Dilek Winchester’s 410 Letters: On Reading and Writing (Albanian) (2025) departs from an earlier work titled Abondoned Letters (2024) based on the ‘Istanbul alphabet’. The Istanbul alphabet was an experimental writing system devised in 1879 by Şemsettin Sami, who was a lexicographer, novelist, translator and prominent figure in both Turkish language reform and Albanian nationalism, at a time when Albanians in the Ottoman Empire lacked a unified writing system. In the video, viewers are taken through a visual landscape of Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Elbasan, Todhri, Vellara, Vezo, Berat and Latin-based scripts, including the Istanbul, Agimi and Bashkimi alphabets, as well as the current version of the Albanian alphabet. These are adapted and invented letterforms that have either been forgotten or have never been used prominently in writing Albanian. In the work, isolated letterforms appear not as code but as sculptural forms, accompanied by a sound composition created in collaboration with artist Ahmetcan Gökçeer.
Untitled (Kendinibeğen...) (2012-2025) is a textual intervention affixed to the back of the building’s rooftop pediment. A site-specific adaptation of Dilek Winchester’s 2012 work for the biennial, its title is derived from a portmanteau originated by Oğuz Atay in his 1972 novel, The Disconnected (Tutunamayanlar), with Latin letters alternating with Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian and Greek: ‘seeming-like- those-who-are-conceited-and-behave-as- if-nothing-has-ever-been-said-before-them’.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Dilek Winchester (b. 1974, Istanbul) is an artist based in Istanbul. Through rigorous research, her work investigates how the printed word creates a sense of belonging. Her interest in the communities formed through publishing ranges from artists’ zines to the hybrid printing world in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire. Her research interests include the alphabet reform in Türkiye, the symbolic meanings of alphabets, and the politics of translation. Her solo exhibitions include Attending the Void, Depo, Istanbul (2019) and A Solo Show, EMST – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2012). Group exhibitions include 16th Sharjah Biennial (2025); Translated into Socialism, Salt Galata, Istanbul (2024); GLOSSOLALALA, Arter, Istanbul (2024); Self-Determination: A Global Perspective, IMMA, Dublin (2023).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Dilek Winchester (b. 1974)
410 Letters: On Reading and Writing (Albanian), 2025
Single-channel video, 16:9, black and white, 6:32 min, 4-channel sound
Courtesy of the artist
Credits:
Director of photography and editor: Ece Latifaoğlu
Sound design and composition: Ahmetcan Gökçeer
Model design and production: Emirhan Altuner
Digital calligraphy: Barış Öktem
Colour: Didem Yılmazer
Focus puller: Osman Yılmaz
Digital imaging technician: Nastia Boicenco
Second assistant camera: Tahir Emre Özder
Gaffer: Atakan Yılmaz
Best boy: Enes Ölmez
Artist's assistant: Ece Yalçın
Alphabet readings by Ares Shporta, Blerina Kanxha, Fisnik Egër, Afrodita Nojani, Eroll Shporta, Karanfile Haxhi
The recording for the alphabet readings was made at Kolektiv Radio Prizren by Somer Şpat, Emin Myftiu with the kind support of Lumbardhi Foundation.
Thanks to Ares Shporta, Burak Kaplan, Meriç Öner, Merve Elveren, Merve Ertufan, Sezgin Boynik, Tevfik Rada
Dilek Winchester (b. 1974)
The model used in the video 410 Letters: On Reading and Writing (Albanian), 2025
MDF, paper, plexiglass
Ø 150 cm × 88 cm
Courtesy of the artist
Dilek Winchester (b. 1974)
Untitled (Kendinibeğen...), 2012–2025
Paint on wall
Variable dimensions
Courtesy of the artist
