EMIRHAKIN x David R. Siepman

Once it’s a memory, it’s too late.

'Once it’s a memory, it’s too late.’: 1.⁠ ⁠Memory edges toward form, but never arrives. It swells, flickers, withholds. 2. What cannot be spoken congeals in breath and residue—too much to hold, too late to release. 3. The body, under pressure, does not break—it contours, absorbs, distorts. 4. It organizes itself around latency: tension without release, sensation without clarity. 5. This piece moves through the architecture of breath and denial—and unfolds the erotics of nostalgia through leakage, residue, and the refusal of closure.

EMIRHAKIN (1992, Turkey) poses urgent yet open questions about the influence of contemporary politics on our human psyche. Navigating through the ever-changing signs and symbols of our times, the artist is mainly curious about the things that are being put in places that they are not supposed to be, serving as reminders that meaning often emerges through this arbitrariness. Their practice encompasses the mediums of performance, text, video, and installation, which are translated into visual (and non-visual) indexes. By challenging the bodily experience of the artist and the audience, their long-durational pieces dismantle the predefined ways of observing and performing, consider the space beyond physicality as a negotiation, and resist the constructed idea of time through the modes of queer temporalities. Their works have been presented in Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), EYE Museum, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, W139, De Appel, MACAO Milano, and Q21 (Vienna) among others.

David R. Siepman is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and entrepreneur whose practice moves fluidly between fashion, art, design, and philosophy. His work reflects on subtle, often overlooked aspects of life, translating them into imagery and concepts that feel both personal and universal. Through experimental design and narrative thinking, he searches for ways to connect the intimate with the collective. As co-founder and creative director of Romance on Mars, David explores Romantic Futurism, a vision that combines innovation with emotional depth, offering new perspectives on how we might experience romance, creativity, and the future.