Baris Dogrusöz

Heure de Paris: The Map and the Territory

The series of works gathered under the title Heure de Paris combines footage of Turkey from Turkish and French media reportage from the 1980s. Using archival material, including maps, television emissions, footage, Bari? Dogrusöz’s brings to light the state monopoly on radio and TV that ended in 1994 and the impact this had on documentation and reportage in this period.

In Heure de Paris: The map and the territory, Dogrusöz collected and displays all the occurrences where maps of Turkey, frequently used in public French television, were reported. A video in loop played these reports from September 12, 1980, the date of the military coup d’état, to August 11, 1994, the date when the TURKSAT 1B satellite was placed in orbit. Reproductions of these maps are displayed on the wall behind the screens and organized in sequence, keeping the format of running 25 frames per second in moving images, and presenting a 14-year period of the recent history of Turkey. These sequences, gathered on 17 posters, describe a new way to narrate this history from the perspective of Turks living overseas during this period of time. The pattern that emerges from the changing landscape of the maps indicates a geopolitical situation that remains very relevant today.