“Contrasts” is an experimental take on EAA Emre Arolat Architects’ Sancaklar Mosque project. It was screened in a specially designed, temporary black box at Young Artists Initiative’s “Complements and Dichotomies” exhibition at 1111 Lincoln Road in Miami.
Using original footage from the documentation of Sancaklar Mosque, as well as photographs by Cemal Emden from the same time, along with digitally created new footage, this film is a provocative take against the populist image of Islam in Western society. The film is somewhat obscurely separated into two parts, juxtaposing the imagery of antagonistic Islamic and anti-Islamic views with the building’s underlying religious serenity in a single picture; hence drawing “contrasts”.
The film features photorealistic CGI shots of the minaret tower and the stepped dome of the mosque. In reality, both shots are very hard to acquire, if not downright impossible, due to their near-orthographic perspectives. For recreating these images, the building was remodeled from the original plans. The minaret was textured using Cemal Emden’s high-resolution photography during the construction of the building. The film also features some of Cemal Emden’s gorgeous photographs from the building.
The exhibition space, located on the 6th floor of Herzog & de Meuron’s 1111 Lincoln Road parking structure in Miami, was designed and built as a simple, lightweight, enclosed black box with the intention of isolating the audience and accentuating the intense sound design.
Directed by:
M. Can Tanyeli
Additional photography by:
Cemal Emden
Emre Arolat Architects:
http://www.emrearolat.com
Emre Arolat
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