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ISTANBUL: Sarkis's 'Ballads' Echo At Rotterdam's Submarine Wharf

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  • ISTANBUL: Sarkis's 'Ballads' Echo At Rotterdam's Submarine Wharf

    SARKIS'S 'BALLADS' ECHO AT ROTTERDAM'S SUBMARINE WHARF

    Today's Zaman
    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-288338-sarkiss-ballads-echo-at-rotterdams-submarine-wharf.html
    Aug 1 2012
    Turkey

    The Submarine Wharf at Rotterdam's world-famous docklands is currently
    home to a gigantic installation by Turkish-Armenian contemporary artist
    Sarkis in what makes up one of the key events in an ongoing series
    of cultural events celebrating the 400th anniversary of diplomatic
    ties between Turkey and the Netherlands.

    Called "Ballads," Sarkis's installation is made up of a set of
    monumental sculptures over 16 meters tall and a carillon, also
    incorporating light, video and music by American composer John Cage.

    Cage's "Litany for the Whale" forms a permanent backdrop to the
    installation, spread over almost 5,000 square meters on the campus.

    The carillon continuously plays "Litany for the Whale" and takes the
    visitor on a journey into the realm where submarines and whales meet.

    The pendant to the monumental bell tower is a 16-meter-tall lampshade
    covered with white down feathers. Accompanying them in "The Futuro,"
    are Sarkis's videos about water. The wharf's original function and
    the surrounding water are central to the installation, which unites
    the building's past and present through monumental objects, music and
    colored films on its windows that filter the daylight like a modern
    variant of stained glass.

    Inspired by the church interiors of 17th-century Dutch painter
    Pieter Saenredam, Sarkis transformed the wharf into a "sacred meeting
    place," said the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Rotterdam-based
    commissioners of the work. The format of the space, the special
    lighting and the sound of the carillon with 43 bells create a
    hallowed atmosphere for the installation, evoking the form of the
    submarines once built at the wharf. The combination makes up a "poetic
    installation," as the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen puts it. All the
    elements in Sarkis's work support the musical narrative, in which
    the visitor plays a leading role, the museum says on its website,
    www.boijmans.nl.

    Born Sarkis Zabunyan in İstanbul in 1938, the Paris-based artist
    is known for his unique combination of the atmosphere of Oriental
    mysticism with Western conceptual art. "Ballads" runs until Sept. 30
    at the Submarine Wharf.

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