Based in Spain, Sonar is a music, technology and art festival, which has been organized for 22 years. Hosted by İstanbul Zorlu Center for Performing Arts (PSM), this festival took place in Turkey for the first time on May 24-25, 2017.
Due to terrorist attacks, the first quarter of 2017 was very difficult for Turkey. In this process in which most of the social events had been delayed, this festival was quite important not only for its own value but also as an ice-breaker. The festival that normally takes place in open or semi-open spaces was hosted by PSM in an indoor performance hall. As -trak, we wanted the audience to feel the atmosphere of the festival and we designed an installation and performance at the entrance of the venue for the audience who can be worried and prejudiced. We aimed to achieve a great impact with minimal intervention.
In an increasingly digitalized modern world, even the coincidences are linked to some digital codes and both the possibility and the impact of ‘the unknown’ has disappeared, what comes out of human labor and manual work is impossible to predict and even to think about this seems unnecessary.
In this context, this project wants to surprise the audience, who comes to watch a new media performance, both by purifying and desecrating a sterile and elite space with the help of a ‘queer’ work that is unnamed and seems meaningless and unattached. This work makes this possible by using huge balls hanging in a 35 meters long indoor space with a second layer that introduces the nature into the modern world that is originally far away from it. In other words, this is an illusion in an illusion.
Colored with light-pink and golden, these enigmatic ‘nature-spheres’ provide a ‘queer’ installation that is appealing for senses and experiences with a focus on bringing the design of the space together with the performance artists. The installation took place in event days but the performance was not presented.
Following the end of the project, the pink balloons used in the installation were donated to girls’ dormitory. Other constituent elements that are suitable for second-hand use were stored.
Leave a Reply