Living in a Museum
April 2026 - March 2027
Çanakkale
“Living in a Museum” takes place in Alçıtepe village in Çanakkale, a region where daily life is unknowingly transformed into an exhibition space. This area, where the First World War was most intensely experienced, has, through years of commemorative practices, tourism activity, and forms of representation, transcended being merely a living settlement and acquired the identity of an “open-air museum.” This transformation has changed not only the perception of space but also the movement of bodies, the direction of gazes, and the rhythm of daily life.
The film is based on the experience of a subject who grew up within this transformation. In this space where personal memory and collective memory intertwine, memory is treated not as an archive of the past, but as a process that continues to live on in bodies and habits. Mines detonated on the beach, bullets unearthed from the ground, and the transformation of these objects into a part of daily life make the continuity of war visible.
The ritual of casting bullets, still practiced in Alçıtepe, is one of the most concrete examples of this continuity. The practice of collecting war scrap metal, which began as an economic necessity in the post-war period, has transformed into a bodily reflex passed down from generation to generation. Today, the melting of these bullets in domestic rituals shows that trauma is not only remembered but also transformed and lived through.
"Living in a Museum" questions the behaviors considered normal in this region. Consciously blurring the lines between reality and fiction, the film doesn't describe what war is; it shows how war is still experienced.
