Tavşan kanı

Tavşan Kanı (Rabbit Blood) was originally conceived for the Akaretler Row Houses in Istanbul, a housing complex built in the nineteenth century by the Armenian architect Sarkis Balyan to accommodate workers from the nearby Dolmabahçe Palace.

The installation consists of 36 traditional Turkish tea glasses filled with freshly brewed tea and distributed throughout the room on trestles, window ledges and architectural mouldings. The work takes its title from the Turkish expression used to describe the deep red colour of perfectly prepared tea, a colour associated with abundance but also with transience, as it gradually fades over time.

Central to the installation is the relationship between the tea glasses and the construction trestles occupying much of the space. While the glasses evoke hospitality, everyday rituals and cultural continuity, the trestles refer to the labour that sustains architecture and urban transformation yet often remains invisible. Together they form a fragile landscape suspended between permanence and change.

Conceived within a neighbourhood shaped by processes of renovation and commercialization, Tavşan Kanı reflects on the tensions between local traditions and the homogenizing forces of global urban development. The gradual transformation of the tea itself becomes a metaphor for the continuous changes that affect both architecture and the social practices through which places acquire meaning.

Artists:

Celyn Bricker, Ferhart Tunc, Veronika Cherednychenko,  Olha Kuzyura, Koray Tokdemir, Kamila Bednarska,  Katarzyna Tereszkiewicz, Andriy Roik, Gülhatun Yıldırım