Current research projects
That which lies beyond enclosure
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With projections generated by hyper-dimensional geometric movements that intersect a 3D hyperplane, this study addresses how unfixed and coeval interrelationships develop sonic-topographies, and activate harmonic and timbral spaces while undergoing hyper-dimensional transformations.
By visualizing specified timbral content in relation to harmonic movements within such hyper-dimensional spaces, this research puts the interrelationships of symmetry and self-similarity in motion beyond three dimensions in order to make harmonic networks, which would otherwise remain not seen, visible. Offering an approach to re-thinking how discrete mappings of a given tuning can be re-imagined within continuous and inter-dimensional terms, this research also engages with hyper-geometry to unpack expanded possibilities for simultaneity.
In relation to the research addressing specific architectural spaces, this approach to hyper-geometry is intended to give ways for thinking about space beyond enclosure as well as how modes of design can fade into being traces of themselves in between corporeal reach and architecture, ceasing to exist as points of origin.
©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved). -
Related monograph That which lies beyond enclosure is forthcoming. More information coming soon.
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Space, sound, and corporeality I: architectures of erasure
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Re-imagining what lies beyond documentation, this study is conceived in relation to a 3D acoustic model that I designed based on architectural structures no longer standing — namely the 6th-century Basilica of St. John in Ephesus and the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Not intended for simulation or a fixed point of observation, this approach to 3D modeling is activated to develop sonic-temporal architecture emerging from two spaces as a way to visualize and re-imagine what lies in-between, through which embodied spaces of the pasts that are erased as well as the presents replacing them become simultaneously visible through the corporeal reach.
©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved).
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Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (a)
a duo for Bb cornet and trombones (2022)Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (b)
for simultaneous baroque ensemble and large orchestra (2023)Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (c)
for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and piano (2024)
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“On Space, Sound, and Corporeality: The In-between States of the Virtual and Mlā” (2022).
Related monograph That which lies beyond enclosure is forthcoming. More information coming soon.
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Space, sound, and corporeality II:
design and embodied acoustics
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In collaboration with contemporary music performers Peter Veale, Carl Rosman, James Aylward, and Alex Waite, this study unpacks the concept of design in relation to learned bodily gestures, tracing the genealogy of instrument design not as means to arrange a fixed past with a fixed present, but rather as multitudes of pasts swelling within the present.
With this approach to design, this research intends to bring attention to the surrounding processes that precondition the extent to which subjectivities internalize design, by expanding on what might otherwise be conceived as external objects as corporeal responses to space.
Initiated in 2022, this research is coupled with the cycle Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern, and develops a critical approach to performance and sound studies together with Peter Veale on performing baroque and modern oboe; Carl Rosman on performing 3-key baroque clarinet in D and basson de chalumeau as well as Bb and bass clarinets; James Aylward on performing baroque and modern bassoon; and Alex Waite on performing harpsichord and piano. Discussing the in-betweens of embodied design and the learned bodily gestures in relation to instrument playing, this research reflects on the surrounding decision-making processes, especially how they resound socio-political networks that condition embodiment-in-the-making and catalyze the body’s positioning in space.
©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved).
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Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (b)
for simultaneous baroque ensemble and large orchestra (2023)Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (c)
for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and piano (2024)
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Related monograph That which lies beyond enclosure is forthcoming. More information coming soon.
Select past research projects
Re-imagining the In-between of the Church of the Holy Apostles and the Fatih Mosque
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The Greek Eastern Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople was demolished in 1461 following the Ottoman takeover, making way for the renowned Fatih Mosque. Due to limited information regarding the architectural design of the church and its five domes that rested on a Greek-cross plan, this research project developed a hybrid structure, modeled after the hypothetical architecture of the Church of the Holy Apostles and the actual Fatih Mosque, which became the basis I used for the orchestration of ...like dissolving ancient amber..., a compositional work written for string quartet and large orchestra.
This research also informed the research project "Space, sound, and corporeality I: Architectures of erasure," which put the Church of the Holy Apostles in relation with the Basilica of St. John.©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved).
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…like dissolving ancient amber and letting a trapped insect fly away
for simultaneous* string quartet and large orchestra (2020) -
“On Space, Sound, and Corporeality: The In-between States of the Virtual and Mlā” (2022).
Re-imaging the acoustics of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
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Coupled with "Thousand Dead Bodies..." (2020), a work written for three simultaneous chamber ensembles, this research sought ways to approach space as an interfacing medium without using electronics, through which sound and space communicate with each other to generate continually transforming illusionary spatial perspectives. By examining the concert hall acoustics of the WDR Sendesaal, this research also explored modes of subjectivity in relation to space, considering how a sonic event or a spatial sound practice can alter private auditory experiences created by concert hall acoustics within a collective listening experience.
©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved).
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Thousand Dead Bodies Under My Bed, All Cloaked with the Breath of the Living
for three simultaneous* chamber ensembles (2021) -
Icons of Sound: Exploring the Interior Acoustics of Hagia Sophia
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Directed by Prof. Jonathan Abel and Prof. Bissera Pentcheva, Icons of Sound was a cross- disciplinary research project at CCRMA that led me to further my research on the relationship between sound, space, and subjectivity through on-site acoustic analysis and virtual reconstruction. As a researcher, I contributed measurements and analysis of the inner acoustics of Hagia Sophia. Using this data to develop a computational model, I created a virtual reconstruction of Hagia Sophia’s sound field. This research project concluded in Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University, where signals of a choir were rendered through this virtualized space in real-time through fine- tuned speaker arrays.
Resulting from this research project, we were able to prove how the colonnades in Hagia Sophia diffuse the specular reflections of the dome in such a way that they can create a rather characteristic late field reverberation, causing the reflected high harmonics sustained by the interior to evolve from dissonant to consonant, as the echo density and its time evolution affect the perceived time- domain timbre. The research also revealed that Hagia Sophia has a relatively long-lasting early decay-time, which prevents accurate localization. Thus, the bright timbre reflected from the dome generates a unique auditory experience due to the shape of the cupola both concentrating and scattering the sound energy, and in ways that the sound sources, or the subjectivities if you will, fade into being a trace of itself for listening positions that were specific to liturgical services.
©Turgut Erçetin 2010-2025 (All rights reserved).
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“On Space, Sound, and Corporeality: The In-between States of the Virtual and Mlā” (2022).