Friday Talks VIII --- 9 April 2010

“Urban Anthropolist” Derya Özkan and the Director of ÖDP in Gülsuyu-Gülensu Yücel Demir were the guests of the 8th Friday Talks to discuss the subject of “Images of a Changing Istanbul”. 


Derya Özkan who is originally an architect has been teaching since 2008 in Munich University’s Anthropology Department as well as doing research in the urban anthropology field. Özkan focused on the following questions within the context of the project “Images of a Changing Istanbul”: in what ways is the image of Istanbul as a “cool” European city different or similar to the image of Istanbul as a third world city in the Orient? How does “cool Istanbul” look when looked at from Gülsuyu-Gülensu? 


The ÖDP director in Gülsuyu-Gülensu and Yücel Demir who served as the district president in the last period talked about the role that daily spatial practices play on producing urban space and discussed the possibilities of transforming urban space within Gülsuyu and Gülensu.

Friday Talks VII --- 5 March 2010

Activist Erdem Dilbaz and the Anatolian Life And Consumption Cooperative were the guests of the 7^th Friday Talks.

Erdem Dilbaz talked about new examples of activist movements around the world and discussed what could be done in Turkey. Do alternative forms of activism help us achieve our goals quicker? In order to make the society and individuals know about the demands of rights, what kind of innovative activist movements can we make, are there any examples? 

The Anatolian Life and Consumption Cooperative group talked about the Gülsuyu-Gülensu Solidarity Initiave as well as their activities in the neighborhood since 2008 and their observations. The group, who invited the whole neighborhood to be a member of the Cooperative, aims to be a long-term support and sharing platform in the neighborhood.

Friday Talks VI --- 26 February 2010

The guests of the 6^th Friday Talks were artist Canan Şenol and Sevim Şahin, a nurse at the Gülsuyu Health Center. 

Artist and feminist activist Canan Şenol lives and works in Istanbul. Working with various mediums such as video, installation, photography, painting and performance, Canan Şenol examines gender in patriarchy within the context of physical education and biopolitics.

Living in the neighborhood and working in the Gülsuyu Health Center for many years, Sevim Şahin talked about her experiences with the women in the neighborhood about “being a woman in Gülsüyü-Gülensu”.  For her work Sevim Şahin has gone from door to door in the neighborhood doing health surveys and at one period in addition to her job she also volunteered her services in the slums located next to the health clinic. 

Friday Talks V – 12 February 2010

Photographer Yusuf Aslan and Librarian – Publisher Aydın İleri were the guests of the 5th Friday talks.

Yusuf Aslan was born in İstanbul in 1977. He started working in photography in FTY Advertising Agency as an assistant. Many of his photographs are still published in travel and culture magazines. For two years he has been working on his personal projects as a photographer.

Yusuf Aslan shared his photography series titled “Hakkari, The Edge of Turkey” and following the presentation a discussion was conducted on the subject of trying to understand a city through photographs.

After getting a degree in Library Sciences from Istanbul University Aydın İleri worked in publishing. In 2006 he established Anfora publications in the Gülsuyu neighborhood where he was the director and editor of the company, publishing 40 books in 4 years. He also has a research and analysis book titled Eşekle Gelen Aydınlık (The Wisdom That Came With A Donkey). Aydın İleri, who has lived in Gülsuyu for 33 years, shared his experiences about his efforts in building a library in various periods in his neighborhood after being active in the Book Club and told the story of “The Librarian from Ürgüp with a Donkey” which was the topic of his research.

Friday Talks IV --- 5 February 2010

Journalist Gülşen İşeri and Erdoğan Yıldız, the Director of the Gülsuyu Gülensu Beautification Committee between 2004 and 2008, were the guests of the fourth Friday talks.

Gülşen İşeri, a journalist for 6 years, has worked in BirGün newspaper for many years. Currently her interviews are published in various newspapers and magazines. İşeri shared her experiences with neighborhood locals about her first book Metropolis Outcasts, in which she writes about her observations of neighborhoods in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir that are affected by “Urban Renewal”.

Erdoğan Yıldız participated in the foundation of İstanbul Neighborhood Organizations Platform between the years of 2004 and 2009. He talked about the different stages he has gone through in Gülsuyu Gülensu, the effects of urban renewal on the neighborhood and gave future advice about support structures.

Friday Talks III --- 25 December 09

Artist Burak Delier and Gülsuyu Art and Life Organization were the guests of the third occasion of the Friday meetings.

Burak Delier, who works in Istanbul, is doing research on certain prospects of art. In his presentation, he opened to discussion the concepts of “non-official organizations” and “collaborations” in light of his recent work.

Members of the Art and Life Organization, an organization that has been active in the neighborhood for about four years, talked about the way they build relationships in the neighborhood and experiences of cultural production through the festivals and panels they organize.

Friday Talks II --- 18 December 09

The guests of the second Friday weekly talks was photo reporter Fatih Pınar and the President of the Gülsuyu Gülensu Development Foundation, Ali Danacı.

