Büfe / K(i)öşk
Mikail Koçak

Between tradition and modernity, Mikail Koçak unceasingly interrogates the persistence of cultural inheritances and the multiple identities that are created by exile. The exercises of reappropriation that he sets up give rise to installations that awaken narrative possibilities and weave connections between his two cultures, Eastern and Western. The “kiosque,” originally from the Middle East and introduced to the West in the 17th century, is an architectural form intended for pleasure that takes the form of a belvedere or a small garden pavilion open on all sides with an overhanging roof. Though the word is derived from the Persian Kūšk (palace) and the Turkish Köşk (lodge or chateau), the different forms that the term has been applied to over time have not ceased to evolve. Mikail Koçak has eagerly seized on this changeable word in his mother tongue (Turkish), and in his national language (French) to take hold of the Juraplatz art space. By superimposing the banks of the Bosphorus over the streets of Biel/Bienne, fictionally combining two continents and two cultures, Koçak aims to create a chameleon place.

Year of production: 2022