On 31 May and 2 June 2024, UP Projects presented performances by the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale 2024, Nil Yalter and pioneering performance and visual artist, Adelaide Cioni during London Gallery Weekend 2024.
This was the third time UP Projects had collaborated with London Gallery Weekend to present artist-led performances in public locations across London, giving members of the public the opportunity to experience performance artworks by some of the most exciting artists working today.
The performances were free and open to all.
The Performance Programme was curated and produced by UP Projects in partnership with London Gallery Weekend. The 2024 Performance Programme was delivered with advisory input from independent curator Rose Lejeune.
Locations & Timings
Touch Song by Adelaide Cioni
Friday 31 May, 2pm & 5pm
Southwood Gardens, St James's Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL
Touch Song is a performance about relationships, curiosity, and desire. Cioni says, “most of all it is about the awkwardness of being bodies in the world, having to do with other bodies that carry themselves around the same planet, sometimes the same room”. Cioni’s performance contextualised her show at The Approach gallery titled True Form. The music was an original score by Dom Bouffard. The choreography was by dancers Evelyn Hart and Hobie Schouppe. Concept, direction and costumes by Adelaide Cioni.
Performance & talk lasted approx. 30 minutes
In the land of troubadours (Aşıklar Diyarı) by Nil Yalter and Övül Ö. Durmusoglu
Sunday 2 June 2024, 3pm – 4.30pm
Halkevi - Turkish and Kurdish Community Centre, 31 - 33, Tyssen Street, Hackney, London E8 3DF
Yalter’s work referenced the Anatolian people’s wisdom and knowledge through popular folk poetry and troubadour – or asik – music, as a source of resistance and hope. To facilitate her performance the artist brought together multigenerational collaborators from Turkish and Kurdish speaking communities in London. Developed with curator Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, this was Yalter’s first performance in London. A mini retrospective of Nil Yalter’s oeuvre, featuring new work, titled The Story Behind Each Word Must Be Told was on view at Ab-Anbar gallery. The gathering included presentations from: Ali Yıldız, Gülseven Medar, Zöhre Ülger, Dursun Can, Seda Ates/Oylum Yilmaz, and Canan Batur.
Performance & talk lasted approx. 90 minutes
About the Artists
Further information about the performances
Touch Song by Adelaide Cioni
Touch Song by Adelaide Cioni is a performance about relationships, curiosity, and our desire (or fear) to get close to others. It is about the awkwardness of being in our own body. It is, in fact, about being bodies in the world, having to do with other bodies that carry themselves around the same planet, sometimes the same room. Two hands engage in a silent dialogue made of comings and goings, of tentative, mostly failed attempts to get closer. The general mood is light. Both the music and the costumes depict a playful dimension with a vein of romanticism, diluted by irony and some slapstick. The music is an original score by Dom Bouffard. The choreography is by dancers Evelyn Hart and Hobie Schouppe. Concept, direction and costumes are by Adelaide Cioni.
In the land of troubadours (Aşıklar Diyarı) by Nil Yalter and Övül Ö. Durmusoglu
In the land of troubadours (Aşıklar Diyarı) is a performance gathering conceived by Nil Yalter and curator Övül Ö. Durmusoglu to pay tribute to the Anatolian nomadic oral traditions and the worldly wisdom of aşık poetry that have inspired Yalter’s work since the 1970’s. Conceived as a transgenerational gathering of bards, musicians, and researchers drawn from the growing Turkish-speaking communities living in London today, the gathering will include presentations from: Zerre Ali Yıldız, Gülseven Medar, Zöhre Ülger, Dursun Can, Seda Ates, and Canan Batur.
This performance pays tribute to Yalter’s longstanding friendship with Bard Aşık Nesimi Çimen and Tülay German. Taking the record “Le Chant des Troubadours de Turquie: Achik Nesimi” that Yalter produced with ethnologist collaborator, Bernard Dupaigne in 1979 as a starting point, the gathering will commemorate the great bard, Aşık Nesimi, who followed the aşık tradition from when he was 12 years old, writing famous songs in this tradition on love, revolution and justice. The performance gathering is named after a song by Nesimi in which he compares the attitude of 16th century Bard Pir Sultan Abdal to that of 20th century Bard Aşık Veysel, singing “Tyrants are not fond of the people's poets."
Introduced by Nil Yalter, In the land of troubadours (Aşıklar Diyarı) will be composed of songs, poetry, stories, and research and will be followed by a short closing conversation between Nil Yalter and Övül Ö. Durmusoglu.
Asiks: The Asiks (minstrels) are one of the most distinguished and brilliant communities of performers encountered within the realm of Turkish culture. Generally coming up singing lyrics and poetry to the accompaniment of the saz, the asiks are artists that give voice to all of the social events of the societies in which they exist and write footnotes to history. Read more here.
Anatolia: Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, has two definitions. It is either the entire Asian area of Turkey, or is bounded by an indefinite line from the Gulf of Iskenderun to the Black Sea. Read more here.
Saz: The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Bosnian music, Kurdish music, and Armenian music. Read more here.
Artist Selection Process
London Gallery Weekend participating galleries were invited to submit names of artists who they believed would benefit from this performance programme opportunity. A shortlist of artists were then invited to interview from which two artists were selected by a panel of industry experts comprising of Fatoş Üstek, Independent Curator; Sepake Angiama, Director, Iniva; Priyesh Mistry, Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Projects, The National Gallery; Deborah Smith, Former Director, Arts Council Collection & Independent Curator; Florence Peake, Artist; Moira Lascelles, Executive Director, UP Projects; Emma Underhill, Founder & Artistic Director, UP Projects; and Rose Lejeune, Independent Curator.
