- 3 I Fashion a Nest Between Spines & Stories
- 4 Sonic Beirut, Displaced
- 5 The Translation Institute
- 6 Air as Commodity, Image as Spectacle
- 7 Auditory Escape
essays
2 Between City and Self
American University of Beirut * Fall 2020
The Translation Institute
Collaborators: Hadi El Kassar & Ralph Karam
Duration: Part I: 00:16:16; Part II: 00:39:13
Advised by Professor Kıvanç Kılınç
Duration: Part I: 00:16:16; Part II: 00:39:13
Advised by Professor Kıvanç Kılınç
An exercise in the interdisciplinary intersection of literature and architecture, the project investigates the notions of representation and translation in a filmed, unscripted two-part performance lasting around an hour in duration. With the intention of translating Ahmet Tanpinar’s novel, The Time Regulation Institute, the performance is filmed to communicate the process of brainstorming ideas for the project itself as well as the execution of the discussed plans, where the viewer embarks on the journey of the performance from its conception to its realization.
In the book, a Time Regulation Institute is founded, formally, legally, and physically; however, its members fail to complete their required tasks and responsibilities, rendering the institute obsolete in function. And so, in the act of printing the novel and binding it on both spines, we translate the notion of a physical object that loses its destined function – a book that can’t be read mirrors a Time Regulation Institute that does not regulate time. Moreover, the very act of recording ourselves engaging in the process of translation is another layer of translation itself, as we end up creating a Translation Institute of which we are the founders and workers. An overarching narrative saturated with meta-irony and self-reference thus frames the slow burn unfolding of the bureaucratic act of printing and binding the book.
In the book, a Time Regulation Institute is founded, formally, legally, and physically; however, its members fail to complete their required tasks and responsibilities, rendering the institute obsolete in function. And so, in the act of printing the novel and binding it on both spines, we translate the notion of a physical object that loses its destined function – a book that can’t be read mirrors a Time Regulation Institute that does not regulate time. Moreover, the very act of recording ourselves engaging in the process of translation is another layer of translation itself, as we end up creating a Translation Institute of which we are the founders and workers. An overarching narrative saturated with meta-irony and self-reference thus frames the slow burn unfolding of the bureaucratic act of printing and binding the book.