GLASSIGHTS

GLASSIGHTS

“As soon as I see, it is necessary that the vision … be doubled with a complementary vision or with another vision: myself seen from without, such as another would see me, installed in the midst of the visible…”
M. Merleau-Ponty, 1968

GLASSIGHTS is the end result of the interest and the re-consideration of the physical implications inherited by the window-glassights from where the subject can only see the world from a position within the world -seeing the world from this perspective requires recognition that, in seeing, the subject is simultaneously constituted as an object which is available to be seen.

Different degrees of circulation and mobility are not only usually offered to the inhabitants and citizens of the complex and heterogeneous reality of the city as the factual, physical possibility to establish the only free space available, but are also closely connected to the experience of very different and personal views, re-interpretations for circulating obstructed concepts.

“Squares, public-buildings, boulevards, monuments, streets, avenues, houses, churches, office-buildings, theatres, etc., are moments in the scenery of the old theatrical concept of the city, a city with which is possible to establish only a “scenic” relationship. The aim is to go beyond this relationship in order to single out structures in which use rather than aesthetics is the main consideration.”
Andrea Branzi, 1974

This project implies a re-interpretation of the perceiving the city via different possibilities of the very act of seeing. The interest resides firmly focused on the transient lines, the fluxes, of the inner dynamics erupting from an almost invisible clash between interior needs and the city’s ponderous influences. The process goes on internalising suggestions and hints arriving from the contextual situation.

The selected works are highly personal and peculiar in their visual economy, are more re-appropriations than mere actual representations about the condition of the contemporary metropolis’ insider’s life. The works function rather well on the premise of a “distant sight”, the idea of a remote view or to quote Hans Blumenberg “a distant observer”.

Chiara Pirito‘s work “Exposure”, 2003 is an idiosyncratic descriptive exploration of the tendency to reinforce an inner\private environment in the secluded space of a car by adopting a car jam as the testing ground. The video-triptych is based on three figures encapsulated by the car window that indicates anonymous solitude in the midst of chaotic and pulsating urban life.

Delphine Bedel projected three works together as “Loop the Loop” 1999, “Maze of Mirrors” 1999, and “The script” 2001. All of the works have a game quality by inviting its viewer to solve puzzles about being lost and being captured. For each and every work this game quality operates differently through perceptual illusions in different layers. In each case, the motion they projected disorients the viewer with an accelerating tension.

Ceren Oykut’s work is an extract from Belvu project, 2003. Belvu is based on a historically significant building located in Istanbul. Few years ago during the metro construction, the construction company damaged the foundation of the building so it was evacuated. Now it trembles and slowly falls down. Oykut worked on that building for 6 months after the evacuation, she engraved dancing figures to the floor by burning the wood. This dangerous act on a temporary ground, which resonates by itself, implies a resistance. The dancing figures add one more layer to the memory of the building, which will be shattered soon.

Erhan Muratoglu’s work is called “Blatta(nt) Orientalis(t)” ,2003. It is a computer generated animation with 3D oversized cockroaches trying to find an exit in window frames, running around hasty, gathering in corners and behaving like a herd with no organization. The video track is paired with a soundtrack directly referring to the realm of computer arcade games where the player is kept always on the run to proceed throughout the game. The name of the work involves with a black humour built through the work.

Ali Demirel‘s work is the continuation of his video “The Pond”, 2002-2003. The pulsation of the sound operates together with the vibration of the visuals. The waves pulse with the sound and the acceleration of the rhythm create a psychedelic affect. The surface starts to gain depth and third dimension with this pulsating movement. Moreover, the zoom-in effect invites the viewer to a mirage kind of voyage. It is a voyage starting with a pond as a part of a city to the inner zones of the mind.