There Is Another Possibility / anitsayac.com is one component of a digital monument project that Zeren Göktan created in memory of women in Turkey who have died because of male violence. Inspired by the bead-net mummy shrouds of ancient Egypt, this work was originally designed digitally and then fashioned from beads individually strung together by male inmates of the Ümraniye Prison in Istanbul. Crafting beadwork is a long-standing tradition of prison culture in Turkey. This beaded shroud evokes sentimental writings and images entrenched in social memory, while referencing the refrain of “There is Another Possibility,” a popular love song of the same name. Embedded in the work is a QR code that directs the viewer to the Monument Counter website,which houses a comprehensive archive of femicides in Turkey. Göktan cites interactive media theorist Geert Lovink’s notion of creating areas of reconciliation through unexpected alliances when speaking about her collaboration with the Ümraniye convicts.
You can listen to our conversation in Turkish with Zeren Göktan about beadwork art and the digital "Monument Counter" project in the podcast series accompanying OMM's "Don't Look Back Deep is the Past" exhibition.
OMM: There Is Another Possibility is a beadwork blanket, large enough to cover a human body. And it was brought to life by inmates at Ümraniye T-type prison.
Zeren Göktan: There Is Another Possibility is part of an artwork I set out to realize back in 2013. The said artwork is also a monument. Originally, I wanted to design a monument for female victims of violence. However, I didn’t want it to be limited to that; I imagined a project that would bridge the real world and the online.
Just around that time, I came by a beadwork doll keychain through a friend. I already knew that this type of beadwork is done in prison. I have plenty of friends who are lawyers, they very often receive beadwork as presents, and I collect my favorites. The fact that this doll was a keychain, her hair hanging from the key ring with no keys in sight unlocked a new world within me.
As for the beadwork covers, the missing key is replaced by the QR code, which opens to the Monument Counter.
QR code is very much in our lives in the present day, yet this was not the case in 2013. How did you decide to work with it?
The idea came to me as I sought ways to bring the website and the installation together–aiming for porosity. “QR” stands for “quick reaction.” From a conceptual standpoint, I truly care about the meaning, because what I really want to find with this project is some reaction to femicides.
With the increased number of femicides in recent years, many people are familiar with the The Monument Counter website. How do you go about recording new cases on the database?
I do it manually. When I first designed the Monument Counter back in 2013, very few people understood what I was going for. So I only went to the NGOs after creating the website to forge new connections. To this day, I still log new information myself. Later, We Will Stop Femicide Platform and I cross-check our data.
I want this project to continue even after I’m gone, so I would love for another platform to take over. In my heart of hearts, I would love for a university to become involved. I would love to hand over the site to a feminist club at a university and have students work on this project. But that will take some time.