ERDEM HELVACIOGLU „Memories on Silent Walls“ 2007 Istanbul
Audiovisual sound installation Instanbul

What is the sound of a building? What does it consist of? Is it the timbre of an unmanned space or the sounds of various activities that have taken place there? All of the sonic memories that have taken place around the walls of a building and the unheard thoughts of people who have experienced these memories make up the real sound of a building. Ataturk Cultural Center is a historical building and very present in the minds of Istanbul’s citizens. It is a phenomenon that represents modernism, utopia, and contemporary thought. It is a lonely and melancholic symbol watching the history of Istanbul and Turkey. “Memories on Silent Walls” consists of the processed and unprocessed recordings of the productions that have taken place at Ataturk Cultural Center, the sound of the empty building itself and its surroundings and the interviews done with various

people about the center. This work not only tries to describe the past, the present and the future of the building itself, but also urges us to ask ourselves this question: should Ataturk Cultural Center stay or be replaced? Transfered to
Berlin, the central Taqsim Square will be projected via video - focussed on the
windows of the cultural center  – into the installation, beside a view of urban Kreuzberg. "Replacement of Culture and Memory?" an issue which is also continually relevant in Berlin. This work is 58 minutes long in 5 movements. It is designed for a setup of 8 speakers. The Installation was commissioned by the International Istanbul Biennial 2007.

Erdem Helvacioglu is one of the most renowned electronic music composers of
his generation in Turkey. His music has been performed and broadcast all around the world. His compositions have been included in prestigious festivals such as: The San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, Musica Viva Festival, Primavera en La Habana and Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival. He has received numerous international awards for his electronic music including prizes from Luigi Russolo, Insulae Electronicae and MUSICA NOVA Electroacoustic Music Competitions. His album “A Walk Through The Bazaar” was judged “outstanding” by a number of music magazines. Besides this album, his compositions have been included on various labels like chmafu nocords, quiet american, and/OAR, vox novus for various compilation albums, such as “ctrl-alt-del”, which also included works by Scanner, Kim Cascone and Merzbow. He has collaborated with artists Mick Karn, Kevin Moore, John Wilson, Kazuya Ishigami, Ros Bandt and Saadet Turkoz. He has received commissions from artists and organizations such as the 2006 World Soccer Championship, Bang on a Can All Stars, Todd Reynolds, Kinan Azmeh, Margaret Lancaster and Cem Duruoz. His sound installations have been included at galleries like Los Angeles Track 16, Indonesia Soemardja, Köln Museum für Angewandte Kunst, London Menier and the 10th International Istanbul Biennial. His film music has been included at Cannes, Sarajevo, Locarno, Seoul, Sao Paulo, and Sydney film festivals. Helvacioglu received the “Best Original Soundtrack” award in the 2006 Mostramundo Film Festival. His latest solo album “Altered Realities” has been released by the US label “New Albion” in august 2006. www.newalbion.com/NA131 Besides his electronic music works, he also continues to compose for theatre, film, multimedia productions. Helvacioglu performs his music worldwide and produces major acts in Turkey.

ALPER MARAL The Sounding Alphabet 2005 listening lounge Instanbul
Audio documentation/Sound scape Istanbul

The “Sounding Alphabet” of Istanbul: With a glimpse of the introductory
album for beginners of piano music, guiding them safely through the repertoire, this composition of sound events and scapes aims to line up some elementary audio vocabulary for the observer / listener – sound events taken as letters of a certain alphabet, which then are used to build up “words”, images and affiliations – (con)texts for a more surrounding perception of the complex metropolis that is Istanbul and her living culture in certain aspects – without any common connotation. Created as a part of an installation for a designers’ exhibition /event in Istanbul (2005), this piece is just a part of a huge work in progress –
without the slightest claim of completeness, although, it has had performances /
projections in three versions. The shortest (9’11”) might be considered as a
‘musical’ composition; the longer one (19’) as a soundscape only to be
screened in a matching acoustic environment; and the ultimate “brutto”
version of  40’49” is a so-called “audio documentary”: At first glance, the (version of the) piece is a continuous flow containing following episodes / events: ferry from Asia to Europe in Istanbul, Harem, about sounds, gestures, history of the darbuka or ney, the music store Sait Aral, the oldest and shortest subway of the world - Tünel …
subtItles (Award winning film about you) 2007 by EFE ÖZTEZDOGAN Film Istanbul with music by ALPER MARAL Istanbul

After working on it for four years Efe Öztezdogan finished his short film
“subtItles” in September 2007. With its new approach to the film-grammar
“subtItles” accepted by more than 20 festivals all around the world. The Film
won “Best Experimental Film” in the 15th Golden Ball International Film Festival
Award in Adana, Turkey; Honorable Mention Award in Accolade 2007 in California, USA and Silver Medal for Excellence in Park City Film Music Festival in Utah, USA. In Yildiz Short Film Festival in Istanbul, Turkey “subtItles” won “Best Experimental Film” and was selected as “The Film of the Festival”. With its international festival success “subtItles” is one of the most important short films in Turkish film history.
“subtItles” is a film about two men who think that a woman has been stolen
from them. It examines the self-exploration process of these two characters
in the mood of “losing”. Maybe something bad happened to you because of you…
Maybe you have stolen something you think to be stolen from yourself…

Alper Maral: The musician Alper Maral is really between between East and West,
cosmopolitan but distinctive. Starting his professional career as a jazz and theatre pianist and composer while still at the German High School in Istanbul, Alper Maral was more or less an autodidact in music. He got involved in musicology and social sciences while studying politics and international relations in Istanbul University. After a rather long period teaching in several universities, including (Yıldız Technical University (Former Head of the Department for Audio Design), Bilgi University and University of Galatasaray, (Communications’ Faculties), lecturing in film sound and music, composition, and musicology and ethnomusicology, he decided to study some more and attended the masters and doctoral programs in Ege University – composition and musicology studies leading to a dissertation on decentralization issues in music politics after ‘The New Order’, guided by his mentor Ahmet Yürür, prominent ethnomusicologist and composer. Mostly for stage and screen, he composed and performed almost in every style from symphonic forms to electroacoustic systems. His music tended to be part of a rich multitude of cultural contexts. Meanwhile, with the idea of a conscious composition attitude interconnected with the dynamics of performance, he switched to the bass trombone and bass recorder, besides his former ‘tools’, piano and synthesizers. The main ensembles he joined or founded were the Istanbul Baroque Ensemble, led by Leyla Pinar; Üskudar Municipal Orchestra, A – 415, Kaçan Keçi and Control Voltage Project. With these projects or solo, he performed or took part in several national or international festivals (incl. in Japan, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Rumania and Egypt), got prizes and scholarships (incl. Jugend Musiziert, 1988; Paris New Music Review, 1997; Visby International Center for Composers, 2006). “Music in culture – culture in music”, his departure point, leads to the compositions seeking intensive communication: Mostly with a dramatic or literal context, mainly for electroacoustic environments and diverse ensembles, his works were performed throughout Europe, Siberia, South Africa, Japan, Brazil, etc. (especially: Verschiebung, bbk, Patio-415, The Devil’s Dictionary, SHO, Aggregates). A board member of ISCM-Turkey, a co-founder of MSG for composers’ royalties and one of the main figures behind the Mediterranian Contemporary Music Days, Istanbul, Maral deals with organizations in New Music, publications (more than 70 articles) and seminars for wide audiences.