Exhibition: Born in The Purple

Coming from old Istanbulian family roots which blend Greek–orthodox, Arab, Levantine, Armenian and Sephardic cultures, Vert takes Istanbul’s ancient history and its recent past as focal points for Born in The Purple. His family apartment in Istanbul functions as a scenic framing
of the exhibition, that unfolds itself in the 12 rooms of Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanien. Through everyday life objects and childhood memories, Vert does not merely reflect on the peculiarities of
 the status of minorities and concepts of flexible citizenship, but also refers to major power shifts and hegemonic conflicts the world over.

In this exhibition a video from a man making a knot in a handkerchief was special interesting to me. While emptying the family apartment the artist found with handkerchiefs, each with a knot, underneath the chests of drawers and boxes.

They are remains of an old superstitious habit. To find something lost, you have to make a knot in a handkerchief and throw it over your left shoulder. In doing so you bind the energy of the spirits who are playing their pranks on you and in reverse you can playa trick on them. So of course, you start asking yourself, what did one hope to find by throwing the handkerchiefs? And while we are wondering whether any of the lost objects reappeared, the handkerchiefs do bring back something quite different. Unfolding our forgotten thoughts. Memories of all the people who have lived in this apartment returned to the artist when opening the knots in the handkerchiefs. And that which we have seen off long ago becomes alive once more inside of ourselves.

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