A writing residency, or conversation, and some of its characters

Marlies van Hak worked at torna as the resident writer in August 2024. She was invited to work with torna small, a replica of one of old torna rooms made in 1:6th scale. The following year we published her book 'A writing residency, or conversation, and some of its characters'.

The book gathers letters and images, written and collected during the residency. It weaves together literature references and diary entries, reflections on temporary dwelling and site, encounters with local geographies, and perspectives on slow feminist work.
The letters are addressed to torna small. Over the course of Marlies' two-week stay at the torna house, the room-box gradually transformed into a writer’s studio, as personal items began to appear in miniature form.

See more on Marlies' residency notes below on this page and our final publication HERE.

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torna small room –

the replica of a former space.
a rescaled version of a spatial archive, relocated from the city to the shoreline.

What does an archive-on-the-move entail, and evoke? Whose memories does it hold? Which story lines might it bring to the fore, as it enters an alternative geographical and social context?

town of Şile –

the host welcoming the replica in its coastal surroundings.
a stop or station along the archive’s possible route.

What could an archive-on-the-move tell us about hosting or hospitality, in a town that attracts tourism? What happens when the small room, in turn, becomes a host to the residents’ artistic propositions?

temporary dweller –

the resident spending time at the Black Sea, imagining.
a researcher/writer/editor with an intention to dream up a publishing project.

In what way(s) can I, a visitor, interact with a model of a physical space I never encountered in person – at a site whose culture, history, language and landscape are relatively unknown to me? How would our conversation unfold?

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Hello, my name is Marlies van Hak. I will be a resident at torna from the 17th of August to the 1st of September. In my work I explore multiple roles and relations, on the rather fluid lines between theory and praxis, inspired by (notions of) memory, performativity, intersectional feminism and literature, amongst others. To browse through my backstage, please visit www.marliesvanhak.online