Introduction and Academic Presentation by Professor Z. Gizem Yılmaz
Dance Performance on Plastic Pollution
Choreography by Serdar Kara and Z. Gizem Yılmaz / Dancers: Serdar Kara, Z. Gizem Yılmaz, C. Su Yılmaz, K. Ediz Kara, H. Nisa Kara, Sude Adaklı, Azra S. Adaklı, Batuhan Çakır, G. Neva Acar, Feridun Kayar, Kübra Nur Ilgar, Nilüfer Şahan, Aleyna Can, Dicle Nur Durmuş, Sena Seyidoğlu, Cansel Koçyiğit, Can Dilekcan, Sedanur Koçak / Music: Aslı Öz / Makeup: Damla Alabay
Poetry Recital on Plastic Pollution
Poems are written and recited by Alara Apçin, Barış Görü, Melek Aleyna Göktaş, Mehmet Samet Acar, Tufan Ufuk Akin (BA students in the Department of English Language and Literature at Social Sciences University of Ankara)
This online session is a mixture of academic and artistic works. It will start with an academic presentation on plastic pollution in Turkiye. Keeping in mind that 20 million tons of plastic are going to the sea and that in the area from Antakya to Antalya, 31 kilos of plastic are washing up on shore every day, we believe that plastic pollution is one of the most alarming topics in climate change. Along with providing statistical data about plastic pollution, this academic presentation will also criticize eco-friendly production of eco-jeans made out of recycled plastic bottles. Touching on how much microplastic these eco-jeans are releasing to water in eco- friendly washing machines, this academic presentation will draw attention to the fact that we cannot call any action environmentally friendly by just looking at the production stage. The second half of the panel will focus on artistic works to voice the problem of plastic pollution in Turkiye. Inspired by Chris Jordan’s “Midway” and Pınar Yoldaş’s “An Ecosystem of Excess,” Social Stage Theatre Company performers will exhibit a dance performance. In this performance, we are planning to illustrate a new form of Human that has adapted to plastic pollution. Attending to Plastivore coined by Pınar Yoldaş, we are going to exhibit new Plastivore human forms with mutant organs to digest extreme plastic consumption. Thinking that we have already been eating and breathing plastic for a long time, we take this as a possible scenario for the future of humanity. This session will also include a poetry reading by three B.A. students of English Literature. Poems have been written by each student himself/herself on the pollution of NatureCultures.
Short Bio
Dr. Z. Gizem Yılmaz is an Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at Social Sciences University of Ankara, specializing in ecophobia, environmental humanities, new materialisms, ancient philosophy (old materialisms), elemental ecocriticism, early modern English drama and monster studies. She obtained her PhD degree in 2018 at Hacettepe University in the Department of English Language and Literature. She is the author of two Turkish books, Kozmik Koreografi: Bedenlerin Element Dansı (Cosmic Choreography: Elemental Dance of the Bodies) and Tiyatronun Posthümanist Tarihçesi (A Posthumanist History of Theatre). She has also directed a number of plays, the recent of which is an ecocritical Hamlet (20 May 2023).
Website of Professory Yilmaz