impro / play, site-specific performance and workshop took place at the Sakip Sabanci Museum, Emirgan, Istanbul, as part of the Istanbul Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2022. The performance consisted of two parts, held in two different spaces of the museum.
In the first location, the performance was realised. Around the audience, the hanging materials/sound objects were placed for the audience to interact with. The music performance started with my interaction with the objects and after the violoncello sounds shifted between electroacoustic sound, musical genres and free improvisation. During the performance, my aim was to add to the sounds of the city and nature in the museum garden.
The second part, the workshop, was followed by the performance. The participants were asked to design objects with the similar materials that were on display during the performance. Their task was to create a short performance with the objects they made. The workshop provided an experiential space that encouraged the exchange of ideas and the connection with the performance.
*The design of the hanging materials was a collaborative effort with an interior designer, Gülen Mine Demiralp.
Teaser:
https://vimeo.com/759863664
Full music performance video:
https://vimeo.com/773954688
Namutena (Documentary video, 2017), A “na-mute-na” musical event: De Gentrifying a Demolition Site, documentary music project realized by me with the support of Onebeat, 2016. Musicians and Creative Team of the project: Tolgalainen Birøkter, Özlem Ünsal , Gökhan Deneç, Çağdaş Acar, Hasan Serin, Anıl Gün ,Batuhan Oguz, Can Gürses, Osama Badawe, Ruşen Can Acet, Merve Salgar, Yarkın Duo, Haydar Cengiz, Laçin Şahin, Mertcan Bilgin, Karakamu, Eray Gedik, Özgür Mert Yavru, Mehmet Ali Hatipoğlu, Ahmet Sinan Hatipoglu.
“A decisive intervention into a myriad of social and economic conditions, including basic accommodation, designed for the greater wealth of rich minorities: the omnipresence of “urban regeneration projects”, in other words. Being pushed to the outskirts of the city, where no sense of belonging can be established and their social, cultural, and historical heritage will be irreversibly lost, some disadvantaged groups have been in resistance and thus, found a voice on media. Elsewhere, transformation is now almost habitual; rapid changes in physical and social settings, as well as the total destruction of historic structures without a single attempt of preservation and restoration are now part of our everyday life: muted and mundane. Bagdat Caddesi on the Asian side of Istanbul is a microcosm of transformation projects since the effects of the whole process on the inhabitants are in stark contrast. This avenue and a demolition site alluding to the abovementioned “muted transformation” are chosen as the concert venue to unmute the place and record it as part of the city’s collective memory.” I would like to thank Özlem Ünsal for her kind contribution.
The Answer My Friend, Is Blowin’ In The Wind, is a site-specific sound installation in collaboration with sound artist Gökhan Deneç realized in Apartman 52 (2021), Yeldeğirmeni/Istanbul, a historical apartment building transformed into an art gallery before the renovation process and hosted an exhibition for one-month duration with the participation of 23 artists. The creative concept is based on the collection of memories of the building itself and surrounding the neighborhood Yeldegirmeni, Kadikoy. The listener could experience the melding sound elements resembling the past and present of the location and are invited to witness the change in history, demography, immigration and other socio/political events of the neighborhood. As the sound sources were kept visually unnoticable and were installed both on the entrance and top floors, acousmatic sounds surrounded the visitors and had created an ambience of fiction and reality during their stay and a background for other (mostly visual) art works. The sound design consisted of imaginary daily sounds of the building and the neighborhood. There were also composed musical phrases from different genres, which were presumed to remind the cultural diversity of the past.
Listen Entrance Sound: https://on.soundcloud.com/qnKSM
Listen Top Floor Sound: https://on.soundcloud.com/KADY2
ZERO 1 is a dystopic fictional short film, that we realized collectively with director Barkin Coruh, dancer Ekin Tunceli, creative producer Bugra Erol. Sound design and composition was realized by me. ZERO 1 project was realized to appeal to the 5. Short Film Competition 2020 hosted by Sabancı Foundation, in Turkey. That year’s theme was assigned as ‘Changing Climate, Changing Lives’ and among 282 applications, 23 short movies were nominated to be sent to international festivals and ZERO1 was one of them.