bagimsizlar.org meetings

Workshop of Independents – III

bagimsizlar.org
4th of January, 2020 (14.00 – 16.00)
SALT Galata (Bankalar Cad. No: 11, Karaköy, Beyoğlu, İstanbul)

Participants: HAH Kolektif, Orta Format, Çatı, Sokak Bizim, Mekanda Adalet, A Corner in the World, Herkes için Mimarlık (Architecture for Everybody), Arabesk Fanzin, Torun, SUB collective, Dünya Mirası Adalar – DMA

Workshop of Independents – III

bagimsizlar.org
15th of December, 2019 (14.00 – 17.00)
Halka Sanat Projesi (Caferağa Mah. Bademaltı Sok. No: 24, Moda, Kadıköy, İstanbul)

Participants: NOKS, Moda Sahnesi, Poşe, Radyo Modyan, Oddviz, Bir Buçuk Kollektif, Sanatatak, Halka Sanat Projesi, Yumurta Yapım, Kadıköy Kooperatifi

Workshop of Independents – I

Halka Sanat Projesi
8th of December, 2019 (14.00 – 17.00)
Hayy Open Space (Güzelyurt Mah. 920/1 Sok. No: 30 Piyaleoğlu Han, Kemeraltı, İzmir)

Participants: Hayy Open Space, Apeiron Collective, LOKALL Kent Rehberi (City Guide), street disco, 6x6x6, Açık Stüdyo, Mahzen Photos / No 238, Shelter (artist run space), Yüksek Oda, İzmir Çağdaş Sanat Haritası, Maquis Project, Darağaç, Baliyle Karapoşet, Ateşböceği, Büyük Siyah Kapı, Açık Masa, Tiyatrohane

Experience Exchange of Contemporary Arts Initiatives

Halka Sanat Projesi
October 31st, 2014
Halka Sanat Projesi (Caferağa Mah. Bademaltı Sok. No: 24, Moda, Kadıköy, İstanbul)

Katılımcılar: amberPlatform, Pasaj, Maumau, Creative Çukurcuma, Halka Sanat Projesi

ilgili çalışmalar

Regarding the scope, members of the Operational Team and partnering organizations has been producing various outputs in several formats such as master thesis, Ph.D. dissertations, articles as well as implementing assorted public events to empower the solidarity within the scene. A bibliography including a list of events and researches are listed below.

KOMÜNİTAS [ komunitasizmir.com]
October 17th– November 29th, 2020
online, Izmir

Acik Studio, Fatih Gençkal, Hayy Open Space, KARANTINA collective, NomadMind, Sevcan Sönmez and Tiyatro 4 – joined forces on building a consortium of cooperation for independent performance and culture studies. Funded by Spaces of Culture and collaborating with FREIRAUM (Germany), K2 Contemporary Arts Center and PURESPACE initiative (Turkey), Komünitas primarily focused on defining an interdisciplinary and international common ground for cooperation in cultural management on an organizational, legal and financial level. In this realm, the cooperation held 25 online events with participation of 75 artists, culture managers, scholars and civil society professionals, in the light of their past and current experience. You can download the final report from their website, including all outputs of their first harvesting.

Exhibition platform

Merkezkac Art Collective (Diyarbakır)
June 1st – November 30th, 2020
online, Diyarbakır

Driven by the motto “There is Safety in Numbers”, Merkezkac Art Collective (Diyarbakır) formed an exhibition platform by bringing together art collectives and initiatives operating in various cities. During the process, participating collectives aimed to bring new solutions and approaches to social issues such as identity, power, ecology, alienation, and migration with the tool set of contemporary art. “Passage” exhibition was designed as a common ground for the research on the changes collectives face within their art practices in their own peripheries. Thus, participants as ArtRole (Arbil – London), Rhythm Section (Munich), Bat Art Lab (Batman), Karşı Sanat (Istanbul), Mişar Art (Mardin) and Sarı Denizaltı Arts Initiative (Izmir) created a dialogic environment throughout the process.

