Living Istanbul / Osman KoçIstanbul is a city that never sleeps. It is like a living organism connecting the two different worlds, the East and the West. It has its own addictive and chaotic vibe. As a result of its geographical, social, cultural and religious properties, Istanbul has a unique soundscape. But most importantly, what makes it, are the people living in.
What makes a person alive is his/her heartbeat. The project needs at least one person’s heartbeat to start living. It uses the people’s heartbeats to play or manipulate the sounds of Istanbul. The recordings are taken from different parts of the city, showing the everyday sounds that people in Istanbul hear, but they are usually too busy to appreciate. Istanbul is a very crowded city, as more people are connected; the outcoming sound becomes more flourished as the city.
Istanbul is a city of integration. If you look at the different parts of the city, you would see that even if some elements are more dominant than the others, they are indistinguishable. You can also hear this in the recordings, because the sounds are recorded outside. The recordings aim one sound, but while recording it the other sounds interfere, which creates the overall ambiance.
The work is exhibited in an isolated area, aurally and visually. The visually isolated area creates more sensitivity in the aural sense, and to make this effect even more sensitive, it is recommended to use the blindfolds. This has been told beautifully by the great Turkish poet, Orhan Veli Kanık’s poem, “I’m listening to Istanbul with my eyes closed”.
The project was first developed as a new musical interface. Everybody has a natural source of rhythm, the heartbeat. The project questions the relationship between talent and music creation. With the widespreading of the electronic music, the music started to be assembled than composed. By using the heartbeat it was planned to create a more natural and dynamic music. The use of heartbeat also brings a sentimental value to the project. And connecting a person or people to a machine creates a new form of being which exists in both real and cyber world.
Notice
Living Istanbul is a sound installation which works with the visitors’ pulses. The visitors are invited to sit on the benches in the dark space, having attached the electrodes on the specific spots of their body as indicated on the instructions sheet. There are samples edited from various recordings of the city’s daily sounds. There can be four people participating to the creation of sound according to different pulses. The installation is made of several non-medical custom made electrocardiograms which the users are connected through disposable electrodes. The outcoming signals are transmitted to the computer via Arduino platform and then computated in Max/Msp software.
Credits
Concept: Osman Koç
Interaction Design: Osman Koç
Visual design: Emir Can Arkman
