2+1

Istanbul  10 th Biennial




 
We started the project Postcards, 2+1 by its name known today, in 2004 in Istanbul with Ceren Oykut. In the following years with the contribution of other artists and this time with Neriman Polat joining us, we continued the project in Halic area.
 
We determined, as our field of study, the streets that are both so close to Istanbul but still shelter lives that conflict with each other like in Halic and also areas like Eyup, Halicioglu, Balat, Silahtaraga that have connections to Halic. These were youngsters that were aged between 8 and 15 who migrated from various regions of Turkey. They were trying real hard to survive with their families.
 
Our aim was to make seen the spots where these people who live right next to luxury were jammed in their struggle through their dreams. Although not very clear because of their disappointments,   where did these people?s dreams lie? How close did these dreams lead us to reality? Who were they? How were their lives? What did they think about?
 
When we were invited to Stockholm, we have invited  also another artist Gul Kozacioglu to the project and we chose the suburbs of  Stockholm : Tumba and Fittja , as our field of study, neighborhood of migrants from 150 different countries.
To understand the parallel emotional worlds of teenagers  from Stockholm and Istanbul, to free their minds and to provide a space where they could open up and to
re-create them..
Who were these teenagers?  How were their lives?   Their emotions?      Their wants? And Dreams?   Their concerns?



Views from the exhibition in Stockholm/Botrycka Kunsthalle 2006



The fear that started in the corner of the street, depravation, luxury on the street next to it? Being marginal? Alcohol? Drugs?  how would these exist together right next to each
other? Political reaction, fashion, rap, dance, folk songs, longing for countryside..
To understand these youngsters? parallel emotional lives, to liberate and to prepare a base where they can reveal their thoughts and to create these images with our materials movie, photograph, audio and sketches..

                                                                         Selda Asal





We started working on our projects in March 2007. As a coincidence we were entering the streets. We were talking to children, then we were drawing pictures, and we were talking about ‘dreams’ regarding the pictures.
Our conversations started shaping our project. We questioned if we let ourselves free from being ‘the other’ for the children. In other words, the sequence of events took us out of reaching the ‘dreams’, they made us to come to terms with ourselves. Really, what we were doing? How were we?
With the microphone and cameras in our hands, how close cold we get? Was this our purpose?What was our purpose? To pull a dream map?
Or, was the point where we started with Ceren in 2004 more realistic? Was dream of getting to know a city more realistic approach?
Since 1980 to now at the developing Halic region according to the migration from all parts of Turkey; our way of establishing relations at a close distance, but very far at the same time with these children who were trying to exist, dreaming of  being ‘something’ like the heroes of the tv serials were reminded harshly to them by their families.






By the closing doors our move to another region. All of those shaped our project.I wrote a text about this. And I designed a book. Instead of making a catalog, it was a little booklet named ‘nice kids’ including pictures of three of us and collaborative drawings of Ceren and the children. This book is about the sad facts that we ran into when we were shooting a film about ‘dreams’ in a street that we entered coincidentally.


In three months of working period including some breaks, we made more than 100 interviews. You can find 45 of those  at www.nice-kids.net. When clicking on a child pointed on Halic map, his explanations about his dreams are seen then with the navigator on the map you enter into the streets right and left. The children that you meet on the streets explain to you their dreams. Many children and dreams.




Neriman how would you pose if you want to dream? How would you act dreaming? She made a 3 minutes video for this question.

This video was explaining our false existance on that street which formed the theme of the book ‘nice children’. We were kicked out from this street where all glue sniffers
hang around, protests take place, molotove cocktails explode, the schools these children attend is almost collapsing even when the children are in the building, where there is no playing grounds or even any place to play, members of the families trying to survive by working in several jobs at the same time.

This video brought out our irrelevant situation as the ‘nice city girls’ who listened to their problems. With the permissions of Boris Hug and Selim Demirdelen I used their music in this music  video  which was 4 minutes
.



View  from the 10th Istanbul Biennial 2007

Some details from the wall installation


This Project is supported by
IKSV and

Apartman Projesinin  çålışma alanlarından  biride farklı patikalara sapan alt gruplar oluşturuyor olmak.

