News » Amongst Neighbours’ Berlin Stage Completed

The project created and organized by Cihangir Neighbourhood Association with the main sponsorship of İstanbul 2010 Cultural Capital Agency, Amongst Neighbours 01 has completed its programme in Mitte-Wedding.  The streets and art galleries of Wedding have met with the productions of artists from İstanbul.

19 artists from İstanbul who had left Cihangir on 14 April 2009, lived in Berlin-Mitte for three weeks and involved in various activities and produced work together with the artists who lived and worked in Wedding.

In Amongst Neighbours 01 Wedding Programme that was given start with the reception held in Temporare Kunsthalle by Mitte Municipality Mayor Christian Handcke, artists from Cihangir were hosted in the ateliers and houses of artists from Wedding.

The Traces of İstanbul in Mitte
Three weeks visit and neighbouring of the Cihangir and Wedding artists contributed to the birth of new projects as well as the progression of the pre-planned ones.  The last week of the neighbouring in Wedding witnessed many activities.  The artists from Cihangir exhibited their works, produced previously or within the project timetable in Wedding.

19 artists from Cihangir realized their exhibition openings as well as their performances in between the dates 23 – 27 April.  Şule Ateş made a talk on Contemporary Performance Art Initiative and its scene in İstanbul on 23 April 2009 in Ballhaus, one of the most important venues of contemporary performance art in Berlin.  Ali Perret and Bilgehan Öziş performed a gig with their partners Mak Lingt.  On 24 April, Kop-Art, Selim Eyüboğlu-Sevgi Ortaç, Murat Akagündüz, Esra Carus, Serkan Taycan and Güneri İçoğlu realized their exhibition openings.  In the opening, Ali Perret performed a recital of piano and Güneri İçoğlu of ney.  Özlem Alkış and her German partner Parwanhe Tomiko realized their dance-performance on the streets of the neighbourhood, like a thread linking the exhibition galleries to one another.

Gökçe Yiğitel and her partner Janine Eisenaecher realized a performance/intervention on a chosen location in street and performed their interactive activities with the neighbours.  Şengün Kılıç prepared a rap tune, reflecting the life in the neighbourhood and neighbourliness, with the immigrant rapper kids.  In Kulthalle, Mehmet Esen’s stand-up show and the documentary film screenings of Filmist, a filmmaking collective from Cihangir, took place.  Moreover, the short films by Gökçe Yiğitel (in collaboration with Kaan Karacehennem from Cihangir) and by Bilgehan Öziş were shown in public spaces.  The plastic artist Lila Karbowska made a performance on the text, written by Fatih Özgüven in Berlin.

In Wedding programme, the artists from Wedding and Cihangir also found the chance of meeting up and having fun together with a dj party, organized by Kop-Art in their exhibition space and another one with a live performed music by Ali Perret and Bilgehan Öziş on the last day of the activities.

During the project, whole activities took place in Wedding were documented by Somnur Vardar’s video footage, Serkan Taycan’s photography and Şengün Kılıç’s essays.

The curator of the project, Çağla Ormanlar Ok has evaluated the Wedding programme:  ‘During this process, whether it was previously organized or spontaneously developed, interesting partnerships emerged with Berliner artists.  It seems like some of them will produce work in collaboration for a long run.  The artists got various opportunities of like; making a catalogue, opening an exhibition, finding a partner for a new project, and writing the screenplay of a previously written novel.  We believe the outcome is quite satisfactory and exciting.  I believe, the outcome is of high quality and successful in finding Berliner partners in correspondence with the attributed principles of the project and the content of the concept’.

Within the Amongst Neighbours 01 project scope, the artists from Cihangir are now getting ready to host the Berliner artists in between the dates 18 May – 07 June.