VCD: RELOCATE-RETRO TRACKS


'Mahir M. Yavuz Mahir M. Yavuz

I.stanbul Bilgi University is a non-profit institution that has made significant professional contributions to educational, academic and intellectual fields in Turkey since its establishment in 1996. The University holds a primary responsibility for providing, maintaining and further developing an academic environment especially in the field of “liberal arts” in which both students and faculty members are able to engage in learning and the production of knowledge at the highest level.

Bilgi keenly upholds the principles of social responsibility and advancement of knowledge for the benefit of both society and the individual; it thus bases its philosophy on educating creative, free-thinking individuals capable of contributing in a world that is driven by knowledge accessible to all.

Founded in 1997, the Department of Visual Communication Design (VCD) at I.stanbul Bilgi University offers the first undergraduate programme in Turkey in this field. The Programme of Visual Communication Design is so composed as to educate individuals with a talent for grasping the technological advances of the modern world and developing flexible and multi-disciplinary attitudes towards design strategies. In the year of 2003, the Department initiated the Programme of Photography & Video with the aim of overcoming the current deficiency in the field of digital photography and video by educating versatile professionals familiar with modern technology and interactive techniques. The Department also offers a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design course which, with its unique curriculum and experienced staff, aims to provide expansions for those desiring to explore further possibilities in this field.

The Department has always enhanced its vision through close monitoring of the international developments in the field; it has reshaped its curriculum and academic staff, and concurrently updated the facilities provided. The core courses teach the fundamentals of interactive design and time-based media-including such topics as Visual Perception, Contemporary Media, Visual Culture, Design Principles, Lens Culture, Typography, an Introduction to Multimedia Design, Web Design, and Photography Techniques. In addition the Programmes offer courses specializing in particular fields of multimedia, design, photography and video such as an Introduction to Cyberculture and Virtual Worlds, Digital Vector Graphics, Large Format Photography Techniques, Video Production, Type in Motion, an Introduction to Animation Techniques, 3D Computer Animation, Digital Video Imaging Techniques and Interactive Video.

The ultimate goal of the Department is educating creative, eager and enterprising individuals who are ready to undertake any challenge in multimedia design, and are adept in mastering the dynamics of teamwork in interactive production. Information Superhighway (internet) culture has a key effect on the education policy of the Department. As a result, the graduates have a perspective that is thoroughly global as well as local in terms of design. As projects produced by international organisations, both institutes in collaboration with corporate companies and multinational design teams shape the vision and the current tendencies in design; the Department is keen to establish links and collaborate with research institutions and universities worldwide.

As a result of the practical education policy which gives production a higher priority, the Department holds an annual exhibition entitled the “Track”. “Track” exhibitions, the first of which was realized under the title of “Track 01” in the year 2001 when the Department had its first graduates, contain not only the graduation projects but also selected works produced throughout the year by students ranging from freshmen to seniors. The preparation process of exhibitions spread throughout the year provides the students, especially the seniors, with the chance to put the education given by the Department into practice and to experience producing a comprehensive project in a team. This means that students are responsible for all of the phases of the exhibition, from deciding on a concept to designing the posters, invitations, presentation videos, website, spatial graphics, and the exhibit interface. A different concept is chosen each year and the iconographies within the designated concept serve as leitmotifs for the production. The concepts used so far during the past five years include respectively, “metro web”, “flying”, “depth”, “rocket science”, and “compression”.

“Track” exhibitions initiated in Turkey design/visual art events which use new media instruments. Influenced by the continuously changing new media design culture, the series of “Track” exhibitions updates itself each year and assumes a key role in terms of aesthetics and technology.
The current exhibition held in Linz, “VCD: Relocate-Retro Tracks”, is a compilation of the selected works of undergraduate and postgraduate students from among the local “Track” exhibitions organised in I.stanbul in the past five years. The exhibits include graphic design, photography, illustration, interactive multimedia projects, 3D graphics and video works that are positioned within an interface designed in accordance with this year’s Ars Electronica theme, hybrid. The exhibits are organised in a plain display where all the works will be viewed through interactive monitors or projectors.

Five separate monitors are placed for the viewing of first-, second-, third- and fourth-year students’ works as well as students’ extracurricular and personal works. The interface of the exhibits is structured in hierarchical order of class / course / assignment which is intended to set out the curriculum of the Department and reflect its evolution concurrently with the technological advances at international level between the years 2001–2005.

I.stanbul Bilgi University
Department of Visual Communication Design
http://vcd.bilgi.edu.tr
http://pov.bilgi.edu.tr
http://www.vcdexhibit.com

VCD de:fect
Members of the Department are part of the VJ line-up related to the theme of the Ars Electronica Festival 2005, Hybrid—living in paradox. The Department has a noteworthy history in VJ events in Turkey and considers these events a direct and influential platform for broadcasting the current visual culture. During the event in Linz, the VJs present the current aesthetic tendencies in video in I.stanbul with a live video-mixing performance.
VJs: Mahir M. Yavuz and Muhittin Bilginer