ASLI ULUDAĞ 

Installation Charon’s Compass

DATE September 2022    VIDEO DURATION  14’30”

Charon's Compass is an outcome of an on-going research project, investigating the environmental violence enacted through the development of geothermal energy in the Buyuk Menderes Graben, the Gediz Graben and the Denizli Graben in the Aegean coast of Turkey. The video installation foregrounds the manifestations of the deep subsurface on the surface through an exploration of various local practices that are generated by the particular surface-deep subsurface relations in these grabens. In addition to the boreholes of geothermal energy plants, the project maps the holes, cracks and cavities of these practices, through which the deep subsurface makes itself visible on the surface, including ancient healing and divination caves, thermal baths, hot springs, underground rivers, ancient and contemporary travertine quarries and mineral water sources. Through layering, relaying and navigating matter, images, sounds, myths and stories from the field, the project explores the relationship between the worlds that have been generated by the deep subsurface in the region.