current project

Istanbul Audio Tour (2009)

Istanbul Audio Tour (2009) sets off from the notion that there are as many Istanbuls as the number of people living in it, or even as many as the moods of these people. The first edition of Istanbul Audio Tour has four tours focusing on the singular experiences of two artists, a group consisting of an urban planner & a fashion designer, and a café manager.

* * *

Haunted Path At Controlled Speed

2009, Cevdet Erek (artist)

Towards Karaköy
you will hear ghosts,
don't ever be surprised.

Starting Point: Urban Café, Kartal Sokak No.8 Beyoğlu
Duration: 17'

* Cevdet Erek
1974 b. in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul.
Cevdet Erek holds a BA degree in architecture from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, and received MA and PhD degreed in Sound from I.T.U. MIAM Center for Advanced Studies in Music, Istanbul. His works have been shown at the 8th Istanbul Biennial; Platform Garanti, Istanbul; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Arter, Istanbul; Extra City, Antwerp, and Artist Space, New York, among others. In 2005-06 Erek was on residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and in 2008 he published the book SSS – The Shore Scene Sound-track. Currently his work is being shown at the 12. Istanbul Biennial.

* * *

Adventures in Acoustic Ecologies

2009, roomservices (interventionist research institute)

This audiotour will lead you through a small “soundwalk” in Beyoglu. Together we will try to escape the visual modality of contemporary society – the “culture of the eye”, of visual affection and bright lights. During this tour you will meet a range of Acoustic Ecologies or soundscapes. We will together try to sharpen our attention to the sonic atmospheres mediated through sound, between living beings, their gestures and their environment.

Starting Point: Urban Café, Kartal Sokak No.8 Beyoğlu
Duration: 30'

* roomservices
2004, established in Istanbul, based in Istanbul and New York.
roomservices is an interventionist research institute for practice-based and experimental design projects, transgressing the borders between DIY urbanity, social re-organization, design co-location and artistic research. roomservices is collaborative work of Evren Uzer and Otto von Busch.
www.roomservices.org

* * *

The Past That We do not Want to Forget

2009, Ergun Tükel (urban café manager)

Cities are like the most important open-air libraries of a nation. The importance that the governments attach to the cities actually can be stated as the preserving and transmitting of the civilizations, international and local cultures of our world to the new generations. In fact, what we explain is an adventure of a recent period, is the past we do not want to forget.

Starting Point: Taksim Square
Duration: 20'

* Ergun Tükel
1961, b. in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul.
Ergun Tükel has graduated from İstanbul Technical University Faculty of Naval Architecture and Marine Sciences. He has been running Urban Cafe for the last 15 years.

* * *

Safety Guide

2009, Suat Öğüt (artist)

At Istiklal Street, renowned as ‘one of the most important streets of civilization', the notions of art, trade, freedom and entertainment have been increasing and expanding to cover more and more ground everyday, sustaining a habitat consisting of various different resident profiles.
Sound work “Safety Guide” tells the stories of the owners of small businesses that play supporting roles on this vast stage. Following a pre-determined route with the directions of a guide, events that were witnessed by the shopkeepers on that same route are being told.
On the audio tour, the shopkeepers from electricians to tailors, on street pilaf rice vendors to textile merchants at Istiklal Street's most busy sidetrack Balo Street evaluate Istanbul through a paranoid tongue.

Starting Point: Urban Café, Kartal Sokak No.8 Beyoğlu
Duration: 27 mins.

* Suat Öğüt
1985, Diyarbakır. Lives in Ghent, BE
Having graduated from Marmara University's Painting Department in 2007. Öğüt is accepted a master program in HISK Academy in 2011. Öğüt had his first solo exhibition "Speeding Up Domestic Life" curated by Kristina Kramer & Anna Heidenhain, Istanbul (2008). He was a participant of Willa Waldberta (artist in residency) in between July- August, Munich (2010). Some of the recent group shows he has shown his works at are ; "Anteprima", Curator: Maria Rosa Sossai & Beral Madra, Istanbul (2011), "I also Have a Heart", Curator: Jerome Symons, Ankara (2011), "Re-locate Workshop in Balkan Countries" organization by Apartment Project, Plovdiv, Athens, Skopje, Prishtina (2011), "Where Fire Has Struck" organization by Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Istanbul (2011), "Heyday- Diffusion of Inventions" Curator: Kristina Kramer, Istanbul (2010), " Deadpen Exchange V" Curator: Gokce Suvari, Skopje (2010), "Lives and Works in Istanbul" Curator: Beral Madra, Istanbul (2010), "When Ideas Become Crime" Curator: Halil Altındere, Istanbul (2010), "Sense of Place" Curator: Huseyin Karakaya, Gelsenkirchen (2010), "Cityscale" Curator: Beral Madra, Deniz Erbaş, Munich (2010), "Relief Valve" Curator: Arzu Ozkal, Nanette Yannuzzi-Macias, Ohio (2010), “In Between” Antoni Muntadas Workshop Projects Exhibition, Istanbul(2010), “Amsterdam Biennial, Istanbul Pavilion” Amsterdam (2009), “Istanbul Audio Tour” with C.U.M.A Organization (2009). "Nightcomers" 10th International Istanbul Biennial special project, Istanbul (2007).

Curator: Ece Pazarbaşı / CUMA
Implementation: Esra A.Aysun / CUMA
Project Coordinator: Volkan Aslan
Sound Engineer: Burçin Elmas (except Cevdet Erek recording)
Dubbing: Bilgehan Batırbek, Burçin Elmas, Barış Çağlar Karakaş (for Suat Öğüt and Ergun Tükel recordings)
Translation: Yiğit Adam, Eren Pultar