Project 01 / 2023—25
Zanaat Tapes
Field recording / moving image / 3D archive / live performance
What remains of craft knowledge when production accelerates?
Zanaat Tapes follows makers working in basements, passageways and small workshops across Istanbul. Their repeated movements carry skill, effort, fatigue and time. The project asks how workshop recordings can preserve practical knowledge without romanticising craft.
- Site
- Düzenli İş Hanı and craft workshops in Istanbul
- Duration
- December 2023—November 2024; live iterations through 2025
- Support
- CultureCIVIC Artistic Production Fund
- Role
- Concept, interviews, field recording and sound composition
Situated position
My father is a craftsman, and I have worked in car polishing and paintwork. That experience helped me recognise fatigue, timing, muscle memory and the social life of a workshop. I spent time with the craftspeople before recording; trust and shared time became part of the work.
From site to form
Repeated visits and conversations developed into field recordings, moving image and 3D scans. The material was composed as a film, a physical handbook, a navigable archive and live performances.
Public life
The work became a live sound performance at CultureCIVIC Arts Days in 2024 and at the ENCC Incubator in 2025. The later performance was dedicated to my father, connecting the project directly to family history.