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.