Forum

DAİRE Artists-in_Residence Program
October 9-10th, 2020
K2 Urla Nefes Alanı, İzmir

Held as the closing event of a yearlong program, various independents from 9 cities in Turkey shared their experience about the process. Independents based in Izmir were also present at the forum, to share their insights on outputs and displayed outputs. Check out the website of the program for further info.

Experience Exchange of Contemporary Arts Initiatives

DAİRE Artists-in_Residence Program
August 27-28, 2020
Mimarlık Merkezi, İzmir

The workshop hosted 20 independents based in Izmir coming from various backgrounds such as performance arts, visual arts, cultural education, land art, video design, philosophy, literature, museology and ecology. Please find the videos (only in Turkish) on Youtube channel of K2 Güncel Sanat Merkezi.

MAPPING WORKSHOP

Dâhili Bellek
7 Aralık 2019 (14.00 – 18.00)
KARANTINA (211 Sok. No: 20/A, Karantina, Konak, İzmir)

Aiming to document the urban memory of arts and culture events in Izmir and to map art spaces which played a crucial role in city’s contemporary art scene since 1950, this workshop led by Dâhili Bellek (Internal Memory) was one of its kind and probably was the ever first attempt to pin and display the pioneering names and places in the city.

During the program, followers found a chance of exploring different districts in five towns while socializing with contributing artists, curators, directors of the venues, academicians and historians; also taking the chance of networking with each other. Thus, this model of routing demonstrated a new way of event designing and creating audience by pinning public parks, beaches, summer houses, cafes, bars, ateliers, bookshops, ferries as potential venues while suggesting frustrated local artists and curators to create or to invent their own venues, instead of demanding spaces from local governments, galleries and culture centers.

As outputs of the program, 6x6x6 left behind an archive consisting 6 videos of 6 routes, 29 podcasts, 6 playlists to accompany the trips and a digital magazine; documenting the whole process and including the evaluation report. During the process, 6x6x6 collaborated with 5 local collectives, 7 local initiatives and 6 foundations while using 9 public spaces, 7 art spaces, 2 bookstores, 3 artist ateliers, 5 cafes, 3 private flats, 2 shops, besides a tavern, a culture center, an office and a bar.

Randomly organized by 6x6x6 by inclusion of the audience, the forum centered upon endurance strength of artist-run-spaces based in Izmir and finding efficient ways to keep resilience by acting with solidarity.

networking session

6x6x6
August 5th – 9th, 2019
KARANTINA (211 Sok. No: 20/A, Karantina, Konak, İzmir)

Funded by Spaces of Culture, 6x6x6 hosted five initiatives from Ankara: Kova Art Space, Suimazen Editions, Partisyon Media Lab, Ka Fotoğraf Geliştirme Atölyesi and UrbanObscura. Following a series of networking sessions including presentations, 6x6x6 led the foundation of a solidarity network called BIARADA (ALLTOGETHER), also with inclusion of Darağaç, Büyük Siyah Kapı (İzmir), Amîdart Arts Group (Diyarbakır) ve SUB colective (Çanakkale); based on exchange of resources and content.

MAPPING WORKSHOP

Hayy Open Space
April 12th, 2019
Hayy Açık Alan, İzmir

“Non-registered Art Communities” is a project supported by TANDEM TURKEY in collaboration with Hayy Open Space and Yıldız Çintay Art Group (TR), Va Space and Kaarnamaa (IR). The project focused on discussions and research about collective practices and nature of non-registered art organizations; such as art initiatives and artist-run-spaces through seminars, workshops and roundtable talks. Due to ongoing instability in both countries, resilience of independent art spaces was a the primary concern. So, it is clearly declared that sharing resources by adopting a trans-national approach and creating safe civic platforms to host creative discussions is a must in order to enhance independent communities, as it will lead to establishment of a common ground for inspiring, collective work. Local initiatives such as Dâhili Bellek, Darağaç, No 238 Arts and Culture Initiative, I/O and Büyük Siyah Kapı were invited to supply their inputs and insights, on the issue.More can be find on NomadMind's website.

“Non-Registered Art Communities” projesi, European Cultural Foundation - ECF (Amsterdam) ve MitOst (Berlin) tarafından, Anadolu Kültür’ün (Istanbul) iş birliğinde, TANDEM TURKEY tarafından desteklenmiştir.

