How did this grant contribute to the realization of your project in regard to artistic exchange, local cultural development and/or the promotion of cultural diversity?
Fabric/ate is an exhibition curated by Tuçe Erel in Schneidertempel Art Center. Gili Avissar (Israel), Stephanie Müller (Germany), and Lisa Simpson (Brazil) were invited to engage with the history of the space through their artistic practice. Schneidertempel is a former Synagogue, built by the Ashkenazi Jewish Tailors Guild in the late Ottoman Empire. The Synagogue was active until 1960s and after renovation it was opened as an art space in 1999. Lisa and Stephanie have ‘Duet of Amplified Sewing Machine’ since 2013. In their performances, they take their sewing machines out of their original context, alienating them from their use in industrial or private spaces, transforming them into amplified musical instruments that they place on center space, under the spotlight. Schneidertempel welcomed Stephanie Müller (Germany), Lisa Simpson (Brazil), Şevket Akıncı (Turkey), and Defne Sandalcı (Turkey) as the performers on September 11 and they had a free improvised sound performance. Besides, Klaus Erich Dietl documented all the installation and performance night and he met visual and video artist Kaya Hacaloğlu to collaborate during the installation. This grant contributed the curator Tuçe Erel to travel to Istanbul and prepare the exhibition with the participating artists and local artists to have a cultural exchange through their performance at the opening of the exhibition. During the installation of the exhibition, Avissar, Müller and Simspon had chance to learn about the cultural scene of Istanbul through Defne Sandalcı’s texts and stories. All the artists had a dynamic installation period and strong engagement with the art scene during their stay, which coincided with the art week of Istanbul.
How does exchange, networking and international contacts contribute to the development of your artistic and cultural project?
Fabric/ate exhibition is a group show, which brings three artists in Istanbul, who are coming from different countries: Brazil, Germany and Israel. What ties the artist in this exhibition was their unique way of using cloth and fabric with different mediums. As a curator, bringing these three different artists was possible through my international network. My experience in the art scene in Istanbul and outside Istanbul help me to connect these artists to this unique space in Istanbul. During the preparation of the project, the artists engaged with the scene in Istanbul. Istanbul is an inspiring city and artists Lisa Simpson and Stephanie Müller visited the city for the first time in their life. Gili Avissar visited the city before however his experience through this project was completely different and he had chance to connect with local artists and places. My presence as a local person eased their communication as well. During the installation period, artists attended different opening in the city, they had an interview with a local newspaper and met different artists and musician from Istanbul. Stephanie Müller and Lisa Simpson performed with local musicians and author Şevket Akıncı and Defne Sandalcı and spent time with different creative people from Istanbul. Their experience gave me inspiration to continue creating bridges between artists and creative spirits from Turkey and outside Turkey.
Can you elaborate on the learning and knowledge you have gained and shared throughout this experience?
The exhibition transformed the venue with the site specific textile based installation, which was happening for the first time at Schneidertempel Art Center. It is a historical building and we have limitations in the space and this was a nice challenge for the artists. Within this limitations, the site specific installation invited the audience to engage in a different level as well. Artists had to approach to the space in a different manner, this was obviously not a white cube so this opened up an opportunity to collaborate. I was fascinated by the collaboration of the artist during this project. Most of the time, visual artists are working individually and they are not used to collaborate together during an exhibition installation. The artists very well received my invitation and I am so glad that they got well together and started to collaborate while they were installing their works. Additionally, after the opening the artists started to discuss about their next meeting and possible future collaboration in Berlin next November. For me this result was even better than what I imaged. I realized again the importance of timing and scheduling things in advance. I believe that managing a project is managing the relations and at the end, I am very happy that things went smoothly.
Please indicate a link to your current work (website/facebook page)
https://tuceerel.wordpress.com
