SMALL BLUE DOT

Small Blue Dot is a bilateral installation work handling the “space” concept within its cosmological, political and digital layers. This work thinks of space not only as a physical gap, but also as a power, representation and perception production domain.

The installation is composed of various figures suspended within a frame. Bodies of figures are made from some map pieces. Here, map is not a neutral visual, but a symbol of historical demarcation, measurement and ownership practices. Conversion of body into a map points at the desire of mankind to supervise and centralize the world through representation. Geography settles down on the surface of identity, and man disintegrates and cuts the earth into pieces while carrying it on his shoulders at the same time.

The glittering blue globe at the centre of the composition represents the earth, and acts or functions as a source of light. The same glittering surface is also repeated on screens of mobile phones held by figures and on reflections on their faces as well. This visual repetition obscures the source of light and so, of the truth: Is it the earth which illuminates, or is it the digital interface? Thus, physical “space” and digital “space” are overlapped; the border between reality and its representation becomes blurred.

All figures are concentrated on their phone screens. Although they are physically located and positioned around the earth, they are inside another spatially perceptively. This in turn implies the directionlessness of the modern subject within his global correlativeness illusion, and his break from the bodily space.

The work makes reference to the smallness of earth in cosmic scale as further defined in “Pale Blue Dot” book of Carl Sagan. However, here, the problem is not only fragility, but also the claim of man to be central figure of the earth in spite of that smallness. Two-sided exhibition of this installation work suspends the concept of direction; top and bottom substitute each other; centre loses its fixedness. Lack of directions in the space automatically turns into an experience of questioning of the anthropocentric perspective.

“Small Blue Dot” makes visible the tension between the insignificance of earth in cosmic scale on one hand and the desire of man focused on representation and ownership and even further expanded in the digital age on the other hand; and the exhibition viewer is confronted with the question of who owns the space and the centre thereof.