Trading Station

So today i’ve visited the galleries that I wanted to visit but hadn’t. AKBank gallery (there’s quite a few galleries linked to banks here) have a show called Aftermath. Really good 2 channel video about 2 places on the Caspian Sea (one russian, one middle eastern). Lovely pairings of images from both places – same features, different countries, and you can’t tell the difference. Sea, oil rigs, oil drilling and a female performance artist with Foxes on her arms mimicing the movement of the oil drills.

I’ve been around Misir Apartments which is a classical apartment building with galleries on several of the floors. Highlights included Meltem Isik’s “Twice into the Stream” at Galeri Nev- huge photographs of people of all ages, naked except for a cloth printed with a close up of a part of their body, with the image on the cloth positioned carefully – some are parts of the body that initially look suggestive, but on closer inspection are folds of skin under the arms or is a carefull placed belly button.

In the same building was Nesrin Esirtegen Collection, which felt quite commercial, but was worth mentioning for the local connections I noticed – A small Jaume Plensa Sculpture (I can see his ‘Dream’ sculpture in St Helens from my front door) and a video piece whose soundtrack was ‘You’ll never walk alone” sung by football fans (I’ve been telling people who ask that I’m from Liverpool, and at least 2 told me that I’ll never walk alone)

Also in Misir was Pi Artworks with a show made out of knitting. I’ve taken some photos for Carys Anne Hughes in Runcorn as she does some exciting things with knitting and I think she’ll like them (She’s also working like a trouper to set up Hazlehurst craft studios in Runcorn – keep an eye out!)

A small diversion for some shopping and lunch before visiting Salt Beyoglu, who have got an exhibition in partnership with a dutch organisation and one in partnership with Tate modern. Some interesting works in a lovely space (an old bank, but still supported by the bank itself). Really liked some works about ‘walk for 2 metres in the direction of *city name* <-included Chicago, Belem, Shanghai, Khartoum, Marrakesh to name a few. Only I couldn’t find the label for the artist’s name, and the security guard only seemed to do security and couldn’t help me.

Then onwards to Salt Galata – again in a big palatial old bank building. The exhibition there had finished yesterday, but they have an excellent research library, so I picked out a couple of books about town planning and public use of spaces and had a read, made some notes and have some further reading to do (Lefebvre, Gornick, Goffman). Really great resource, I’ll definitely be back there when I return to use it again – and you can do your photocopying for free!

Staved off falling asleep in my book (because of the 3 hours sleep last night) and recharged in their cafe with some caffine and cake, while looking out at the Suleymaniye Mosque through shelves of Vodka. A bit more retail therapy and an experiment with the metro and I’m back at the studio to pack and maybe get a drawing made before bed. I leave for home in the morning, so any further updates to this blog will be sparse I expect.

I’m looking forward to coming back to Istanbul, got a better Idea of what and how I can make work myself and of how we can work together with the Turkish Artists – to see how we are getting on visit our website www.postliverpool.com or our tumblr blog tradingstation.tumblr.com

Last day in Istanbul (for now)

And I got the funding application written last night – it was a stay up until 4am, get up again at 7am job, but it’s been emailed to my fabulous husband back home, who is going to post it special delivery this morning. Fingers crossed that yesterday’s run of good luck rubs off onto the application.

Today I thought about returning to the square where I made my work on Thursday to do a second line, but I’m too tired, so, I am going to take in some of the gallery spaces in Istanbul instead. I might then finish off the day with a drawing if I get time before I have to pack to leave in the morning.

Here’s some photos of me collecting objects to take home to trade with the artists back in Liverpool.

Penultimate day in Istanbul:

Today has been long but productive. Things achieved:

-meeting with the artists of Atilkunst in the tapestry room at Mimar Sinan University. Good to talk about TRADING STATION, discussed ways of trading work, ideas including mailing packages, sending SD cards with recorded audio on them, keeping emailing to a minimum as it can be so draining, setting up our tumblr blog so that members can post ‘unedited’ material to it, about the point where our trading meets – the points where misunderstanding occurs and how this can deepen understanding, about schedules and making an exchange fit in with life and sharing the practices and histories of the other artists in POST.

-visiting the Atilkunst studio. This was a lovely space that the three artists share. Spent some time takling with Gulcin Aksoy about her practice – I plan to meet with the POST artists back home and recount our conversation by talking about her blog, then to record the conversation and post it back to her as part of our trading. I also have a piece of Gulcin’s artwork to bring home and some of Atilkunst’s Excess of Agenda Stickers

-browsing the bazaars. Both as an artist and a tourist. As a tourist I bought 2 wooden spoons, a wooden bread ‘shovel’ to slide bread into the oven, a blockprinted tablecloth with deer on it, saffron, apricots and pepper. As an artist I’ve bought:

A battery powered bubble-blowing gun for Cecilia Kinnear
3 old ‘scenic’ Turkish postcards for Amanda Oliphant
12 old turkish wedding photographs for Susan Meyerhoff Sharples

And I was given a modern turkish wedding magazine by the bookseller where I bought the postcards/photos, and I also managed to ask for a sample wedding invitation from one shop on a street full of shops selling wedding invitations – both of these are for Sue.

-climbed (i.e. took the lift) up Galata Tower, just as the sun was setting, the lights got switched on on the Bosphorus Bridge and the call to evening Prayers seemed to begin

-met Ozlem Uzun, the artist who also worked on Invisible City in Schiedam last September. She and her friend Mufasa took me for turkish dinner and we shared stories of new art works, a paper about The Brothers Grimm that she has had accepted to a conference in Kingston University, Turkish Military Service and Scones.

-Got back to the computer to find out that a film I made in 2010 with Liverpool Biennial has been selected for the Parasol Unit’s ‘Animated Drawing: Screening of works by emerging artists’ on 2 May which runs alongside their exhibition ‘Lines of Thought’ which includes works by artists who have relevance for me such as Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Fred Sandback and Conrad Shawcross. I’d wondered why I was added to their mailing list lately, I’d forgotten I’d applied for this. Will have to try and get to see this show. I think a jaunt down to London is required.

Pretty much a perfect day – might have to finish off with a late night, too close to the deadline, going to have to ask someone in the UK to post it seeing as the deadline is Monday – by post, application writing challenge given the roll of good things that have been achieved today.

Chatham Road (Eventually Everyone had Moved), 3:49. Selected for Parasol Unit’s Animated Drawing Screening, 2 May 2012.

Went to an exciting performance last night called Garip bir Pandik – which translates as ‘being touched where you wouldn’t normally’ -like someone grabbing your bottom. The artists from Atilkunst were part of it and it was held in an off-space on Istiklal – quite surreal, full of music, cross dressing, political comment I think and lots of fun.

Today I’m meeting the artists of Atilkunst properly to talk about trading station and hope to meet the artist Ozlem Uzun who I worked with in Schiedam on Invisible City for dinner this evening.

Ok, 3 posts in one day is maybe excessive, but as the life of this blog is only 7 days, it’s probably fair.

I had the guts and I made the piece of work in the square. As I wrote on twitter after I’d finished:

A jam jar, 3″ paintbrush, 2l water, 90 something paving stones, video camera, public square in Istanbul and 1.5 hours = new artwork.

It was good to be making an intervention in a public space again – with no permissions and no back-up, just me and a task in hand. Quite happy with the result too – I’ll try and get an excerpt of the video documentation up here before I go home – in the meantime here’s a photo..