OCULUS

“OCULUS: Seeing the Gaze, Understanding Sight”

- İpek Yeğinsü

In this century, we have more communication tools at our disposal than ever before. Ouruniverse of images composed of fluid networks continues to flourish at a dazzling speed also thanks to the impact of the internet and the social media platforms. Perhaps for the first time since the Age of Enlightenment, we go through a period in which the eye has such a dominant role in our communication practices. All these developments, in turn, provide the visual communication designers with a much broader range of creative possibilities.

Meaning ‘the eye’ in Latin, oculus also refers to the circular opening on top of a dome, one of the best examples for which is the magnificent dome of the Pantheon, the Ancient Roman temple dedicated to all deities. The daylight entering through the opening on the ceiling and illuminating this universal temple of humanity bears a striking resemblance to the light entering through the pupil and hitting the retina. Illuminating the mind’s sensory plane, this light is then processed by the temple of memory and imagination, only to return to the external world through the ‘gaze’ and to lay the foundation of the ideologies ultimately shaping it. In other words, like a window simultaneously opening to the inside and outside, the eye continuously rebuilds meaning and space, i.e. culture. Consequently, our modes of communication undergo constant evolution, change and transformation.

In “OCULUS”, the students of the Kadir Has University Department of Visual Communication Design offer an authentic yet equally universal perspective on what is here and now. Combining various technological instruments and narrative styles, the exhibition becomes a field of experiment/experience capturing the zeitgeist and exploring the potential communication possibilities of the near future.

PHOTOS / Fotoğraflar:

NIJAT VERDIYEV