Ergin Çavuşoğlu

Downward Straits, 2004, Dört kanallı video ve ses enstalasyonu, Video, 3’00” (video), 13’25” (audio)

Downward Straits (2004) is a four-channel video and audio installation, which displays the passage of cargo ships and tankers through the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul at night. The footage shows distinct landmarks on both banks of the strait. The silhouetted vessels that are only distinguishable against the city lights become very graphic and hauntingly poetic. The four screens are positioned in pairs on a 20 degrees angle creating a walkthrough corridor for the viewer. The Bosphorus Strait defines the geographical border between Europe and Asia, East and West. It is also in neither in them, a kind of no-mans-land. This sets the course of the ships to glide along the borderline of Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus is also a passageway for ships carrying dangerous cargo and used for human trafficking, as indicated by the marine radio conversations. The work at large explores ideas about space, liminality, place and non-place.