The View From Across (and crossing the bridge)
2024

Expired Agfa Moviechrome Super 8 film transferred to HD video, CCTV footage of Salacak, Istanbul, 6-minute-loop.
Melted CRT monitor, DVD player, plywood plinth.

Shown as part of Thirst Trap, Kazdal’s degree show at Central Saint Martins.



The View from Across (and crossing the bridge) is a video installation. A burnt monitor sits on top of a wooden plinth with a wooden “wrought iron grill” taken from a door in Salacak, Istanbul. The monitor loops the eerie CCTV footage of Salacak and a scan of an expired Super 8 film, intended to film on top of a ferry as the artist was crossing between Asia and Europe. This commute is a frequent one in the artist’s life, and being on one side or the other plays into the work with it’s placement. Looking at the interior glass wall of the 4D studios at Central Saint Martins, the monitor reflects whoever is looking at the screen back to itself, like a mirror. This emphasises the act of looking, looking at someone looking at the other side of Istanbul from where they are.

Every aspect of the installation is flammable in some sort of way. The monitor’s previous owners have left it on top of a radiator, hence the melted plastic is visible on its back. The footage is burnt onto the DVDs. The Super-8 film undergoes chemical reactions; when film is overexposed this process is referred to as “burning” in Turkish.