Tavsan Kani

Tavşan Kanı (Rabbit Blood) brings together 36 Turkish tea glasses arranged throughout the exhibition space, transforming a familiar object of everyday life into a fragile architectural landscape.

The work takes its title from the expression used in Turkey to describe the deep red colour of perfectly brewed tea. Associated with conversation, hospitality and social exchange, tea occupies a central role within domestic and public life. The installation approaches the characteristic tulip-shaped tea glass not simply as a functional object, but as a carrier of memory, cultural practices and forms of belonging that travel across generations and geographies.

Originally conceived for the Akaretler Row Houses in Istanbul and later presented at Schloss Biesdorf in Berlin, the project establishes a dialogue between two sites shaped by histories of housing, labour and migration. The repeated presence of the glasses creates a temporary spatial structure that oscillates between sculpture, architecture and social ritual.

Through activations in which tea was served to visitors, the installation extended beyond the exhibition space, turning an everyday act into a gesture of encounter and exchange. Tavşan Kanı reflects on how traditions persist through daily practices and how objects associated with home become vehicles for negotiating identity, displacement and collective memory.