Networking

British Council Turkey
February 7th – 8th, 2019
Originn Co-Working Space, İzmir)

With the leadership of British Council Turkey and with support of İzmir Developement Agency (İZKA), Municipality of Konak, Ipec; Originn Co-Working Space and Power House Hub organized a capacity building program aimed to independent initiatives, start-ups and designers based in Izmir. The participants pondered on subjects such as “participation of women in culture and creativity”, “culture and creative industries” and “urban – regional renewal”, while examining good examples and innovative ideas on digitalization of culture. Other focal points of the program were defined as expansion of local events and inventing alternative practices to enhance ventures based on creative industries.

series of events

6x6x6
October 21, 2018
Adile Naşit Park, Izmir

Aiming to contribute to capacity building efforts on improving urban arts and culture scene in Izmir; 6x6x6 was founded as an initiative in 2018 by four local culture directors, leading various projects on mapping, routing, documenting and event designing. Between 30th of June and 21st of December, 6x6x6 placed 36 events on 6 routes where the content varied on urban heritage, contemporary arts, plastic arts, music, photography, cinema, literature, contemporary dance, radio arts, independent publishing, and street arts while hosting hundreds of followers en route.

MAPPING WORKSHOP

NomadMind & Kendine Ait Bir Oda (KABO)
1st of June, 2018 )
Agora Excavation Space, İzmir

The forum organized by NomadMind ve Kendine Ait Bir Oda (KABO) centered upon their intersecting interest: “Inventing common spaces to enhance independent productions and defining in between regions in the process”.

series of talks

curated by Derya Yücel
February 19th – 24th 2018
Kasa Galeri, İstanbul

Designed as a series of open talks, Kasa Gallery was aiming to lay a ground for mining the common memory of collectivism of independents in Turkey, where it all began in mid-90’s. Accordingly, the transformation of the scene was discussed comprehensively and assets to be carried into future were determined gingerly.

Participating initiatives and collectives are listed as: Altı Aylık, Atılkunst, Artık Mekan, Bandrolsüz, BAS, birbuçuk, ÇokAyaklılar, Darağaç Projesi, Dramaqueer Sanat Kolektifi, HAH, Halka Sanat, Hallederiz İnş. Kooperatifi, HAYAKA ARTI, hazavuzu, HER H L, Karapembe Karşı Sanat Kolektifi, Kartonkitap, Kendine Ait Bir Oda, Loading, Mardin'de Çağdaş Sanat Konuşmaları, Mars, Maquis Projects, Merkezkaç, Mtaär, Noks, Oda Projesi, Oddviz, Pasaj, Pelesiyer, PiST///, Sanatorium, Taşeron, Yaygara, Yoğunluk, Videoist, xurban_collective, 5533, 216.

Workshop

amberPlatform)
January 18th – 22nd 2016
TAK Kadıköy, Istanbul

Designed and executed by amberPlatform for RCE (Paris) and directed by Ekmel Ertan in the frame of “Unblocking: exploring the new ways of cooperation and solidarity, through shared analysis of the political, economic and artistic situation to lead to concrete cross-cultural projects between independent actors”; this workshop was held for iTeam meeting series, in collaboration with Bunker (Ljubljana) and Terra Musica (Istanbul).

alternative exhibition

amberPlatform
September, 2016
Contemporary İstanbul, İstanbul

amberPlatform’s call for the Visibility Project aimed to independents to contribute to Contemporary İstanbul with a plant and a motto to protest the exclusion of independents by institutions and market.

MAPPING WORKSHOP

Curated by Beral Madra /İstanbul 2010 ECCA
2009
Kadırga, İstanbul

Curated by Beral Madra (then Director of Visual Arts at İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency), in collaboration with Art Pie, this event was designed as a parallel action to 11th International İstanbul Biennal. The scope of the event was based on seeking a definition for the term “initiative” and asking where they stand on the contemporary art scene.

networking meeting

PİST///
2006
PİST///, Istanbul

As one of the early attempts pulling together artist initiatives and collectives based in various cities, this event still stands grand, for its grassroot approach.