New Maps of Time sound workshop/residency Istanbul Turkey

‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural and urban spaces using sound as a means to express actions within a space. read more…

Workshop carried out in the frame of my X-OP residency at Apartment Project, artist-run project space, from February 8 – March 8, 2010

click the above Istanbul Sound Map to hear the recordings in Istanbul on Radio Aporee Maps

Some comments… It was both a pleasure and an adventure spending a month in Istanbul exploring the rich and often noisy environment of this great metropolis. The workshop went as well as could be expected especially considering how busy people are, making it a challenge to work continually as a group. Regardless, having a chance to collaborate with a diverse range of artists, musicians, architects and designers was always enjoyable and productive. I am thankful particularly to Muharrem Yıldırım, Onur Güngör, İdil Tunga, Natali Arslan, Nurgül Öztürk, Cansu Tolunay and Fulya Uçanok for taking time to share in our explorations of the city and work collaboratively in the process of sound making and recording. It’s also important to mention the generous efforts of the Apartment Project team for hosting and coordinating this workshop.

Some of the activities included in the workshop this month: building microphones (contact mics, hydrophones, binaurals), various city excursions to Maçka Park and Karaköy, trips to Burgazada and Heybeliada (islands), and a trip to Santralistanbul (Bilgi University campus). We concentrated on a wide range of activities as well, from passive analysis of soundscapes and acoustic architecture to active engagement with certain locations through objects and materials we found there. The gallery below is a small overview of these activities (photos by: Enise Gökbayrak, Onur Güngör, Muharrem Yıldırım and myself).

 

The Sound Locations channel on Vimeo has 6 videos of collaborative efforts made during the workshop. Here are a few highlights:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Islands’ a 14 minute film documenting trips to the Adalar (Prince’s Islands)

Click here to view the embedded video.

January 23 – 29
Sound workshop for Art Pedagogy students of Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Keil

January 31 – February 2
radio aporee ::: sound/tracks workshop, CTM Festival (assisting Udo Noll)

February 5, 19:00
Panel Talk: “Put Your Ear on the Wall – Tuned City: Platform for Examinations in the Field Between Architecture and Sound” CTM Festival, with Carsten Stabenow [DE] / Sam Auinger [AT/DE] Derek Holzer [US/DE]

February 6, starts 21.12 ends 23.30
Das Kleine Field Recordings Festival mid winter edition, performance with Paulo Raposo and murmer at K77

February 8 – March 8
X-OP Residency at Apartment Project in Istanbul. Conducting second edition of “New Maps of Time” workshop/project

April 2010
Portland, San Francisco, Calgary (details coming soon)

This work presents a cross-section of my sound interests and projects as a live performance. The performance includes an ever-shifting, juxtaposition of site-specific recordings (acoustic sounds, field recordings and video images), along with live movement and activation of physical objects and installations. As the composer moves from various locations throughout the year (in this case UK, Finland, Germany) so does he carry and transform his recorded materials. In this way, “Sound Locations – Transpositions” as a live event, becomes part of a continuous process, bridging personal experience, recorded documents with live presentation.

“Sound Locations – Transpositions” takes on various aspects of place and location in relation to sound and image. Three main components are present in the performance; live sound actions (via materials), mobile sound reproduction (via portable devices), recorded video (of sound recordings). These three elements are used as independent sources, but are combined in the end to create more of an environment than a performed piece. The outcome continuously develops and is never the same.

Photos by Serra Ozhan. Special thanks to Apartment Project for organizing this event and X-OP for support.

Sound Locations – Transpositions has been presented as the following events/venues:

(11.2009) Apartment Project (Istanbul, TR)
(10.2008) Sonikas Festival, (Madrid, ES)
(10.2007) Experimental Sound Gallery, (St Petersburg, RU), DOM, (Moscow, RU)
(5.2007) Observatori Festival, (Valencia, ES)
(12.2006) Cinema REX, (Belgrade, Serbia), Studentki Centar, (Zagreb, HR)
(11.2004) DEAF (Dutch Electronic Art Festival) (Rotterdam, NL)

Galata Bridge and market tunnel

Spice Bazaar

Santral Istanbul, former power station ambience

Sounds of the Istanbul Biennial

Concept

‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping spaces (mental, architectural and natural) using sound as a means to express actions within a space. The project process works with the basic understanding that artistic creativity can be a ritual by which we live out and  share the subjectivity of our own experiences. This inherent subjectivity must be  understood not only as an intellectual notion but through means of participatory activity on  different levels of personal, collaborative (between artists) and contextual actions (interventions in a space). The emphasis here is on subjectivity as articulated through direct experience of social intervention over the mediated representational forms of listening we are used to (“music” and “entertainment” of mass media).

