Descent into Concealment: Derinkuyu
Web Art + Embedded 360° Video + Soundscape, 2026
Funded by,
Indiana University Presidential Arts and Humanities Program
Supported by,
University of Greenwich Center for SOUND/IMAGE
Plexus Projects NYC
Indiana University Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute
This web-based project reframes Derinkuyu Underground City—not as an archaeological site and museum, but as architecture of refuge: a living system built through ventilation, concealment, and collective endurance. At its core is a YouTube 360° cinematic environment constructed from a recreated 3D model, paired with an original soundscape rooted in ancient devotional atmospheres. The work invites audiences to descend through narrow corridors, sealed thresholds, and communal chambers carved into volcanic stone—experiencing the underground as both survival infrastructure and ritual space.
The soundscape treats silence as resonance: breath moving through ventilation shafts, footsteps echoing in compressed passages, and the sonic texture of life practiced below ground. By situating this encounter on the open web, the project prioritizes accessibility and cultural transmission, translating archaeological wonder into a format navigable by phone, laptop, VR headset, or gallery projection. The result is a spatial meditation on hidden circulation, engineered resilience, and the quiet technologies that sustained an entire civilization underground.
Format: Single-page editorial site + embedded 360° video + stereo soundscape
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Web Art + Embedded 360° Video + Soundscape, 2026
Funded by,
Indiana University Presidential Arts and Humanities Program
Supported by,
University of Greenwich Center for SOUND/IMAGE
Plexus Projects NYC
Indiana University Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute
This web-based project reframes Derinkuyu Underground City—not as an archaeological site and museum, but as architecture of refuge: a living system built through ventilation, concealment, and collective endurance. At its core is a YouTube 360° cinematic environment constructed from a recreated 3D model, paired with an original soundscape rooted in ancient devotional atmospheres. The work invites audiences to descend through narrow corridors, sealed thresholds, and communal chambers carved into volcanic stone—experiencing the underground as both survival infrastructure and ritual space.
The soundscape treats silence as resonance: breath moving through ventilation shafts, footsteps echoing in compressed passages, and the sonic texture of life practiced below ground. By situating this encounter on the open web, the project prioritizes accessibility and cultural transmission, translating archaeological wonder into a format navigable by phone, laptop, VR headset, or gallery projection. The result is a spatial meditation on hidden circulation, engineered resilience, and the quiet technologies that sustained an entire civilization underground.
Format: Single-page editorial site + embedded 360° video + stereo soundscape
