A visit to 'soothing efficacy'
exhibition text by Mine Kaplangı, 2019

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty’s form
Glasses itself in tempest; in all time,
Calm or convulsed; in breeze or gale or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime
Dark-heaving, boundless, endless, and sublime,-
The image of Eternity, the throne
Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.
- from The Ocean by Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Morning slime shakes must be shaken well to decrease the tension in the cerebellum. The day is packed with rituals so we need that smooth feeling of alleviation. The first stop is the Cooking Station (1) nearby; we’ll crawl there. Fast and smooth, floating like the unforgettable Martian Girl (2) in the long corridors of the White House. The air is breezy, so make sure you secure all your liquids in your bag, and carry it gently. The cooking station, run by three tentacular ones (3) who collaborate with slime, molds to understand the new definitions of “beauty“. Thinking slime is the only solution nowadays, yet I wonder where they find their snacks that crack their visitors’ minds. The air is brought directly from Jeju Island, still smelling like volcanic bubbles of tea. Oh and one sip from that primordial soup and you begin to wonder - begin to question - the urge to mix and experiment. You begin to understand. My final gaze into the sticky liquid mirror then the ritual begins. Dripping sounds coming from the new test runs, I prefer blue treatment but pink is the new tone to be. Before the next stop, you plan your next experience. Make sure you sign into their new version of the Gyhuap chongseo (4) ceremony. Archival paths of understanding in collaboration, should I trust them to give me another taste? No error or fault; just hybrids, encounters, neon colors, and joy. Lots of fun, then we must leave. Completely lost track in colors, smells, and elements. The second stop will be the repetition of the first one. Still in ritual, still in a state of flux. The day divided into three, we’ll stay in the first one. And the second one? Just nearby, you’ll crawl there.

(1) Cooking Station (2016),  installation by HazMatLab
(2) Lisa Marie as Martian Girl in movie Mars Attacks (1996) directed by Tim Burton
(3) „The tentacular ones make attachments and detachments;
They make cuts and knots; they make a difference;
they weave paths and consequences but not determinisms;
they are both open and knotted in some ways and not others.“
Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, page 31
(4) Gyuhap chongseo, roughly translated as „Women’s Encyclopedia“ is a compendium of advice for women,
written by Yi Bingheogak in 1809 during the Korean Joseon Dynasty.