An immersive experience for all the senses, the exhibition Resounding Io is based on research videos and sounds recorded by San Francisco-based artist Bill Fontana in various bodies of water in Istanbul. In this addition to Fontana’s series Acoustical Visions, visitors will embark on a journey of sounds and visuals marrying in harmony. Sponsored by Grundig, the exhibition takes place in Karbon performance hall at Arter until 4th of December, 2022. More information and tickets available through the official exhibition page.
From the organizer:
Focusing on a single work from the Arter Collection in each title, Arter Close-Up series continues its journey with an in-depth look at Resounding Io, a multi-channel video and sound installation created by Bill Fontana, who has unearthed the delicacies of the “hidden music” surrounding us in our daily lives with his oeuvre, spanning more than forty years. Commissioned by Arter, Resounding Io is based on research surveys conducted by Fontana in Istanbul, whereby the artist made recordings at numerous locations along the Bosphorus, as well as in two Byzantine cisterns, namely the Theodosius Cistern and the Basilica Cistern.
Drawing on the presentation of the work at Arter’s Karbon performance hall (10/03/2022–04/12/2022), the publication grows out of a conversation between Melih Fereli, Arter’s Founding Director and the exhibition’s curator, and Bill Fontana, highlighting further details regarding the creation process of Resounding Io. Realised with the financial support of Grundig for the exhibition production and the acquisition of the work for the Arter Collection, Resounding Io constitutes the artist’s first solo exhibition in Turkey and a unique addition to his series Acoustical Visions.
Designed by Esen Karol as a tribute to the union of the deeply mysterious “memory” of the Bosphorus, with rich responses from the two Byzantine cisterns, the book features installation photographs by Orhan Cem Çetin alongside photographs taken by the Arter team to document the research and production processes of the work.
Born in Cleveland in 1947 and based in San Francisco, Bill Fontana began his career as a composer and, over more than forty years, his oeuvre has unearthed the delicacies of the hidden music surrounding us in our daily lives, drawing our attention to it in striking ways. Fontana’s installations, which highlight the idea that the act of listening is a way of making music, use sound as a “sculptural” medium to interact with and transform our perceptions of visual and architectural settings. Featuring a multi-screen and multi-channel installation commissioned by Arter, Bill Fontana’s Resounding Io constitutes the artist’s first solo exhibition in Turkey and a unique addition to his series Acoustical Visions which explores the image that a sound “makes” and the sound that an image “creates”.
Resounding Io is based on research surveys conducted by Fontana in Istanbul, whereby the artist made video and sound recordings, some underwater, at numerous locations along the Bosphorus, as well as in two Byzantine cisterns, namely the Theodosius Cistern and the Basilica Cistern. The relocating of the sound data Fontana collected in Istanbul with a portable recording studio – consisting of an 8-channel digital recorder, acoustic microphones, hydrophones and accelerometers – was achieved by way of playing them via loudspeakers in the Basilica Cistern at night, which generated an incredible response from the huge void/vaults of the structure, a variety of reverberation, which in turn were recorded as the final composition through a method called “re/sounding”. The work is titled in reference to the mythological story of Io, who gave her name to the Bosphorus. Io, in Greek mythology, was regarded as the first priestess of Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus fell in love with Io and, to protect her from the wrath of Hera, changed her into a white heifer. Hera then sent a gadfly to torment Io, who therefore wandered all over the earth, crossed the Ionian Sea trying to flee from the gadfly, and swam the strait that was thereafter known as the Bosphorus (literally meaning Ox-Ford).
Taking full advantage of the advanced technical features of Arter’s performance space Karbon, Resounding Io creates a sensual and dynamic world, where visitors are invited to participate in an immersive experience, which will transform their perception of time and space through audio-visual compositions based on a combination of recordings from the Bosphorus and the Theodosius Cistern. Upon entering the space, visitors will be drawn to a very large wall-screen featuring the ambisonic recordings the artist made in the Theodosius Cistern, with sound being reproduced by way of a matrix of eight speakers near the wall. Additional screens are also positioned at such an angle that the imagery and the variety of sounds within the space mimicking an “exploded cube” – perfectly adapted to the architecture and acoustics of Karbon – reflect the artist’s ambition to mix sources from different locations by connecting them through water, an endlessly fascinating material to explore for both sound and image.
Resounding Io welcomes visitors thanks to the funding provided by Grundig for the exhibition production and the acquisition of the work for the Arter Collection.
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Image sourced via organizers.
More information available through the official exhibition page.
Yenişehir, Irmak Cd. No:13, 34435 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
