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Anyone can be a stranger, especially when everyone else seems normal. Being a stranger can make everything feel strange. In Dutch immigration terms, âforeignerâ is translated as âvreemdelingâ someone who is strange. But whatâs so strange about someone from elsewhere?
Train Act
Amsterdam increasingly receives an influx of foreigners in the form of immigrants, expats, students, or anything in between. This causes an inevitable clash between locals and newcomers. When standing on different sides of the fence, it is easy to interpret the other as abnormal. But in reality, is it the locals who show their monstrous faces to a stranger, or does the stranger tend to victimise himself, strangefying everyone else?
Train Act is part of Cenk's series titled Doe Normaal. In this project, he observes and challenges what and who is ânormaalâ in Dutch culture. His character, Garip the dog, is at the center of these visual stories, representing any foreigner. Using monsters as Garipâs interpretations of strangersâ behaviours, Cenk materialises the sense of judgement and prejudice towards the foreigner.
In this artwork, he experiments with printing on layered plexiglass to create a sense of motion, similar to frame-by-frame animation techniques.
