Deniz Sözen
Deniz Sözen
Deniz Sözen
Deniz Sözen
REST IN PEACE SARAJEVO
Sound-installation, vertical video projection and brochure, 2018
5-channel sound installation, 15 min, loop
EXHIBITED: responseABILITY, Artists of the AiR programme West Balkan Calling, group exhibition. Curated by Margarethe Makovec & Anton Lederer & Anna Kohlhauser, < rotor > Center for Contemporary Art, Graz, 2018
The five channel audio installation was conceived in response to the artist residency West Balkan Calling* in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016.
The project was inspired by Deniz Soezen’s visit to Bare cemetery, also known as ‘city cemetery’, which is said to be one of the largest cemeteries in Europe. Sarajevo’s multi-faith heritage and diversity is mirrored by the cemetery’s different compartments and designated chapels: Atheist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Orthodox (in alphabetical order), which are spatially interconnected.
Deniz felt deeply touched by the co-existence of these different (faith-)groups in the city’s cemetery. The installation aims to translate the artist’s emotional response to the multi-faith character of Bare cemetery through a collage of sound recordings of different funeral prayers,which are experienced in the same space and in relation to each other. In addition, a video projection alludes to the play of light coming through the chapels’ glass windows in different colors.
* West Balkan Calling is a project by < rotor > Center for Contemporary Art Graz & Directorate General for Cultural Policy of the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs
MUSIC CREDITS
Atheist funeral music (trumpet) Performed by anonymous musician. Recorded by Deniz Soezen at Public ROOM Sarajevo
Catholic lithurgy (excerpts) Performed by Fra Slavko. Recorded by Mak Kulenovic at the Church of St. Anthony Sarajevo
Jewish funeral prayer Performed by cantor Igor Kozemjakin. Recorded by Deniz Soezen at the Ashkenazi Synagogue, Sarajevo
Muslim Salat al-Janazah funeral prayer (excerpts) Performed by Hadzi Nurif ef. Heric. Recorded by Deniz Soezen at the ‘Hadzi dzafer’ Dzamija (Mosque) in Sarajevo
Orthodox mass (excerpts) Performed by Father Vladimir Stupar. Recorded by Mak Kulenovic at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Sarajevo