Prof. Dr. Serdar Yılmaz's project exhibition, "Ören in the Deep: Adramytteion," opened at the Troy Foundation Korfmann Library Exhibition Hall in Çanakkale.

Derinlerdeki Ören: Adramytteion

Somewhere in the world, somewhere in the universe…

“Why do I say ‘somewhere’?” Because Ören is no longer just an ordinary place — at least, not for us.

Perhaps after seeing this exhibition, after watching the film, in moments when you cannot connect with a specific geography, you will listen to the experiences whispered from us to you — to time, to light, to shadows, to colors, to trees. Who knows, maybe one day we can embark on this journey together.

The transformation story, which begins with treating this geography — often described as a holiday resort — as an archaeological site, takes us beyond the connection we establish with the city’s surface, carrying us into the depths of time and space. While walking on Ören’s current surface, the voices of the past beneath the ground resonate in the human memory through the direction of light, the texture of the wind, and the touch of the earth.

“Derinlerdeki Ören: Adramytteion” Project Exhibition aims to make visible the entire design process and learning practices of the eponymous documentary film, which is still under development. Through installations composed of drawings, models, and ceramics prepared throughout the process, the exhibition shares an interdisciplinary process of production and thought with the audience. This process goes beyond documentary production; it invites a rethinking of art, archaeology, architecture, and the identity of the city.

Derinlerdeki Ören: Adramytteion centers on the archaeological excavations and surface surveys conducted in the Ören district of Balıkesir by Dr. Hüseyin Murat Özgen, bringing to the audience the process through which stories hidden beneath the ground come to light. Each archaeological finding becomes not just a historical datum, but a narrative that leaves a mark on the lives of characters who connect with this land.

The documentary and the exhibition together carry the layers of the past into the present, inviting the viewer into both historical and emotional depths. This layered structure is not only an archaeological discovery; it is also a foresight for the future, a call to reconnect.