Projections and sounds
There were two pieces of work which we still wanted to complete, both of which needed some preparation. Firstly, a plan (originally Mízgin’s) had been developed to produce an sequence of images of people walking through one of the city’s gates, which would then be stitched together into a video to be projected onto a wall in the prison courtyard. Some slides had been taken yesterday, as explained, but it proved impossible to develope them here in Diyarbakir and so plan B was to do the same digitally. The idea was to create a link between inside and out, to open up what is and has been a closed space.
Myself, Mei-yu and Mehmed set off this morning to take the necessary photographs, which did not take so long, but our second task ended up being a little more complicated. We needed a set of small amplified speakers, which we thought would be easily obtainable from one of the many small shops and market stalls selling electrical goods in the city. Unfortunately, the prices that were being asked were a bit high for the sort of shitty little speaker that you could get for about €5 back home, until it became obvious that they were asking higher prices when myself and Mei-yu (the foreigners) were present; if Mehmed went into the shop on his own, we were more likely to get a bargain. Disappointing, but perhaps understandable.
We eventually succeeded in finding a set for 10 Turkish Lira (about €6). The speakers were needed to realise the second of the two works mentioned, which was to reproduce the sound of a woman singing zilgit, a traditional Kurdish form of singing which resembles something like a native American war cry; the idea was to play back this sound within the empty walls of the prison, where the acoustics would hopefully ensure a powerful effect.
There were also some other practical considerations which needed to be taken into account. Luckily there was a working power socket within the jail (quite strange for what is basically a derelict building), but we still needed to find and borrow a long extension cord, as well as borrow the projector (or beamer as the Dutch call it, even when speaking English!), edit together the photos, and set everything up.
After some intensive sound and video editing in the hotel, myself and Machteld rushed through the pouring rain which had developed at this point (not bad after a week of fine weather, I suppose) to set everything up and record the results before it got dark. On the way we ran into the others, who had been caught in the rain whilst finishing off the other work and who wanted to go back to the hotel for some dry clothes; this meant we were left on our own in the old prison as it began to get dark outside. I suddenly realised that this was really stupid, since with my laptop, Machteld’s laptop and the beamer, not to mention various cameras and camcorders, we were a sitting target waiting to be robbed of €1000’s worth of stuff. There were a bunch of really dodgy looking characters hanging around the jail (one smoking an enormous joint which we gratefully declined a sook on), but as it happened nothing terrible occurred. It’s the same carelessness which got me my bike nicked a few weeks ago, it must be said, and I should know better.
I was really pleased with the results of the projection and zilgit sounds, but it was really difficult to record these results – I mean, what I am talking about is a video of a projection of a video, in very low light, which is certainly a challenge. We got a few decent images, though, which should be enough.
In the evening there was yet another lecture, this time in the hotel rather than the arts centre thankfully, which meant that there were beers and food readily available afterwards (thoughfully ordered in advance by the tutors). After this and a briefing about Thursday’s presentation I headed upstairs for an early night, the first of the trip and definately overdue.
