Meeting Point: Gülpınar /// Programme
Complementary Activities
Social Work:
The unification of children, adults and participants worked well on another level during the social work; an additional area of work trying to offer a helping hand to the village on a task chosen by the municipality. Social work was an opportunity for all the participants from different workshop groups to work alongside one another. The task was to paint a bare concrete wall. The people involved in the process were full of enthusiasm and willingness to get to know one another and to work together. The process started with all the participants, children and adults standing in front of the wall holding each other's hands, while some of them drew the outlines on the wall with chalk. Once the outlines were transferred onto the wall, everyone started to paint the exterior with blue paint. The second day would have been to fill in each shape, after getting to know whom the outlines belonged to.
Cartoon Workshop
There is a village over there, even though we don't write about it or draw a picture of it, is it still our village?*
Held together with the children and youngsters of Gülpınar, the workshop focused on the contents and sources of humour. After the discussion sessions, the participating children found situations in Gülpınar subjected to humour.
Course leader, being from the 1980s Gırgır group, Mehmet Çağçağ and Tuncay Akgün are the pioneers and creators of the next humour era Limon-Leman. Çağçağ is still writing and drawing in Leman and L-Manyak magazines, he is also creator of Apartman Canavarı Suphi, Daral-Timsah and Kozzi characters. He is also creator of Haralagürele series and the covers of Leman magazine. Tuncay Akgün is still the editor of Leman, and creator of Bezgin Bekir.
*Translation from an anonymous Turkish song.
Music:
The workshop aimed at opening a new window to the children of the village who do not have a music teacher by gathering a children 's chorus. During the festival they worked on a small repertory which was shared with the village at the end of the week.
The course lead by Çiğdem Ergun, born in Gülpınar, is Instructor of Music Education Department at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.
Creative Drama and Dance:
The workshop focused on the cognitive skills, perception and motor development of the children of the village, in combination with studies increasing the recognition of body and developing self-awareness. The objective of the workshop was attained through a puppet production.
Born in Gülpınar, Özlem Ergun is teaching drama courses at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Physical Education Department. The results of the course together with the Music Workshop was presented at the last day of the week, at various locations in the village and ended up in the village square.
Festival
Playground Theatre Company (Spain):
Spanish Playground Theatre Company's object theatre performance "The Head in The Clouds" was one of the most successful in doing so because of its use of a non-verbal language and everyday objects. This made it easier for the spectators to draw parallels between the play and their own lives in the village. Their interaction continued in another way when the members of the playground company joined the local cuisine workshop to learn how to prepare local delicacies like stuffed aubergines and ravioli.
Çanakkale Caz Kent (Turkey):
Having had individual musical experiences before, the band members came together with the leadership of Tamer Bektaş, instructor at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Department of Music Education to form Çanakkale Caz Kent@. In addition to latin and jazz standards, they interpret some Turkish numbers with a jazz approach. The members of the band are Özgür Bektaş in vocals, Tamer Bektaş at piano and keyboards, Süleyman Şeker at trumpet, Kerem Güvenç at bass and Kadir Güvenç at drums.
Film Screening:
Bringing back the aura of the open-air cinema that the village elders remember from the 1950s -an attempt to re-enact the atmosphere of the open air movie theatre the village had some 50 years ago. Hence the choice of the 1960s kitsch/trash Turkish movie with English subtitles.
Türk-iş Funk:
The Türk-iş FUNK party, where Turkish music historian Murat Meriç was DJ'ing, succeeded in filling the streets of the village with Turkish pop music of the 60s and 70s gathered city dwellers and villagers.
Artists Initiatives Talk:
Öykü Özsoy, one of the directors of the alternative art space Altı Aylık gave a talk on artists' initiatives of Istanbul. Realised at the village teahouse, the talk was of interest for the participating artists and provided the villagers and the municipality with important information on the nature of state and private funding for the arts in Turkey.
