Tapeworm – The Rise, 2017
Performance
Appearing all of a sudden in the midst of the Istanbul’s open guts and settling in the gallery’s staircase, Tapeworm is a goddess with a woman’s bust and a giant tapeworm from the waist down. Flipping her long hair made of magnetic tapes, she goes around talking incessantly and working like a myth-generating machine. Tapeworm, the underground oracle within us, is a mobile haruspex telling fortune from the city’s bowel. This performance was realized by Şafak Çatalbaş on İstiklal Avenue, a busy historical street located in İstanbul’s city centre. The work was performed in 2017, when the street was in a never-ending construction process.
Şafak Çatalbaş, Tapeworm – The Rise, 2017
Video performance / Single channel video with color and sound, 7’20’’, loop (shortened version: 1’57″)
Camera: Umut Akcan Photo-documentation: İpek Yeğinsü
Tales Of The Tapeworm – View from the performance at the opening of the exhibition “Neighbouring Galaxies”, Gallery Bu, 2017 
Tales Of The Tapeworm / Installation view – Costume made of dress and ventilation hose with bellows (35 x 2000 cm), wig made of magnetic tapes (approx. 20 x 60 cm), a photograph (20×30 cm) and a video still (15×27) on the wall. 
Detail from the installation – 52 fortune-telling cards made of PVC and paper, plaster-cast tooth mold 
Detail from the installation – Sound installation made of two sea shells, speakers and mp3 players / “Ocean Breath” and “Bellows Breath”