Sound, as perceived by one of our primary senses hearing, is one of the best ways in which to explore the subjectivity of personal and collective experience and to test our own creative abilities. By using sound we develop means to map both space and social relations with our own cognitive process. In order to refine these cognitive maps we introduce constraints such as activities, materials, durations and the physical dimensions of the surrounding build environment. These constraints are the boundaries by which we can reference our own activities for interpretation and discussion to help further refine the activities.

In addition, we employ more objective external references (commonly known as recorded media) to add to the mix. The plethora of digital media recording devices offer a set of tools from which to develop an array audio-visual narratives for sharing on the local level and throughout any network these devices may be connected. Both processes, the cognitive and the mediated aim to increase the level at which we find recursive modes of information exchange integrated with the artistic working method.

Process Plan

The project involves spending a few days in and around the city, mapping various spaces and locations (parks, public squares, roof tops, industrial buildings etc.) through sound by using simple objects (glass jars, plates, wires, found objects etc…). One possibility is to use the same set of objects, but play them in different spaces. I  would like to work with a small team of students or local artists to help play these objects as a sort of free-form ensemble who gets to develop their abilities through the activities of the project. These participants can be local artists from abroad. I will record these actions and keep a record of the times and places where they took place (and make short films from video recordings as well).

The actions will involve generating acoustic sounds and patterns from the objects we have and/or find in the space to activate each location. Working together we will explore the balance between our gestures and movements to create sounds and the intelligibility by which we communicate through sounds (this has been thoroughly explored in various workshops. See the documentation from the Sound as Space, Sound as Language workshop developed with Patrick McGinley and Maksims Shentelevs or the Revenant sound project.

At the end of each action the working group would evaluate their experiences in a short discussion session as well as by listening to or watching the recordings. A selection of the recordings would be made and edited for the potentially use in the final performance lecture. The sound recordings would also be uploaded on the internet to Radio Aporee Maps which gives an overview from areal satellite maps of the different locations.

Performance/Lecture

The final presentation phase would be a “New Maps of Time” performance/lecture on the “sound mapping” process using the various materials collected and edited during the  residency including sounds, video, website, Radio Aporee, and even the objects used. This mix of material offers a representative experience of the workshop as compressed time, a nonlinear narrative with which to engage the public. As much as possible, the presentation space itself would be transformed into an instrument, a hollow body to enter and and be transported to the spaces and shared experiences of the working group from the previous weeks.

This workshop also will give a basic overview on both technical and artistic processes using sound, video and web based media.

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Past workshops:

New Maps of Time workshop, Prague/Kladno Czech Republic (10.2009)

New Maps of Time workshop, Istanbul Turkey (2.2010)

New Maps of Time workshop, Calgary Canada (4.2010)

New Maps of Time workshop, Malmö Sweden (5.2010)

I recently spent a week in Istanbul and took the opportunity to record some of the music I heard. This was my first visit to Istanbul, but hopefully not the last. The city is one of the most vibrant and dynamic places I have ever been. More photos have been posted in my monthly photo galleries for May.

The first recording was made on the street just below Tunel, in Beyoglu. After hearing something from the window of our flat I ran down to see what it was. Unfortunately I could not see the group as they were performing in a courtyard, but the sound was rather intense regardless and it was clear that everyone inside was dancing. I asked about this recording at a local music shop and was told it was Turkish gypsy music. The next recording is the sufi music that accompanied the Mevlevi round dance (aka the Whirling Dervishes). The entire 1 hour ceremony is posted here. Despite being a sort of tourist attraction, this was still something beautiful to experience.

Turkish Gypsy music (13:15) Istanbul, May 2007: Download Link

Mevlevi Sufi music (56:20) Istanbul, May 2007: Download Link

For those curious about the tech specs, this was recorded on a Edirol R-09 using the built-in microphones. The quality is passable. The Whirling Dervishes was done mainly for tourists so you will also hear some chatter and beeps from digital cameras (rather annoying for someone who really wants to listen deeply).