1+8

1+8 a film by Angelika Brudniak and Cynthia Madansky

1+8 is a film about Turkey’s unique position between West and East and her relationship to her eight very distinct and diverse neighbors. 1+8 is filmed close up on border towns of Turkey with Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria exploring what connects and separates the people on both sides. The film showcases through intimate portraits, personal accounts and cinematographic tropes, Turkey’s eight borderlands revealing the political and cultural dynamics of life on those frontiers. The contemplation of all eight neighboring countries reveals the complexity and importance of Turkey’s geo-political position between West and East, Europe and Asia, the European Union and the Middle East.

SALT Galata, Istanbul, shows 1+8, the dynamic eight-screen video installation about Turkey and her eight neighbors based on the feature film of the same name directed by Cynthia Madansky and Angelika Brudniak. Each screen features life on both sides of the border, from Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Nakchivan to Syria.

The exhibition tackles complex questions with compassion and openness, offering a space for debate around compelling and critical issues with regard to daily life as experienced across divided landscapes. Contemplating the border from both sides offers a dual perspective. Each projection becomes a reflection of “the self” and a window to “the other.” The installation wraps all eight borders around the viewer revealing the relevance and complexity of Turkey’s geopolitical gestalt. It raises questions of identity, identification and nationality. The viewer’s attention is drawn to and shifted by a choreography that introduces one voice at a time while the other projections show silent images from adjacent borderlands.

SALT Galata – JANUARY 24 – APRIL 07, 2013

1+8 Trailer no. 2 from MadAngel on Vimeo.