STARDUST, An interactive performance and video installation, on the cycle of life through light and rhythm. of all those we loose, turned into stars, into dust …
STARDUST >14-24th September 2017
St Helene’s Chapel, Mesrutiyet Caddesi no44, Tepebasi, Istanbul
As the world turned Awry, and some looked Away, and others could not, and stared deep, deep into sea, into stars, of Lives and Light..
STARDUST is an interactive installation that unfolds through a performance in which the audience becomes participants/performers while acting as a metaphor on the transcendence of life. The installation is based on a wish to remind of this at a day and age when the power structures of the world are highly defunct and their tenure under critical question. To shine a questioning light upon the effects of their tenure, its absurdity and state of dichotomy with the natural, possible state of the universe.
STARDUST was exhibited for the first time at St Helena’s Chapel in Istanbul between the 14th and 26th of September 2017.
St. Helena’s Chapel in Istanbul was chosen as a location for the Stardust installation in order to accentuate the dynamics of immersion and the transcendental nature of this interactive video work. The spatial and spiritual dynamics of the chapel enhanced the experience of elevation and the interaction of the audience with the installation.
St Helena’s Chapel is an Anglican Chapel in Istanbul, which was destroyed in 2003 during an Al Qaeda attack and restored in 2006, with a tribute to the 12 people who lost their lives during the bombing. Donations to the chaplaincy aid their work housing refugees and other foreigners experiencing difficulties in Istanbul.
Inside the chapel, the ten minute video was projected, with an accompanying soundpiece, whilst the ground flickered with colored reflections of the stars.
The flickering stars were created as interactive digital particles, through a software bridging motion detectors and projections. The ten minute video is of the beautiful waters between Bodrum and Kos, where the humanitarian crises of migration of Syrian refugees to Europe unfolded in 2015 and still continues today.
The video offers an opportunity for reflecting on the transcendence between material and immaterial states, as the work reveals the illusory states of existence and time, which in direct dichotomy with the political systems leading to this injustice, seeded Stardust. The choreography of the stars evolves with the actions of the audience, sensed by motion detectors.
This narration of a sea of glittery stars, begins with a wide perspective of sea and islands, moving through aerial shoots to a simpler meditative image of sea and light stars, their patterns moving with the waves towards the spectator/participant, and reaching a brief moment of darkness. The darkness opens through another aerial transition to a view of sea from above, gaining in speed as it follows a stream of light and proceeds to the final part of the video; a close perspective of the dancing of the light stars on water.
Documentation Video of Stardust at St Helena’s Chapel
Stardust Future
After Stardust’s premiere installation and performance in Istanbul in September 2017, the project is being developed for touring to new locations. The Stardust installation was created to be applicable to changing locations, with a bare minimum of spatial requirements of a 5x10m floor space and 5m ceiling height. In addition to the interactive installation exhibited in Istanbul, new movement and sound based performances are in development which will be ingrained as scheduled performances in future exhibition programs.
Stardust Exhibition
A stardust post-documentation exhibition of the process and development of the project is in store for 2018. The exhibition content consists of photograph editions taken during the making process of Stardust, as well as a documentation video and photographs of the audience’s’ interaction at St Helena’s Chapel in Istanbul. An interactive virtual reality version of Stardust will provide audiences with an immersive experience. Additionally, a Stardust artist book will be released with this exhibition.
Stardust Production
Balım Tanrıöver : Production consultant
Burak Yamanlıca : Graphic Design
Can Dizdaroğlu : visual interactivity
Deniz Doğançay : voice over recording
Kaan Karacehennem : video editing
Lara Özlen : production assistance
Michael Kiaer : music composition
Selin Turam : text editing
Sylvie Degiez : music composition
Stardust was realized in Istanbul in September 2017 with the generous support of Contemporary Istanbul
Stardust Supporters
Ali Güreli, Aliye Eşrefoğlu, Cana Beksaç, Contemporary Istanbul, Emre Çiftçioğlu, Ersin Pamuksüzer, Esi Özkurd, Ian Sherwood, Kayhan and Gail Molacı, Kürşad Cire, The LifeCo, Nilgün Ülkü, Nurdan Oğuzbahçeçi, Sami Kayalı, Serap İkiz, Sermet Tolan, Sinem Yörük, The English Chaplaincy, Zeynep and Serdar Aral, Zeynep Ekşioğlu.
Thank You
Ali Akay, Ali Demirel, Ah Kosmos, Aslı Şarman, Ayça Kobanbay, Bugge Lützhoft, Banu Nazlıca, Candaş Arın, Çeki Düşi, Ceren Akyol, Chapelle Restaurant, Elif Tokatlıoğlu, Engin Oğuzbahçeci, Eray Makal, Esra Sarıgedik, Fatma Kozacıoğlu, Köken Ergun, Leyla Gediz, Leyla Sakpınar, Leyla Pekin, Lucy Sutherland Knaus, Magic Box Technical Production, Monika Munzinger, Murat Odabaşı, November Paynter, Nuri Ballyev, Rabia Bakıcı, Rixos Pera, Selen Akınal, Seza Paker, Ulaş Bilgenoğlu, Vasıf Kortun.
Our Stars
David Bowie, Faruk Sade, Hrant Dink, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Sait Kozacıoğlu, Umberto Eco
Editions and Documentation from the Stardust at St. Helena’s Chapel can be visited at at a post-exhibition at Gül Kozacioglu’s Studio in Tatarbey Sokak no 20/2, Galata, til’ the 26th of October, Open:Tuesday-Saturday, 11.00/16.00 hours.
Stardust Editions, can be viewed on editions page and price list can be accessed here.
For appointments call Lara Özlen: + 90 536 437 41 61