From: Köken Ergun
Date: 2016-10-29 12:34 GMT+03:00
Subject: you made me write a will at this young age… 🙂
To: Özge Ersoy, Merve Unsal, Asli Cavusoglu

dear özge, aslı and merve,

after i cease to exist, my works that were acquired into collections during my lifetime will continue to live in accordance with the contract that the two parties signed. in my contracts, i often include rules, such as:

4. a. The artwork must be installed as per the installation instructions prepared by the artist.

b. If the room size does not correspond to the installation instructions, the collector shall get in touch with the artist, providing floor plans, and the specs can be changed with the consultation of the artist.  

5. Any exhibition of the work that does not conform to the instructions provided, or without the consultation of the artist (in the case of 4.b. above), constitutes a violation of the conditions for exhibition and is not considered to be a work by the artist.

that is to say, a collector or a public museum might show the work and not follow these rules, but then the work won’t be mine any more. of course, i wouldn’t be able to rise from my grave and say, this is not mine. but maybe, my curse would haunt them 🙂

after I disappear, if there are any works that haven’t entered a public or private collection or if there are any artist copies that haven’t yet been sold, someone who will manage my works could exhibit them in accordance with the rules that i set when i’m alive. if he or she doesn’t do that, my curse would haunt him or her too. 🙂

there’s not much else I can do 🙂

we don’t really know when we’ll disappear, but I want plan to upload all of my works on youtube (or another online platform that will replace it in the future) before i do.

p.s. i often made video works up until 2016.

do you have any other questions?

best from hong kong,

Köken Ergun
indexofworks.com

Köken Ergun (born 1976, Istanbul) is a Turkish artist working in film and installation. His films often deal with communities that are not known to a greater public and the importance of ritual in such groups. Ergun’s works are included in public collections such as the Centre Pompidou, the Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Kadist Foundation.

Translation by Özge Ersoy

For the original text, click here. 

Vasiyetimdir* is a publication project that aims to explore how art works will subsist over long periods of time. Art works live in artist studios, private collections, museums, storage spaces, or simply in memories. But how far do the artists want to control what happens to their works when they are no longer? How do they want to exert their control? We directed these questions to the artists we are in dialogue with. We are accumulating their answers through m-est.org.

*Vasiyetimdir is a Turkish phrase that can roughly be translated into English as “It is my will that…” The phrase holds a tint of the melodramatic, mixed with a sentimental flair.

Vasiyetimdir was conceived by Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Özge Ersoy, and Merve Ünsal.