Başak Günak - Hammâmiye (feat. Steve Katona)

"Hammâmiye" is the song version of Başak Günak’s sound installation, commissioned for Zeyrek Çinili Hamam exhibition—an ancient hammam in Istanbul. The composition echoes a homoerotic poem discovered on the tiles of the hammam during a meticulous 13-year restoration. The Ancient Persian text on the tiles composed by Başak Günak and performed by countertenor Steve Katona. 

Resonating this poem throughout the exhibition was essential in reviving the hammam’s memory, particularly in the conservative region where it is located. For the song version, "Hammâmiye" was re-recorded inside the hammam to retain the rich acoustic resonance of the space, designed by the renowned Mimar Sinan.

Biography

Başak Günak is a composer and sound artist internationally known as Ah! Kosmos in the field of electronic music. Günak pursues her sound experimentations as a sound artist, realizing site-specific performances and composing soundscapes for theater, contemporary dance, film and visual art projects. Her works have been featured worldwide in several festivals and institutions, such as Barbican Theatre, Sonar Festival, Berlin CTM Festival, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Prague Quadrennial. She presented her solo sound installation THE WELL, a piece for 11 speakers in ARTER Istanbul in 2020 and ‘distant hollow(s) like you’ for brass and speakers in 2023 in the ancient Çinili Hammam. 

In the last years, she has composed for Berlin State Museums, Gropius Bau, Kunstmuseum Basel and granted a residency in Hellerau, Bijloke Academy, Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm and invited by the Dutch National Opera and commissioned a sound installation by Sharjah Biennial 16. 

Live

15 March - Dutch National Opera
21 March - Nobel Prize Museum
30 May - Tenerife 
20 June - Istanbul
4 July - Amsterdam
26 July - Berlin