Sahibinden Kiralık - a small gesture

For their ‘small gesture’, Melis Tezkan and Okan Urun, a.k.a. biriken, put their play Sahibinden Kiralık (For Rent) to the test to see how it might fare in the World Wide Web. The actors perform their roles as sex workers, pimps and customers from their bedroom, bathroom and balcony. Due to social distancing and the fact that the actors are now relegated to an on-screen presence, the passages they perform from the play are rendered absurd – due to the coronavirus. Imbued with new meaning, ultimately they still end up addressing the same topical issues: where are the people who previously ‘went about their business’ in parks, on the streets and in brothels? And how do you go about earning money and making a living if physical contact is no longer possible?

Video by biriken (Melis Tezkan, Okan Urun)
Performed by Cem Baza, Ozan Güçlü, Yusuf Sefaoğlu, Semi Sırtıkkızıl, Zeynep Su Topal, Ertuğrul Aytaç Uşun

Recorded in May 2020, Istanbul and Paris