Exit_Ceren is an escapist

Photos & text by Nathalie M.Arzt

Lately there’s been a common denominator in my conversations with friends, acquaintances and overhearing conversations. Uncertainty seems to be a common discussion, and regardless of opportunities arising from our COVID pandemic, life seems to have gotten a bit overwhelming.

This “voyage marked by changes of fortune” features Ceren Arslan, also known as @EXIT_CEREN to tap into her reality and have a limitless experience, go beyond with your imagination and forget limits.

After spending a month with Ceren, we got into some insightful and grounding conversations over wine and home-cooking. I got to know more about herself, her art, NFT’s, and Senza Fina, the experientia project she has been working on with some friends. 

With such an extraordinary talent, and mind blowing imagination, I consider Ceren a F*** cool creative, so I decided to dig a little more into her world and share it with y’all. 

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O: I’ve always had a great appreciation for your work and up until we spent this past month together, I got to learn a lot about you. It really inspired me knowing all the context behind what you do. Can you briefly explain what EXIT is?

C: EXIT is a catalog of spatial designs which I’ve been working on for over a year now. It is my weekly agenda of design thoughts, a release of inspiration, my design journal. It is a series of concept spaces from a Green Suede Walls for the Basketball Court to the Church of Tolerance. They are unique pieces of escape with alternating concepts represented as images or videos. It is my moment of escape, my exit. 

O: Do you remember the first piece of art you made that you were like ok, this feels right -  Which one was it?

C: EXIT evolved from my first collection, EPISODES. It is a collection of 10 pieces of building facades which I’ve created with digital collaging. I was designing unique buildings in undisclosed locations. The first piece I made was for the exhibition Aesthetics of Prosthetics which  I was co-curating along with my friends Alican Taylan, Irmak Ciftci and Can Imamoglu at Pratt Institute in 2019. The exhibition focused on how we as designers use design tools to advance our creative capacity. The methods varied from AI to robotic arms to projection mapping. My method was digital collaging. I’ve collected a numerous amount of textures and images online to form a building facade of a single family home in Los Angeles. It was post-modern, funky and slightly out of context, but real enough to make it look photographic. That was the first time an art piece I made felt right. 

O: Is there something that makes you feel that spark of inspiration? 

C: To be honest, I usually start creating without thinking too much. As I free-flow I get more into it and start digging everything I saw, heard, felt that week. I keep adding more information, play around with materials and lighting until it feels right. As Diana Vreeland says “the eye has to travel”. When it’s complete you stop playing around with it. 

O: Usually, my most creative self comes when I’m going through a big challenge in my life -  I guess this makes me look into ways to connect to myself. Do you have a similar experience with your art?

C: Absolutely, creating art is a great way to express emotion. That’s why I do not stop producing if I am feeling down or if I am distracted. I keep pushing out the thoughts and shaping them into spaces. It really does affect the concept of the space though, for example Giacometti's Tomb happened after a very intense weekend..

O: I see your pieces as a portal to tap into your realm. Looking at your videos made me realize how limited our imagination sometimes is. They are so futuristic and mind blowing, that I remember seeing your last EXIT044 and being like “Woah, imagine walking through that velvet green minimalist room” and then all the rest of the questions come - who would I be with, why would we be all there, what is this moment  - and BOOM, I had created my own experience in my head through your piece. 

Is tapping into a new experience what you look for people to experience with EXIT?

C: Wow, this is such a great complement. That’s exactly what I am after for. I think we are all escapists as much as we play around with it. I’ve always lived in stories, movies, books, fiction in general. The idea of escaping from your current reality to another one is what we are all after. The concept of EXIT is super relevant to Michael Foucault’s heterotopia only in a more recreational way. The way he describes these spaces are “breaks from the mundane” for example when you go to a honeymoon, spa, basketball game on and on. These are societal institutions that co-exists within reality as escapes. For EXIT, I am pretty much suggesting alternative spaces with a strong design agenda to think outside of the box and create a feeling towards the space itself. How would you feel when you walk in, is it sublime, is it happy, is it dark?  The story of the space is complete only when it’s experienced. 

O: You recently went to Burning man for the first time, and even though everyone has an idea of it being crazy partying, I feel like it can be an amazing experience, do you have any insight for people who have never been?

C: Well it’s going to sound incredibly cliche, but you can only understand Burning Man once you are there, probably day 2 or 3 though. First day was a mess.. It was my favorite real-life EXIT, an incredible feeling of being present for yourself, for your friends and for the community. There were amazing parties of course, but my agenda was more than that. Just to go with the flow and be present. It was the best first burn. 

Follow her on IG @EXIT_CEREN and exitceren.com