 Bunlardan bir tanesi 2+1.

Ceren Oykut’la  Selda Asal’ın birlikte oluşturduğu 2+1 ,  Apartman Projesi bünyesinde yer alan bir proje.

Bu projeye , 2004 yilinda  Istanbul’da baslayan Asal ve Oykut  daha sonra ki yillarda baska sanatcilarin ve 

2007 de gorsel sanatci Neriman Polat’in katilimiyla Istanbul’da Halic bolgesinde, 2009 da da müzisyen Serdar Ateşer’in katılımiyla Fransa Lille de  projelerini sürdürdüler. .

?Haliç ‘te ve Lille ‘dede merkeze  çok  yakin  olan  ama birbirinden farkli, birbirleriyle  celisen,ters dusen  :Silahtaraga ve lille de Porte de Arras  gibi bazi bolgelerin calisma alani olarak belirlendigi,  ? luks ve  sefahatin az  otesinde yer alan bu mahallelerde bu cocuk ve  genclerin hayatlarini surdurme mucadelelerinde sikistigi noktalari , hayaller uzerinden  gorunur kilmak amaçları. Hayal kirikliklarindan dolayi  dogru durust kurulamasa bile , hayalleri nereye uzaniyordu ??Hayaller bizi gercege  ne kadar yaklastiriyordu ? Onlar kimdiler ? Nasil yasarlardi ? Ne dusunurlerdi???Bu projede cocuk ve genclerin duygusal dunyalarini kavramak, dusuncelerini ozgurlestirebilmek ve aciga cikartabilmelerini

We started working on our projects in March 2007. As a coincidence we were entering the streets. We were talking to children, then we were drawing pictures together, and they were talking about  their ‘dreams’ regarding the pictures.

Our conversations started shaping our project. We questioned if we let ourselves free from being ‘the other’ for the children. In other words, the sequence of events took us out of reaching the ‘dreams’, they made us to come to terms with ourselves. Really, what we were doing? How were we? With the microphone and cameras in our hands, how close cold we get? Was this our purpose?What was our purpose? To pull a dream map?

Or, was the point where we started with Ceren in 2004 more realistic? Was dream of getting to know a city more realistic approach?

Since 1980 to now at the developing Halic region according to the migration from all parts of Turkey; our way of establishing relations at a close distance, but very far at the same time with these children who were trying to exist, dreaming of  being ‘something’ like the heroes of the tv serials were reminded harshly to them by their families. By the closing doors our move to another region. All of those shaped our project.I wrote a text about this. And I designed a book. Instead of making a catalog, it was a little booklet named ‘nice kids’ including pictures of three of us and collaborative drawings of Ceren and the children. This book is about the sad facts that we ran into when we were shooting a film about ‘dreams’ in a street that we entered coincidentally.

In three months of working period including some breaks, we made more than 100 interviews. You can find 45 of those  at www.nice-kids.net. When clicking on a child pointed on Halic map, his explanations about his dreams are seen then with the navigator on the map you enter into the streets right and left. The children that you meet on the streets explain to you their dreams. Many children and dreams.

Neriman how would you pose if you want to dream? How would you act dreaming? She made a 3 minutes video for this question.

My video was explaining our false existance on that street which formed the theme of the book ‘nice children’. We were kicked out by some parents of the kids from this street where all glue sniffers

hang around, protests take place, molotove cocktails explode, the schools these children attend is almost collapsing even when the children are in the building, where there is no playing grounds or even any place to play, members of the families trying to survive by working in several jobs at the same time.

This video brought out our irrelevant situation as the ‘nice city girls’ who listened to their problems. With the permissions of Boris Hug and Selim Demirdelen I used their music in this music  video  which was 4 minutes.

Ceren made the animation videos of the collaborative work with the children.

At the walls of Santral Istanbul that the Bienal reserved for us, the pictures took place showing the balloons of the conversations with the children. And the videos were shown on an LCD screen that was placed in between the pictures.