How to Universalise the Cat Species
On Kedi
The author takes a closer look at the Turkish documentary Kedi (2016) and examines the way in which non-human animals (specifically cats) are represented. The author draws attention to the dual structure of representation: while, on the one hand, the cat is represented as an autonomous creature, it is also bounded by something we can describe as the institution of a cat. The article questions the relationship between the cat (as a species) and other animal species, while trying to understand Kedi in the context of other films with which Kedi shares some telling elements.
The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!