Servet Koçyiğit, 2024, ‘ Who burned Nazim Hikmet?’

540x270x245cm mixed media installation:

Car exhaust pipes, burned book of Nazim Hikmet’s ‘A Cloud in Love,’ chalk, tar.

Produced by Process Space Foundation in Bulgaria

This installation is inspired by the famous Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet* and the time he spent in Bulgaria.

He is also known as a romantic communist. He was imprisoned because of his writings.

His books were destroyed, burned, and banned for a long time.

The installation is made of used exhaust pipes welded together to create a rough yet organic form.

The artist aimed to create a burner for books.

At the bottom of the structure lies one of his children’s books, partially burned.

In contrast to the heavy, robust, and rusty metal construction, other fragile elements are used in the installation,

such as chalk, tar, and burned pages.

*Nazim Hikmet Ran was born in Thessaloniki in 1902.

He was sentenced to 28 years in prison in Turkey after his books were found in the dormitories of army cadets.

He was released after an international campaign by world intellectuals like Pablo Picasso,

Jean-Paul Sartre, and Paul Robeson.

After his release, he went to the Soviet Republic, and his Turkish citizenship was taken away.

Bulgaria was an important country in his life. He visited twice between 1951 and 1957.

The first time was for a political mission, and the second time he went to live in Varna.

He really loved Varna and found it very similar to Turkey. He wrote some of his most iconic poems there,

which are collected under the title “Varna Poems”.  He also enjoyed writing in the Botanical Gardens while watching

the Black Sea in Balchik.

The most famous poem from this period is “Blue Harbour” His first collected works were also published in Bulgaria.