“Sounds of Corona” - A Video Performance project with Film Theorists & Makers from Istanbul. A text - written during the 2020 Pandemic Lockdown “We experience an impressive pause - and with it the apathetic and feverish tension of the possible aftermath. Serious problems in our society led us to the current painful situation.
A seemingly static emptiness reveals itself, which thirsts for new content. We have been given a platform - albeit in a painful way - that can trigger a change in thinking and direction.
And what once glittered and shone - namely, rapid expansion - has been demystified and forcefully questioned. COVID-19 lockdowns dampened the penetrating noise of urban traffic and work and brought it to a standstill in some cases. The calm that follows is relaxing for the human organism and nature. The lockdown silence holds opportunities. It enables an intimate contact with oneself and the environment. Against the background of the changing urban sound sphere, natural and non-machine sounds arise. There is now the opportunity to feel one's own organism more intensively in connection with nature and its natural rhythms.
"Sounds of Corona" by Holger Maik Mertin is a performance action & meditation, a call to fill the gap left by the reset. A call to think about what really happened. Mertin's actions communicate with the Corona sound flora of Istanbul. They call for a dialogue - and a truthful exchange about what has hitherto been unsustainable, misaligned and touchless. His performances are free from mental or physical sub- or assignments; they show the public space as an instrument. This is how Sultanahmet's pandemic-deserted back streets become a canvas. Mertin uses the fruits of the urban terrain itself - sticks and tree branches lying around as well as lumps of concrete.
On the Galata Bridge he is one with water and air and metal. In Istanbul's "IMÇ", the once famous "Bazaar of Music Labels", the sound & movement actions remind us of who was hit particularly hard in the pandemic: the Turkish concert & music industry.”
Performer: Holger Maik Mertin
Director & Editor: Erol Adilçe & Bahar Kılıç Adilçe
Producer: Mutlu Yetkin
Project Scriptwriter: Ayla Kanbur
Production Manager: Alinahid Koçak
Co-Producer: Yunus Emre Tolan
Consultant: Çağla Demirbaş
Cinematographer: Kerim Hacıoğlu
Sound Mixer: Baransel Boyraz
Graphic Designer: Hulusi Tütüncü
Funder: The Goethe Institute Istanbul
Special Thanks: Emir Barın Volker Kuehl