Vardiya was the exhibition of the Pavilion of Turkey at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition in La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by architect Kerem Piker, the exhibition featured 13 workshops with 122 participating students and over 30 instructors, lecturers, and guest speakers from both Turkey and abroad. Per the concept of Vardiya, (from Italian, guardia, meaning shift, job rotation) the material of the exhibition was intended to be the productions of the students of each workshop. Because of this, Vardiya was always going to be empty at the inauguration of the biennial. For explaining this concept to the visitors and providing information regarding the upcoming workshops and events, several films and teasers were commissioned by the curatorial team and IKSV.
This huge project consists of 14 separate films, created by a multitude of techniques, ranging from live action to VFX, 3D animation to motion graphics, and digital stop motion animation. The total running time of the entire video production of Vardiya was well over 100 minutes produced over a very short period of mere 50 days.
Projection Film
During the production stage, the curatorial team collected portrait format video messages from all participants of Vardiya. These portraits were then arranged in a concentric pattern and was projected onto the drapes over each workshop’s exhibition area. This setup was tested at İKSV Salon.
Curatorial Message
The curatorial message of the exhibition was provided with another motion graphic video. The portraits of the participants, stylized as ASCII art by ONAGÖRE as part of Vardiya’s book design, were animated and looped. The transition between each portrait and the random pattern of “VARDİYA” characters floating on the ASCII arts were custom designed and generated. For every two loops of the graphics, the message loops three times.
Vardiya 2: Future of Childhood
Workshop instructors:
Superpool
European Alternatives
Memed Erdener
Vardiya 3: Filmspace as Freespace
Workshop instructors:
Saitali Köknar
Sinem Serap Duran
Vardiya 4: Architecture as Critical Media
Workshop instructors:
Jan Boelen
Vera Sacchetti
Nadine Botha
Cansu Cürgen
Vardiya 5: Taking Scarpa for a Walk
Workshop instructors:
Avşar Gürpınar
Cansu Cürgen
Elena Pazzaglia
Vardiya 6: (N)everland
Workshop instructors:
Selen Ercan
David Jenny
Orkun Kasap
Nizam Onur Sönmez
Vardiya 7: Obituary Island
Workshop instructors:
Işıl Altınışık
Burak Altınışık
Bilge Kobaş
Can Sucuoğlu
Vardiya 8: Of Journeys
Workshop instructors:
Tomris Akın
Zeynep Ataş
Ali Paşaoğlu
Vardiya 9: Venice: Surface, Geometry, Texture, Color
Workshop instructors:
Gani Turunç
Mehmet Erbudak
Jörg Niederberger
Vardiya 10: Vast Minority
Workshop instructors:
Herkes İçin Mimarlık
Kerem Erginoğlu
Vardiya 11: Redrawing Venice
Workshop instructors:
Eren Çıracı
Erdem Tüzün
Vardiya 12: Treasure Hunt
Workshop instructors:
Casa Muraro | Center for Venetian Studies
Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul
The Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies
Studio-X Istanbul
● Vardiya 1 did not have a teaser video since it was set to begin immediately after the inauguration of the exhibition.
● Vardiya 13 also did not have a teaser video. This “vardiya” was planned as a retrospective, final workshop.
● Some of the videos were designed to loop seamlessly in the exhibition. The web versions of these videos have intros and outros that are slightly different than their originals.
Written, directed and produced by:
M. Can Tanyeli
VARDİYA
http://vardiya.iksv.org/
Curator:
Kerem Piker
Assistant curators:
Cansu Cürgen
Yelta Köm
Nizam Onur Sönmez
Yağız Söylev
Erdem Tüzün
Project coordinator:
Pınar Demir
Visual identity design:
ONAGÖRE – Okay Karadayılar, Ali Taptık
Tuna Ortaylı Kazıcı
Selen Erkal
Deniz Ova