Urban Squeeze / Gülay Yiğitcan, Cem Uzunoğlu, Kemal YiğitcanRapid urbanization in Turkey started in 1950s and is still picking up pace rapidly in Istanbul in recent years.
Living in Istanbul involves many different things to different people. For some it is a source of income, for some a megapolis of various luxuries, for some – even though in dwindling numbers – their homeland and precious heirloom and yet for some an indispensible city of arts. And of course it is impossible to ignore, how this virtually schizophrenic city of people living in a tangled harmony, takes its toll on our lives and bodies.
We are constantly fed mountains of positive and negative experiences by this city. One day it will trap us in the slow lane for two hours for a fifteen minute drive, the other day it releases our minds and souls with the breathtaking scenery of Bosphorus. Sometimes it takes our cherished memories away, replacing a building we knew for so long with a parking lot. Yet sometimes it beckons us to drink some tea in a garden full of green. We are living daily, squeezed in ever shrinking spaces enclosed by people, buildings, cars and rules. We are constantly suppressing our urge to gaze at the horizon below pristine skies, only to put ourselves into place in the jigsaw puzzle that is the complicated but promising life in a big city.
Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas from rural areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area. According to the U.N. Reports, by the year 2050 two thirds of human population will be living in towns and cities. Urbanization occurred naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce time and expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for job, education and housing.Urban Squeeze deals with ongoing contraction and sophistication of living spaces and escalating complexity of social contracts caused by rapid urbanization and its effects on human body, perception and social life.
Notice
This project reflects the rapid overgrowth of Istanbul’s urban structure and the respective constant diminution of the personal space of its inhabitants. The installation is made of a space like a corridor at the end of which there is a screen with a video projection. The video is depicting the fast urbanization process of a city. As the visitor enters the space to see the projection, a kinetic wall starts to move from behind. The visitor has no other chance than to move towards the projection until he/she has to leave the room from another exit. The installation is meant to be viewed by a single person or simultaneously acting group of at most 3 people a time.
Credits
Concept and Interactive design : Gülay Yiğitcan, Cem Uzunoğlu, Kemal Yiğitcan
Audio: Kerem Türer
Special thanks to Osman Koç
