{"id":2456,"date":"2026-03-30T16:43:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/?p=2456"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:45:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:45:52","slug":"gurkan-mihci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/2026\/03\/30\/gurkan-mihci\/","title":{"rendered":"Gurkan Mihci"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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From October to December 2025, I undertook a two-month artist residency at the Sound\/Image Research Centre, University of Greenwich developing Descent into Concealment: Derinkuyu<\/em>\u2014a web-based 360\u00b0 work that combines a recreated 3D model of the ancient Derinkuyu Underground City with an \u201cancient\u201d spiritual soundscape. The residency provided a focused context for research-and-development, supported by the centre\u2019s immersive production infrastructure, including spatial audio facilities and immersive projection environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project\u2019s visual foundation was built from my own poly-metric 3D scans, translated into a coherent architectural reconstruction that could be navigated and filmed as a 360\u00b0 experience. Using scan data as a foundational point, matching it with the architectural maps and details, and I remodeled the structure involved a constant negotiation between evidence and legibility. This reconstruction approach treated Derinkuyu as infrastructure\u2014organized around airflow, water access, thresholds, and communal space\u2014while remaining transparent about the model\u2019s interpretive status as a research-based visualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During the residency, I produced a 360\u00b0 YouTube video<\/a> that serves as the project\u2019s central encounter. The 360 format required a different kind of composition\u2014less about framing a single shot, more about choreographing attention through spatial cues, pacing, and light. The resulting \u201cdescent\u201d emphasizes compression and release: narrow corridors opening into rooms, vertical shafts anchoring orientation, and repeated thresholds that signal how the underground city could be sealed, divided, and occupied in moments of threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a valuable opportunity to collaborate with the Sound\/Image Research Centre colleagues\u2014sharing methods, exchanging ideas across disciplines, and testing the work through dialogue\u2014which directly strengthened the project\u2019s conceptual clarity, technical approach, and overall presentation. During my residency, I worked closely with Professor Andrew Knight-Hill. I attended his sound class to learn about Impulse Responses\u2014how the acoustic fingerprint of a space can be captured and used to simulate spatial character in audio production. After having an amazing conversation with Dr. Rosamund Davies about historical storytelling, I decided to use my captured soundscape of the underground city (a national museum) instead. I focused on recreating the ancient soundscape. This research informed the project\u2019s sound design decisions, helping translate \u201cstone volume\u201d into audible space: reverberation, decay, distance, and low-frequency resonance that suggest underground depth. The soundscape was conceived not as background music, but as a narrative layer\u2014bridging imagined ancient spirituality with the physical realities of subterranean life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The residency also emphasized exchange through teaching and public presentation. I presented the work during the SOUND\/IMAGE Festival 2025 (6\u20139 November 2025), sharing the project as a cross-disciplinary experiment in digital heritage, 360\u00b0 moving image, and spatial listening. I further presented at the Faculty\u2019s Centre for Spatial and Digital Ecologies seminar programme, situating Derinkuyu within broader conversations about place, networks, and environmental uncertainty. In addition, I visited Julie Watkins\u2019s animation course to present on AI and motion design, discussing contemporary workflows for time-based image-making and the ethical questions that arise when reconstructing historical sites through computational media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the end of the two months, the residency yielded a complete public-facing work: a recreated Derinkuyu 3D environment, a 360\u00b0 video experience, and a soundscape designed to be felt as much as heard\u2014an invitation to encounter the underground city as both refuge and system, and to consider what it means to build a livable world beneath the surface. This project was also funded by Indiana University\u2019s Presidential Arts and Humanities Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From October to December 2025, I undertook a two-month artist residency at the Sound\/Image Research Centre, University of Greenwich developing Descent into Concealment: Derinkuyu\u2014a web-based 360\u00b0 work that combines a recreated 3D model of the ancient Derinkuyu Underground City with an \u201cancient\u201d spiritual soundscape. The residency provided a focused context for research-and-development, supported by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":2465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist-residency"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-30-at-16.45.15.png","author_info":{"display_name":"bronamartin","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/author\/bronamartin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-30-at-16.45.15.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions\/2464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gre.ac.uk\/sound-image\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}