Michael Bishop

Sub Arctic Village

2019, High density casting gypsum

Variable Dimensions

Located on the ground level of the residency building, at the base of the stairs, to the left before exiting the house. Once outside, two of the elements can be seen on the roof of the Caretaker Residency, the other is outside the window of the director’s office.

In the last 10 days of the residency Michael Bishop felt called to the space at the bottom of the stairs off the kitchen. A tall alcove where only a chair stood with an equally tall paned window, providing wonderful light on most days. He continued the drawings that he had started during his stay at Gate 27 but slowly the space started to change his practice. In his words: “I’d been taking photos of the ship traffic on the Bosphorus and making small drawings on lint roller paper. But the natural light and the small continuous flat surfaces of the space gnawed at me. I had packed some molds and plaster from work I was doing in the studio at Sabanci University, as a safety net in case the drawings became a dead end. The next thing I knew, I was building a village that grew to cover all the linked flat surfaces in the small space. I didn’t work on the piece at night; I needed the daylight shadows to guide me. A small bit of theatre; I carefully honed the building process to a level where I left no trace of the process when I wasn’t there.” 

These days we have research on submarines, tourist submarines, corporate industrial submarines, nuclear defense submarines etc. This artificial village, the product of the industrial military complex, could be seen as the security agent, the source of energy or our looming doom. On the other hand, it could be something totally different. Yes, people need answers… ”lazy lookers” as art critic David Hickey used to say.