Emmy Bacharach, 2020
6’
Designed as an immersive experience and film, this work explores the threat to Hasankeyf, an ancient city in south-eastern Turkey by the Ilisu Dam. Since the work’s creation in November 2019, the dam has caused the water levels of the Tigris river to rise and flood the town. The work represents Hasankeyf using photogrammetric material collected from the site, providing a unique record of the caves in digital form, and exploring the potential of virtual reality to create empathy across different societies, geographies and life forms.
Taking a non-anthropocentric viewpoint, the work explores the relationship of water to human settlement, focusing on the Tigris river, which made this fertile region home to the ancient civilisation of Mesopotamia. The water that has nourished the land and the people here for millennia is now being harnessed for hydroelectric power – an infrastructure project that will have massive ecological ramifications for the region.
The experience is composed of two elements: ‘Stream of Consciousness’, which follows the river through the mountainous landscape, and ‘The Caves of Hasankeyf’, which leads the viewer through a series of caves as they become submerged, the distorted noise of water creating an eerie post-human soundscape.
Created during Connect for Creativity residency in Istanbul, Turkey, in partnership with ATÖLYE and the British Council with the support of the European Union and Republic of Turkey as part of the Intercultural Dialogue programme.
Pera Museum, in collaboration with Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), is one of the main venues for this year’s 15th Istanbul Biennial from 16 September to 12 November 2017. Through the biennial, we will be sharing detailed information about the artists and the artworks.
In his book exploring the cultural history of souvenirs, Rolf Potts discusses how such objects assume meaning through personal stories: Objects turn into memories with the stories they hold.
A firm believer in the idea that a collection needs to be upheld at least by four generations and comparing this continuity to a relay race, Nahit Kabakcı began creating the Huma Kabakcı Collection from the 1980s onwards. Today, the collection can be considered one of the most important and outstanding examples among the rare, consciously created, and long-lasting ones of its kind in Turkey.
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