Workshop

2004

Workshop executors: Pelin Tan, Zühre Sözeri

Lab-Place İstanbul is a collective initiative organized by Zühre Sözeri (architect) and  Pelin Tan (sociologist, art historian).

The Program

4 October 2004
10:00-15:00 Aydan Mürtezaoğlu (No name)
16:00-19:00 Tuğçe Ulugün Tuna (The space I live In: Body)

5 October 2004
10:00-15:00 Emre Erkal (Feeling of the Space through Sound)
20:00-09:00 Nadi Güler (Citybody)

6 October 2004
10:00-18:00 Karl-Heinz Klopf (Pictograms & The Museum)

7 October 2004
10:00-18:00 LabPlace Istanbul (Dogville: Boundary and Identity)

8 October 2004
10:00-18:00 Stalker (on Egnetia)
18:00-20:00 Esra Ersen, Banu Cennetoğlu ve Arman Akdoğan (Invisibility  and  City)

9 October 2004
10:00-19:00 Anonim (Exhibition – Space – Open)

Workshop with the Stalker group

Who is the Stalker group?

Stalker, interdisciplinary collective involving architects, landscape architects, artists and others, named after the Tarkowsky film, was formed in the early 1990s when radical Italian student movements were at their height. Presidents include the radical collective research groups Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom and Ufo in 1960s, experimental architects of 1960s, including Cedric Price and Situationist theories. The collective focuses its projects on interstitial urban spaces, migrations of non-European cultures, urban social mobility and living patterns, observation, mapping, site-specific interventions and new media. For their first installation, in 1993, Stalker responded to the proposed demolition of an old factory, which was being used as a theatre for alternative productions, with the construction of a one kilometer long path along the river Tiber, bounded by hundreds of doors and windows from the area’s demolished buildings, and sculptures by 60 artists. In 1995, Stalker embarked on a 4 day, 3 night tour around Rome’s unmapped disused urban spaces, so-called “actual territories”, and documented this derive-as-architectural-act with drawings, plans and photos.

In 1999, in conjunction with the Biennial of Young Mediterranean Artists held nearby, Stalker temporarily transformed Piazza Boario, formerly a slaughterhouse complex,  into Piazza Kurdistan, a site for dialogue about Kurdish diasporas in Roma. Workshop participants, including architecture students and Kurdish immigrant groups, began to repair an abandoned building on the site for use as Ararat, a community center for Kurdish immigrants and the Stalker office. Stalker continues to squat on the site, along with immigrant communities, and collaborate with the community to improve the dilapidated building and organize on-site arts and cultural events.

Info about the 1^st Istanbul Architecture Festival organized by Arkitera , İstanbul/ TURKEY

The first architecture festival of Turkey, organized by Arkitera Architecture Center, will take place on 4-9 October 2004 in the Imperial Mint Buildings of The History Foundation. Just like other examples being celebrated for years throughout Europe, the 1^st Istanbul Architecture Festival will bring together the architectural community for a whole week.

The festival, with Aykut Koksal as the curator in its first year, focuses on the theme of being young with the title of “Light But Heavy.” It will create a platform for the discussion of being young in architecture and at the same time aims to share the theories, processes and products of architecture with simultaneous activities.

The exhibitions and conferences displaying the works and awards of young architects, meetings citing the youth works of master architects, workshops bringing together students and architects of different generations, speeches presenting new perspectives of Turkish and foreign theorists and multidisciplinary meetings are some of the major activities of the festival. Conceptual studies of different disciplines bringing alternative openings to architecture are also included in the festival program. In addition, documentary films will be shown in each day of the festival.

The registration for the activities with limited quotas, such as workshops, breakfast meetings, building visits and film screenings will be carried out in the official web site of the festival which is http://www.mimarlikfestivali.org. Students and Arkitera Card owners will have special discounts for accommodation, transportation and festival entrance.

1^st Istanbul Architecture Festival is supported by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Istanbul Bilgi University and is sponsored by many institutions. Kale Group, Geberit, Lafarge, Siemens “Home Technologies”, Garanti Bank, Duravit, Shell Gas, Franke, Century 21, Ariston and Cimsa are among the major sponsors of the festival.

***Photos by by Kemal Kasapoğlu