“Deep Art” Underwater Sculptures

As an initiative of IWM (International Watersports Management) we opened the Underwater Sculpture Exhibition Deep Art on 9th September 2005 in the bay of Kiriş 12m below sea level. Ergün Marble Industries financed the transportation from Eastern Anatolia to Antalya.

13 sculptures were designed and produced by artists from Atatürk University in Erzurum and Akdeniz University in Antalya. The exhibition was installed in such a way that a diver could easily pass the whole parcour with one 10 lıter tank or in about 45 minutes. The artists were as follows:

• Bilal Hano
• Erhan Karadağ
• İlhan Kaza
• M. Hanefi Zengin
• Mustafa Bulat
• Mustafa Kızıldemir
• Necati Korkmaz
• Nihat Kaplan
• Serap Bulat
• Taner Küçükler
• Tülay Durmuş
• Erdal Çetintaş
• Faruk Manici

Before lowering the sculptures to their final position we started a painting competition for children. The task was to imagine the sculptures underwater and to paint them in their future environment.

The exhibition was opened by the mayor of Kemer Mr. Hasan Şeker who gave his kind permission for the project.

The sculptures were made of marble not to have any bad effect on the ecological environment. After two years on display we noticed that nature claimed some of the objects by growing algae on it or letting octopus hiding inside of them. These ones we left underwater while all others were removed.

Calculations showed that the exhibition attracted appr. 3600 divers per year. We considered this as an unexpected success and hope to repeat a project like this one day.

Press consultant was Halil Öncü and most images and videos were taken by Murathan Yıldız & friends. The DVD with full video coverage and artist’s details is still available at Calamar Park.