Speakers: Fulya Çetin (Hafriyat), Metin Akdemir (İSD/dramaqueer)
Moderator: Borga Kantürk

In the third speech moderated by Borga Kantürk, the need to be a collective with its advantages and disadvantages, the places in the neighborhood structure, the common ground they create and things that can be produced on their axis; the functional contributions of creative formations such as collectives to the texture and transformation of the neighborhood were discussed. It has led to a discussion on the strategies that different collective structures utilized based on their modus operandi. Starting from Darağaç’s structure, living together and the relationships that a collective structure lives with the environment and space are exemplified.

After graduating from Mimar Sinan University Faculty of Fine Arts, Fulya Çetin had the opportunity to work with nearly one hundred sixty artists, initiatives and non-governmental organizations between 2007 and 2009 in Hafriyat Karaköy, a place that expresses itself as the ‘’World of Various Arts (Çeşitli Sanatlar Alemi)’’. She made daily drawings for Birgün Newspaper in her section called “Hafriyat Ameleleri” (Excavation Workers) and joined the exhibition titled “İstanbul Defterdarları” (Bookkeepers of Istanbul). Between 2013-2015, she prepared drawings and visuals for Kaos GL magazine. Since 2006, Çetin has participated in many Hafriyat exhibitions starting with “Local Paradise (Lokal Cennet)’’ in Diyarbakır Art Center and has participated in many group exhibitions both in Turkey and abroad. Since 2009, she has had solo exhibitions in venues such as artSümer, Tobacco Storage Warehouse (Tütün Deposu) and Sanatorium.

Metin Akdemir completed his postgraduate studies in Women’s Studies, upon completing his education on cinema. He directed the films that were shown in many national and international festivals. He participated in the exhibition teams of various LGBTI+ organizations such as Pride Week in Istanbul, Istanbul Trans Pride Week, Black Pink Triangle Association in İzmir and Mersin Pride Week. In 2018-2019, he organized an independent group of activists/artists and group exhibitions with queer-feminist artists called Border/less (Sınır/sız). Since 2015, he has been working as a dramaqueer and a member and founder of the İstanbul Art Association.

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Speakers: Özgür Özakın, Öykü Canlı (poşe), Elif Bursalı & Zeynep Okyay (PASAJ)
Moderator: Saliha Yavuz

In the second of the talk series moderated by Saliha Yavuz, speakers met on a common ground where they discussed the relationships of place/public space requirements/necessities in creative and independent formations; advantages and disadvantages of the use of the street as a test area; ways to develop strategies and models for production and exhibition as well as dialogues emerging from interwoven subjects and relationships such as neighborhood, artist, industry, art production.

Özgür Özakın graduated from METU Department of Architecture in 1993. He completed his master’s degree in the same department in 1997 and his doctorate in 2011 from Bilkent Interior Architecture and Environmental Design. She is a part-time lecturer at Yaşar University, Department of Interior Architecture. Philosophy and architecture, spatial theory and sustainable architecture are the focus of her works.

poşe is an independent and non-profit organization established in spring 2018 by artists Öykü Canlı and Larissa Araz at their own venues in Istanbul, Moda. The emergence lies in the desire to act and to come together. It is a physical and intellectual place where different forms of experience, discipline, production and thinking speak to each other. It does not hesitate to try and be wrong, believes in the power of the transfer of experience and argues that the production processes are as important as the works.

After graduating from Marmara University, Department of Economics, Elif Bursalı graduated from Bilgi University Cultural Management MA program. She wrote her dissertation on ‘’The Role of Artist Initiatives and Venues Conducted by Artists in the Contemporary Art of Istanbul (Sanatçı İnisiyatifleri ve Sanatçılar Tarafından Yürütülen Mekânların İstanbul Güncel Sanat Alanındaki Rolü)’’ in comparison with Berlin, revealing the differences in the conditions and sustainability of such spaces in the two cities. Since 2010, Bursalı has been one of the co-founders of PASAJ’s independent art field and is the field manager of PASAJ’s Air Bayrampaşa residence program.

Zeynep Okyay who is one of the co-founders of the PASAJ independent art field, hosting participatory and social-oriented projects, completed her project in the Cultural Management master program at Bilgi University with a participatory demo dictionary, Independent Art Areas dictionary. Throughout the year, she worked on rewriting the terminology of the field and developing new forms of expression. From 2016 to 2017, she attended the I-team Cultural Creativity program organized by Relais Culture Europe, the French office of Creative Europe. She took part in Erasmus + projects with PASAJ aiming to empower young people with art practices. She continues her artistic and cultural works under the roof of PASAJ and amberPlatform.

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Speakers: Emre Zeytinoğlu, Orhan Berent
Moderator: Hale Eryılmaz

The first of the speech series, which focuses on the history of Darağaç in the city memory and the researches conducted in the local area, was moderated by Hale Eryılmaz. In the light of Daragaç’s own experiences, the energy emitted by local cultural activities and its interaction with the environment was at the center of the discussion.

Emre Zeytinoğlu; graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Ceramics, gave lectures on art theories, design culture and art criticism at Marmara University, Mimar Sinan University, Anadolu University, Kadir Has University and Işık University. Zeytinoğlu, who set up solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions for over thirty years; as well as publishing articles and books on art, is a lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Orhan Berent, the bachelor of the Faculty of Literature, worked as an editor and editorial consultant for comic books. Berent, who writes on İzmir, railway stations, trains, popular culture, and football, has books called ‘“Altay as a Resident of Alsancak (Alsancağın Sakini Altay)’’ and ‘’Clarke’s Bay Horse (Clarke’ın Doru Tayları)’’ which deals with cosmopolitan İzmir of the 1970s. Berent’s new book “The Other Children of Izmir”, which describes Ballıkuyu, Yapıcıoğlu, Mortake, Darağaç, Basmane and İşçiler Caddesi (Workers’ Street) was recently published.

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