‘YEKPARE’ (monolithic) from nerdworking on Vimeo.
From over the summer, here’s a dazzling visual narrative set out against a train station in the town. It also answers a point made recently in comments. The impact of projection mapping is indeed greatly dimmed when projectors fall short on contrast ratio or brightness. This work, on the other hand, looks bright. It stands to reason. Projection mapping as a gimmick won’t make a lasting impression. But what projection mapping really is is simply using projection on another surface. Just like doing outdoor amplification with sound, you need to get clarity and decibels — or make that contrast and lumens. That’s assuming you have something people want to see, but conversely, even something people want to see won’t work if they can’t see it. I still think that means sometimes sacrificing the size of the canvas in order to trade scale for lumens, for those times when you don’t have the budget you want. It’ll be interesting to watch the trend evolve, as now outdoor projection is becoming a norm.
Back to this project:
Yekpare” is a storyteller which narrates the 8500 year story of Istanbul. The story embraces symbols from Pagans to Roman Empire, from Byzantine Empire to Latin Empire, and finally from Ottoman Empire to Istanbul at the present day.
Haydarpaşa Train Station, with its brilliant architectural forms, is the building on which the story is projected. The connection between middle east to west has been provided by Istanbul and Haydarpaşa since 1906. In the 50’s it served as a door for millions of internal emigrants who have triggered the chaos in Istanbul’s dialectical daily life scenes.The project’s conceptual, political and geographical positioning, the location’s depth of field and the fact that the entire show can be watched from Kadıköy coast; make “Yekpare” a dramatic presentation.
The first day of the performance also marks the 47th deathday of Nazım Hikmet Ran, the famous Turkish poet. We started out with a quote from his epic novel, “Human Landscapes from My Country”: “At Haydarpaşa Train Station, in the spring of 1941, it is three o’clock. Sun, exhaustion and rush lay on the stairs…”
Art Direction & Visuals:
Deniz Kader – Candaş ŞişmanMusic & Sound Design:
Görkem ŞenProject Management:
Erdem DilbazTechnical Advisors: Refik Anadol – Alican Aktürk (GRIDUO.com)
Modelling: Gökhan Uzun – Can Dinlenmiş (prospektif.org)
More on Vimeo. Uses the MXWendler media server, some really exceptional software (and great mapping experience) from a team based in Turkey and Weimar, Germany.