Breaking news presented by Tolga Özdeniz
TV project for the 6th International Çannakale Biennial Before the Past - After the Future, Turkey, curators Deniz Erbaş, Seyhan Boztepe, CABININ.
With the kind support of the French Institut Turkey.
The episodes are broadcast on Çanakkale TON TV and shown on screen at the Mavinil studio.
With Tolga Özdeniz, images and sound Ülkü Sönmez and Hakan Kumuk.
The subtitled version of the video is underway.
The archeological site of Troy is near the city of Çanakale. This biennal is dedicated to Troy, 2018 being the Year of Troy, in reference to the 20th anniversary of the site’s addition to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Photos : Jason Karaïndros, Georgios Katsagelos and JG
In 1934-35, the French playwright Jean Giraudoux wrote the satirical and pacifist play The Trojan War Will Not Take Place. He imagined a story about history and how events could have had a different outcome if the pacifist current in Troy had succeeded in convincing the beautiful Helen to go back to Sparta, the explosive situation that led to the Trojan War would have been deflated. The play has become a great classic in world theatre. Giraudoux wrote it when he was haunted by memories of the catastrophy of the First World War and under the menacing shadows of rising nationalism and dictorships in Europe and beyond, finally leading to the outbreak of the Second World War, four years after the play’s premiere in Paris.
I imagined how the play’s plot would be perceived today, if it were happening right here and now, presented as breaking news on television. The local TV channel Çanakkale TON TV and its journalist Tolga Özdeniz have accepted the challenge.
An artistic “fake news” for discussing reality.
The video is shown again in 2024 at the CerModern, Ankara, Turkey, in the exhibition PAYLAŞILAN BELLEK / SHARED MEMORY, From Çanakkale Biennial’s Memory toward a Museum, and at the biennial Sinopale 9, Before All Runs Out: Cosmos of New Values.