Ergin Çavuşoğlu, 1968

Born in Bulgaria, Ergin Çavuşoğlu graduated from the Department of Painting of Marmara University, in 1994. He received his master’s degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and currently lives in London. Ergin Çavuşoğlu mostly produces video and sound installations set in urban spaces where the private and the public realms intersect. These areas, which he defines as “liminal spaces”, function as boundaries between people and their surroundings.

The video installation “Poised in the Infinite Ocean” is accompanied by a reading by William Langewiesche from his book “The Outlaw Sea” (2004) about anarchy at sea and merchant shipping. This particular section about a storm at sea takes place where the video was shot: in the Bay of Biscay, between France and Spain. The characters in the story are sailors who, having no alternative, spend their lives at sea and lead a routine life of work and rest in the “iron house” where they live. “Poised in the Infinite Ocean” shows a castle on the shore, sky and sea, and a lighthouse and town – all shot during a storm. The narration complements the images without being descriptive. The sailors pursue their destiny under the influence of natural forces they cannot control, while their only lodestar and salvation is the light that flashes in the dark. The eerie, melancholic, seductive images presented in triptych portray the instinctive search for shelter, control, and orientation through the powerful use of imagery.