Tremor (2025) is an installation consisting of a lamp, a motor, custom electronics, and mechanical parts. The concept stemmed from people’s tendency to look at objects such as chandeliers and other light fixtures that sway during small seismic events, to find out whether or not what is happening is an earthquake. The lamp hanging from the ceiling of the venue is activated at specific intervals by a motorised mechanism in order to create the sensation of a earth tremor, thus evoking the feeling of Earth’s constant, unpredictable motion. These movements are controlled by a microprocessor programmed with the seismic data recorded in Türkiye over the past ten years and the probabilities extrapolated from it. Some of them occur once every two minutes while others once every two hours, serving as a reminder of the Anatolian plate’s dynamic nature and the reality of life within an earthquake zone. Like the real seismic events, the lamp exists in a state of potential — it may move, or it may not, within the duration of any given visit.
“Tremor” was exhibited at the “Yerebasan/Grounded” exhibition at the Türkiye Pavilion of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Ceren Erdem and Bilge Kalfa.