Singing Sparks (2021)

Singing Sparks

Singing Sparks is a performative sound installation and a documentary, an outcome of artistic research co-created by sound artist Görkem Arıkan and car mechanic İbrahim Tokkaya and filmmaker Batuhan Keskiner. The project started off to witness listening as an act in garages among car mechanics and the cultural aspects of a relationship built upon the notion of noise.

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The idea of the piece was cultivated at the gatherings at Tokkaya's garage, utilizing spare car parts from his inventory. Driven by an engine-inspired algorithm, ignition coils can generate regular and stochastic walks and transitions pronounced by four spark plugs and custom loudspeakers through guitar pickups electromagnetically capture the sound of sparks. The controlled randomness in Singing Sparks' nature gives it a playful behavior. On the other hand, the open structure of the system to different interfaces makes it a versatile instrument I'll be using at my upcoming shows.

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Another output of this project is a film by Batuhan Keskiner, who captured the process from beginning to end. He made a film out of our interviews with car mechanics, their approach to listening, the time we spent together in finding creative ideas, and the build-up process of Singing Sparks.

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Soon: The film will be available here in this page.

 

The realization of this project was made possible by the support of Rewire, Amarte and Stokroos.