Emotions emanate out of the body just like hands do.

The body keeps mirroring intentionally or unintentionally thoughts and feelings.

“In the pandemic first and foremost the hands were made unfunctional. They were almost laid off.
For the hands’ major function is to touch.” Ilgen Arzık goes on to point out that our hands reflect the state of the operating mind.

“Hands as those moving, expressive extremities deliver to the world our desires, fears, dreams, expectations, not just those we are aware of but also those that are latent.” This being the case, Arzık invites us to acknowledge that, the functioning, causing, hindering or stimulating, conducting or silent world of hands, is the very mouthpiece of the body that registers.

The artist’s project Contact met Sanem Kalfa’s concert on march 2022 in Bimhuis, Amsterdam, the Reflex Series. Arzık’s hands were installed on various musicians’ bodies during the event.