Augmented Structures v1.1: Acoustic Formation by Refik Anadol and Alper Derinboğaz :: until November 13, 2011 :: Yapı Kredi Cultural Centre, Istiklal Street, 161, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey.

A Video/Audio Performance presented on the 400 sqm facade.Beyond being an artwork, the installation is an urban experience, combining science and art and making the city’s acoustic memory visible and tangible through architecture. It is an experiment with new techniques in the old part of the city.

The installation process started with the field sound recordings of Istiklal Street (arguably the most crowded street in Europe), which were then digitally processed and transformed into a parametric architectural structure. Recordings from three different time slices were superimposed and the frequency / decibel data translated into spreadsheets and then into a 3D surface in a coordinate system. The location data applied to X, the decibel became the Z and the frequency value turned into Y value to achieve a complete 3D picture of the recorded sound. A visual performance was projected on the structure, accompanied by a generatively designed contemporary aesthetic visuals consisting of input data from particularly chosen sounds synchronized to the movement of graphics re-shaping and transforming the structure’s perception on which they were projected. The structure in turn influenced and transformed the projections as well.

Coinciding with the opening of the 12th Istanbul Biennial, the performance was realized consecutively for two evenings, drawings hundreds of spectators who happened to walk by the YKKSY building in the hub of the city. As an example of a work of art in public space, this installation is a testament to the collective memory of the people who experience Istanbul and a contemporary twist on the historic public space that has been the grounds of many cultures, ranging from the Byzantine, Ottoman civilizations to contemporary Turkey. Though the recording is of the current Istiklal Street, the sounds carry among many the people’s voices, the church bells, the call to prayer of the mosques, the street musicians, the chimes of the popular tram on this otherwise pedestrian walkway; hence these sounds reflect the past as well as the present time. The final sounds of the city may not allow clear deciphering of the exact time of the day or the particulars of life and heritage on this street, but it allows a spatial and audiovisual experience. It provides a new perspective, a new understanding and a new challenge to viewers.

The historic building which houses the Yapı Kredi Cultural Center (which is itself a part of the collective memory of the Turkish people), is viewed as a vibrant and augmented structure boding well for the changing dynamics of the city as well as the institution itself.

The experimentation and processing phases of the installation are displayed in the exhibition hall in the first floor of the YKKSY building. The exhibition focuses on interactions between space, sound, video and light by asking the question of how to translate the logic of media into architecture. Along with discussions on the subject, an answer to the question is presented with three new augmented structures. And in the room built in the center of the exhibition hall, the video of the performance is presented in loop. Visitors are welcome to experience it until November 30, 2011.

*Image above:

Artist-Architect: Refik Anadol-Alper DerinboÄŸaz
Yapı Kredi Cultural Center, Istiklal Cad. No. 161
Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey
Photographed by/ date: Refik Anadol, 20 Sept. 2011