It is my will that;

To tell you the truth, I don’t have much to leave behind. My body is yours. You could use it if there is anything that it would be useful for.

You could also eat it. Seriously. My body, your decision!

“After me comes the flood”

As for my artworks, I’m sure they will get more complicated  after I die. No idea who will inherit them and what they will do with them.

The flood.

Works, sketches, notebooks, my stuff—whatever you find after I’m no longer is yours. You can use them however you wish. The flesh and the bone, all yours.

Leave people alone.

May love be with you.

PS: Marlon, don’t listen to your father!

Translated from the Turkish by Özge Ersoy

For the original text, click here.

Volkan Aslan (b. 1982, Ankara) lives and works in Istanbul. Recent solo exhibitions include Shoot me! Don’t turn me over!, Pi Artworks Istanbul, 2018; A Day Not Yet Lived, Pi Artworks London, 2014; and Don’t Forget to Remember, ARTER, Istanbul, 2013. Recent group exhibitions include Protocinema Video Art Program, Proyecto AMIL, Lima, 2018 and New York, 2017; A Good Neighbour, 15th Istanbul Biennial, 2017; Harbor, Istanbul Modern, 2017; Istanbul. Passion, Joy, Fury, Maxxi Museum, Rome, 2015; The Moving Museum Istanbul, 2014; Disquiet, Pi Artworks, Istanbul, 2014; Mom, Am I barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul; NON-Stage, Istanbul, 2013; and Housewarming, Pi Artworks, London, 2013. He is the co-founder of 5533, a non-profit independent art space in Istanbul.

Vasiyetimdir* is a publication project that aims to explore how artworks 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.