sezgitanart - Whale

balina video.mov

The video consists of an interaction between two people and a visual-reactive stone sculpture titled Whale.

The sculpture takes the form of a whale, with two open carved sections, and is activated through a visual-reactive video projected onto its surface. The glowing areas follow the natural markings of a whale’s skin. These traces also respond to the figures in the frame, lighting up through contact and proximity.

The work focuses on the relationship between body, image, and stone, where communication emerges through light and interaction.

“Whale” is a work in which I examine human communication and its relationship with

nature through marine life. While examining the cultural structure of whales and the meanings

of their sounds in the work, I questioned the lack of communication between humans and fast-

paced life. I wanted to draw attention to the effect of the individual on the connection between

humans and nature and marine life.

Initially, I was influenced by the article describing whale sounds in a program called

“Whale Sounds” broadcast by National Geography in 1978. I started to examine whale sounds,

which are called “the loudest, longest and slowest form of communication”, and the

relationship between humans and whales.

Although we have not had a good relationship with whales from the past to the present,

today, marine pollution and ship and engine sounds affect whales and marine life more. Apart

from this, whaling and its industry, which started in the mid-1800s in particular, involve

massacres like every industry where animals are used. Recently, studies have been carried out

with artificial intelligence in order to understand whale sounds and to communicate.

While creating this work, I wanted to reflect the image of a huge humpback from the

descriptions in the work Moby Dick. The images I used consist of a few whale images, but I

generally used humpback whale images. My work consists of paraffin opened in a shape similar

to a mussel and a sound-sensitive light that I projected onto it. Inspired by the whale at first, I

covered my abstract sculpture with paraffin and opened it horizontally so that it would not

separate completely. I placed the light reflected on this opened shape onto the sound-sensitive

screen I created from touchdesigner. In this way, I wanted to remind you that even a single

person affects the world, the environment, and therefore other beings.

Freshankara 2025