wooden tabletop as they sand its surface. Fine wood dust is visible on the table and on the performer’s dark clothing against the rough red-brown walls and arched openings.
Close view of the performer bending over one corner of MASA, gaze directed downward as they work a piece of sandpaper against the pale wooden edge. Their hands are close to the surface, with fine wood dust visible on the wood and dark clothing; the mottled red-brown wall fills the background.
Mid-length view of the performer standing beside MASA in the weathered interior. One wood-dust-covered hand is raised across their forehead and eye, partially obscuring their face, while the other arm hangs near the body. Pale dust marks their hands and dark clothing; an arched doorway and rough stone-and-plaster walls rise behind them.
Close overhead view of the performer’s hands sanding the inner edge of MASA’s recessed rectangular centre. One hand presses a piece of sandpaper against the pale wood while the other steadies the frame. Fine wood dust has accumulated across the surface and around their fingers.
Mid-length view of the performer sanding a small pale wooden component held close to their torso. Their head is bowed and gaze directed toward their hands as sandpaper rubs against the wood. Pale wood dust covers their dark clothing, hands and forearms, with rough stone and plaster behind them.
Close view of a dense pile of used brown sandpaper sheets and torn pieces stacked on a dark work surface against rough masonry. Many pieces are curled, folded and coated with pale wood dust; a roll of tape and other small work materials sit beside the pile.
Photography: Gülbin Eriş, Kayhan Kaygusuz

3 days with MASA takes Masa Project itself as both subject and object of the performance. An alternative platform within the Turkish contemporary art scene, Masa Project presented more than forty artists over twelve years. For this work, it became a site for examining time, labour, memory, and the material histories embedded in an artistic object.

The project began with a curiosity about what remains behind the scene of an artwork: who made Masa—the table itself—and whose labour became part of its history. This led Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu to Mardo Ohanoğlu, the Armenian carpenter who built Masa in 2006 from a design by artist Vahit Tuna and interior architect Sinem Kurultay. Born in Turkey in 1947, Ohanoğlu worked and lived as a carpenter in Vienna and Munich before returning to Istanbul in 1997; he died in 2009. Darıcıoğlu interviewed Ohanoğlu’s wife and former working partner, tracing a family history that begins with his family’s flight from Kayseri to Istanbul in 1912 and passes through the Wealth Tax and the 6–7 September Pogrom. Alongside this history of anti-minority policies in Turkey, the interview reflects on craft, manual labour, workshop culture, and their changing conditions under contemporary neoliberal economies.

Vertical view of three dark stepped work surfaces built against a rough stone-and-plaster wall. Rectangular sanding blocks, pieces of sandpaper, a stapler, pens or pencils, paper and other small tools are distributed across the shelves, many carrying traces of pale wood dust.
Photography: Gülbin Eriş, Kayhan Kaygusuz
MARDO OHANOĞLU'S CARPENTER SHOPWINDOW IN DOLAPDERE
Frontal exterior view of Mardo Ohanoğlu’s former carpenter workshop in Dolapdere, with a glass shopfront between closed metal shutters. A screen inside the right-hand window shows the livestream of the performance with MASA visible on screen, while reflections of neighbouring buildings and the street cover the glass.
An older person stands on the pavement directly in front of Mardo Ohanoğlu’s former carpenter workshop, seen from behind as they look through the glass toward the livestream screen inside. MASA is visible on the screen beyond reflections of cars and neighbouring buildings, with workshop furniture and objects behind the glass.
An older person stands close to the window of Mardo Ohanoğlu’s former carpenter workshop with their hands behind their back, watching the livestream displayed inside. The screen shows MASA in the weathered performance space, while reflections of surrounding buildings overlap the screen and workshop interior on the glass.
Photography: Gülbin Eriş, Kayhan Kaygusuz

Performed at Büyük Valide Han in Istanbul from 11 to 13 January 2019, for eight hours each day, 3 days with MASA took the form of a durational action in which Darıcıoğlu continuously sanded Masa while the recorded interview was played as a sound installation. Through the gradual abrasion of the table, the work brought together physical labour, remembrance and erasure, asking how histories can remain materially present while simultaneously being worn away.

The performance also extended beyond Büyük Valide Han. A livestream was transmitted to the shop window of Mardo Ohanoğlu’s former carpenter workshop in Dolapdere, connecting two historically and socio-culturally distinct areas of Istanbul. Through this spatial connection, 3 days with MASA positioned the table not only as an art object, but as a carrier of labour, displacement, minority history and collective memory.

READ ENGLISH TRANSLATION · Translation into English: Pırıltı Onukar
Overhead view of three shallow round containers arranged in a horizontal row on a wooden surface. Each holds collected pale wood dust from the sanding action and sits partly over a small handwritten paper label recording a day or time interval.
Overhead vertical view of eight shallow round containers arranged in two columns on a wooden surface. Each holds collected wood dust from the sanding action and is paired with a small handwritten label recording a day or time interval. The dust varies in tone, texture and quantity from container to container.
Wider overhead view of eight shallow round containers of collected wood dust arranged across a wooden surface with handwritten labels and small sheets of paper between them. The dust differs in tone, texture and quantity, and one central paper carries additional handwritten marks or notes.
Photography: Gülbin Eriş, Kayhan Kaygusuz
ZK/U
Wide view of a dark vaulted exhibition room with rough white-painted masonry walls, a cobbled floor and exposed ceiling beams. A large projection at the far end shows MASA in the weathered performance space, with the pale rectangular table centred in the projected image. A low dark bench faces the projection in the foreground.
View from the darker entrance of a long vaulted exhibition room toward a large projection at the far wall showing MASA in the original weathered interior. Two visitors appear as dark silhouettes facing the image, while a small illuminated display stands against the left wall and the cobbled floor leads toward the screen.
Wide view of a vaulted exhibition room with rough white-painted masonry walls, arched recesses, exposed ceiling beams and a cobbled floor. A large projection at the far end shows MASA in the weathered performance space; a low dark bench is positioned centrally for viewing and a small illuminated display stands to the left.
Photography: Denoise
Presentations
Open Studio, ZK/U, Berlin, DE, 2020
Masa Project, in collaboration with Performistanbul and Blok Art Space, Büyük Valide Han, Istanbul, TR, 2019
Credits
3 days with MASA, by Leman Sevda Darıcıoğlu, performance, 3 days, 8 hours each day, Istanbul, TR, 2019
Sound editing: Doğukan Özpınar
Costume: Reflect Studio
In collaboration with Performistanbul and Blok Art Space
Supported by Art On Istanbul, Space Debris Art and Jüs İstanbul
Acknowledgements: Art On Istanbul, Asiye Gürbüz Ohanoğlu, Begüm Özden Fırat, Hacı Ahmet Söbüçovalı, Hasan Aksaygın, JÜS Istanbul, Reflect Studio, Seyhan Musaoğlu / Space Debris Art
Performance Sound Nationalism Ghosts Exhaustion Research Collaboration Long-durational Archive Collective Memory
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