Black Water Records - Days

A series of black squares painted in watercolour on paper, “Black Water Records – Days” is a visual diary of Ahmet Doğu İpek’s performance between July 2016 and March 2017, maintained on a daily basis over many months and accompanied by a pessimistic mood and social tensions. During this time, the artist dropped black watercolour on white paper, transforming it patiently into a black square only by moving the paper and without using any other tool. At the end of this meditative process, the artist had produced a series of 157 pieces. Bearing witness to the days on which they were created, each square has a different surface texture and a unique shade of black although they resemble one another.

Exhibited inside a wooden box as part of the exhibition “What Time Is It?” (2019) at Arter, “Days” also incorporated a daily performance which was realised during the exhibition as a reminder of the performative nature of the work’s creation. Ahmet Doğu İpek stopped by Arter every evening before the exhibition closed and replaced the page of the series, pinned to the wall on display with another one waiting in the box. Thus, “Days” incorporated the time of the exhibition, recording it like a diary and starting each day with a new page.

"What Time Is It?", exhibition view, Arter, 2019.