Pınar, especially focusing on the people of Anatolia and the Middle East, is aiming to document the cultures that are disappearing in the process of modernization and make visible the lives that have been excluded and ignored by hegemonic culture. Fatih Pınar talked about the various photographs and videos that he produced in neighborhoods that have been affected by urban transformation. 

Ali Danacı, the president of the development foundation that has been active for many years in the Gülsuyu and Gülensu neighborhoods, talked about the Foundation’s activities and current issues in the neighborhood.

11th Istanbul Biennale Visit --- 8 November 09

On 8th of November, 2009, Cultural Agencies organized a bus visit to the 11th Istanbul Biennale, providing an opportunity for local community members of Gülsuyu and Gülensu to visit and discuss one of the most important cultural events situated in the centre of Istanbul. 

Bard College Visit --- 5 November 09

Coordinated by Christina Linden, a group that included the CCS Bard students as well as the CCS Bard postgraduate program’s director Maria Lind, visited the Gülsuyu-Gülensu Dükkânı. Experiences and conversations were shared about the means of cultural production and collaboration in neighborhoods on the peripheries of the city.

Presentation at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts --- 14 October 09

Cultural Agencies team was invited for Wednesday meetings at 14th October 2009 at MSGÜ to make a public presentation.

Agency Tools Workshop --- 08-17 October 09

From 8^th to 17^th October 2009, Cultural Agencies hosted the international workshop Agency Tools. Participants included students from the University of Sheffield, UK, students from Mimar Sinan University and Yıldız Technical University Istanbul as well as locals from Gülsuyu and Gülensu.

Following generic institutional programmes which has served as framework for research and interventions in Gülensu/Gülsuyu since May 2009, the workshop developed new tools for the ongoing research and communication process of the Cultural Agencies.

(1) Events (2) Collection (3) Archive (4) Communication (5) Library (6) Office

Workshop groups were asked to develop concepts for “plug-in” interventions in the neighbourhood, inserting doubt, triggering debates and stimulating a more strategic discussion on the future role and form of cultural agencies in Gülsuyu and Gülensu. During the 8-day intensive programme, groups were asked to forge direct partnerships with selected cultural institutions and agency practices in the neighbourhood to develop the research and design process. Groups were then asked to develop research into an architectural and material language – to conceptualize a real intervention, which can be implemented after the workshop. 

A bilingual interim presentation took place at the Dükkân generating feedback from local residents. Postproduction was completed in January 2010 by Sheffield University. Two students will be invited to make the final presentation at the Dükkân in Spring 2010.

Cultural Agencies as a guest at the Bosphorus University --- 8 October 09

Cultural Agencies team visited Social Sciences Club at Bosporus University at 8^th of October 2009 to meet the students and make a presentation of the project.

Cultural Agencies Panel - 11th Istanbul Biennale --- 10 September 09

A presentation and panel discussion including contributions by Nikolaus Hirsch, Philipp Misselwitz, Oda Projesi, Shahab Fotouhi, Shahira Issa, Gregory Sholette and William Wells took place on September 10, 2009 as part of the 11th International Istanbul Biennial. The panel was moderated by Nina Möntmann and organized in the former Platform Garanti Building on Istiklal Caddesi, Istanbul.

The panel “Cultural Agencies” was seeking to broaden the discussion on new forms of cultural collaboration and institution building. The participants presented projects that have either subverted the conventional infrastructure of cultural institutions for political and social agendas or have deliberately left the comfort of globally networked cultural operations or state-animated cultural infrastructure. Instead, they explore the largely ignored narratives of volatile, local, political, social and cultural contexts. Panel presentations explored the contexts of Cairo, Teheran, the urban transformation of Istanbul, and the Beyond of the centre-specific, cultural bubble.

Friday Talks I --- 9 September 09

Cultural Agencies runs a regular Friday 6pm public event platform at the Gülsuyu-Gülensu Dükkânı. Speakers so far included Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée (AAA) from Paris, the artist Shahira Issa from Cairo and the community activist Erdogan Yıldız from Gülensu.

Dükkân Opening --- 24 July 09

The Gülsuyu - Gülensu Dükkânı was opened on 24th of July with a puppet show by Clockwork Snail Traveling Marionette Troupe. Artists, students, activists and neighbors were invited to the opening, a presentation of Cultural Agencies followed the show.

Workshop “Inventory” --- 2-9 May 09

The international workshop "Inventory" was realized between 2nd and 9th of May 2009 as an investigation into existing forms of “agency”. Workshop participants included students and recent graduates from Staedelschule – Hochschule für Bildende Künste (Frankfurt am Main), Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Istanbul) and local actors from the neighborhood. Six mixed groups were formed, each focusing on one generic programme of a formal “cultural institution”. In the neighbourhood, these six themes became investigative frames to detect visible and invisible, formal and informal, stable and instable models of “agency”:

(1) Events (2) Collection (3) Archive (4) Communication (5) Library (6) Office

A final report was presented in a public forum in Platform Garanti and, in Turkish, in the “Beautification Committee” of Gülsuyu-Gülensu - a key local NGO. Both presentations were followed by public discussions.