In a fishtank

Artun Alaska Arasli received a grant to develop In a fishtank, an interdisciplinary project that reimagines the theater stage as a space for creating artworks. By assigning the production of art to a character within the performance, the project challenges traditional notions of art, its creation process, and authorship. Throughout the play, an actor photographs a sculpture—a fish tank—while engaging in a phone conversation with their brother about their father’s funeral arrangements, intertwining the personal narrative with the act of art-making.

Artun is an Amsterdam-based artist and writer. His visual work focuses on the moment of an artwork’s reception, while his theater work revolves around the rehearsal process and its metafictional dimensions. His work has been presented at Bird-Time, Bologna.cc, Amsterdam (2022); Prose, Kantine, Brussels (2018); Cardena: Warming Up, ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam (2017); Porcupine, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (2018); and The Beauty Commission, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2016). He has published texts in Tangents, Le Chauffage, nY, and Interjection Calendar (Montez Press). Since 2017, Arasli has co-authored plays for NTGent, Theater Oostpool, and Het Zuidelijk Toneel. He is the founder and co-director of the Amsterdam Poet's Theater.