Berlin

Ali M. Demirel

Ali M. Demirel is an audio-visual artist with background in nuclear engineering and architecture. He started to make videoart in the early 90s. Later, he focused on computer-generated images and began to create live audio-visual performances, exploring minimal imagery with synchronized sound. Recently, Demirel returned to video installation work and creating series that connects ecology, nature, and myth.
 

Concept

Berlin has become a hub for artists and alternative lifestyles mainly because of the ‘free space’ it provides for such beings and happenings. Places like Tempelhofer Feld, which exists in the middle of the city like a huge void, can be seen as a symbol of this quality of the city. Formally, it also resembles the ensō symbol of Zen, which represents the void, calmness, the universe, and enlightenment. 

Another visual characteristic of Berlin is the grayness of its winters. Could this lack of color be another source of creative richness in the city?

Inspired by Zen culture, ‘emptiness’ and ‘silence’ are key elements in Demirel’s work. The artist takes these elements as inspiration and makes an attempt to capture the sound of silence, and the image of emptiness in Berlin.