A study on the relations between body, action and space in contemporary Turkish performance art: The case of Mehmet Kavukcu

Performance art, which was sparked by the futurists who rejected traditionalism and the dadaists who were against war, inspired by the "Action Paintings" of the Abstract Expressionists and completed its birth with Conceptual Art, has an unlimited structure that prioritizes the use of the body but encompasses all types of art. Named in the 1960s, performance art is one of the rare types of art whose practitioners create works that appeal to all the senses of people. Its most important feature is that it enables the audience to move from the position of passive receiver to that of active participant. Participation here does not only mean accompanying, but sometimes it can be transformed into an artist and sometimes into an art object. Performance art, which brings life and art closer together, is always up-to-date with its avant-garde nature and its structure that fully meets the meaning of the term contemporary art. It is observed that performance art entered the Turkish art scene in the 1960s with the processes of creating conceptual works. Performance art made its strong presence felt in the 1990s. Performances always have intellectual and conceptual foundations. When these conceptual foundations are examined, it can be seen that this form of art is not only composed of physical activities, but also has a message to be conveyed in line with the theme determined by the practitioner. Performances are usually fed by personal or environmental influences and are usually not limited by space. In addition to sociological characteristics, performances also have political, psychological and technological features. In this study, performance art is discussed together with its historical process in the world and then in Turkey, and important performance works determined by the purposive sampling method are analyzed. Finally, the life and artistic vision of contemporary performance artist Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kavukcu and his various works with the relations of body, action and space are presented in the context of his contributions to the Turkish Contemporary Art scene.