The Department of Ownerless Places

Overview

Standing before a decaying state hospital in the Aegean coastal town of Foça, "The Department of Ownerless Places" investigates the philosophical and legal paradox of what property law defines as an "ownerless place" (sahipsiz yer). Merging poetic observation with an essayistic, psychogeographical gaze, filmmaker and lawyer Burak Şahin navigates the empty corridors of this former public sanctuary, examining how modern law uses legal abstractions to evade sovereign responsibility.