The Bath Multi disciplinary project Installation - Liverpool Biennial - Independent 2002 St John's Market, Ranleigh Street, Liverpool

Mixed Media - bathtub, 1000 red roses, canvas, tiles, water Dimensions - (240cmx360cmx380cm)

Text by MEGAKLES ROGAKOS - September 2002

At first glance the work of Sumer appears to be wonderfully diverse. On second thought however, and taking into account his 'Upside Down House' installation of 2001, Erek's art shares a common denominator; a consistent concern with the human condition. Sumer creates multi-disciplinary installations to explore issues around selfhood and the self's relationship to its environment.

'The Bath' is a case of transformation, the metaphysical space where the dream meets its death or - as Sumer describes it - a 'death-bath of a dream'. 'The Bath' then becomes a vehicle for the so-called 'memento mori'; a reminder that everything with life must die. Taking off from autobiography, Sumer offers 'The Bath' as a cosmological expression. Being a place where one can find peace, relax, dream, and fantasize, 'The Bath' inspires the romantic vision of hovering red roses suspended over the bathtub. Nonetheless, death is lurking; death not literally, as suicide, murder or passing away of a person, but metaphorically, through the withering of the roses. Sumer dramatizes the dream's drive to death by inviting the public to experience his installation by using the bath. The occasional bathers loose themselves by entering a total dimension of vision and sound.

THE BATH by SUMER EREK CREDITS: CO-ORDINATOR & CURATOR MIKE HURST / FUNDING A-FOUNDATION, InAF / SUPPORT KAREN JANODY, URUN KILIC, CHRISTOPHER SCHAPER, GORDON WEBBER, NICK BIRCH, SAM ABDULLA / RESEARCH MEGAKLES ROGAKOS / PERFORMANCES CONCEPT & DIRECTION SUMER EREK / MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN VERGIL SHARKYA / OBOE CAIT WALKER / PERFORMERS JO BLOWERS, GAYNOR EVELYN SWEENEY, ANDY GARCIA, MONICA BELLO, BEN YOUDAN, ANGELINE FOULKES, TONY KNOX, AMINA BIHI, BETH KYRIAKIDES & OTHERS