In Turkish

Sevil Baştürk (Roma Orchard), Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Elmas Deniz, MAD (Center for Spatial Justice), Aslı Odman, Alper Şen

The subjects of the public event CONCRETE revolve around urban transformation, urban struggles, communalising practices and urban ecology. Among the highlights are accumulation and loss of memory in cities, 50 kg cement, the corporate manslaughter, Ağaç INC., tales of appropriation, urban poverty and the aesthetics of politics. We will be discussing production chains, secondary nature, monstrous yellow trucks, the ownership of trash, human-based paths on the planet and our bodies, the geographies of confinement, exile and extermination of animals. The transformation of daily and social life brings forth the correlations between ways of seeing, green shame and fetishisation of nature. While mostly centring on Istanbul urban movements: Beyoğlu (Pera), Haliç Tersanesi (Haliç Shipyard), mega projects in Istanbul, all urban and rural struggles against the expansion of the meta borders of CONCRETE are emphasised. The subject shifts to possibilities within the aesthetics of ruin and the prospects of a sustainable relationship. We talk about the transformative power of the Roma Orchard and the neighbourhood gardens blossoming in the midst of feeling the impossibility of creating new green spaces, the importance of transforming the neighbourhood ecosystem with self-labour, of applied politics, urban ecology and biodiversity, edible plants and street weeds, and the regular complex structures of street ecology.

Digestion Programme

Designed by birbuçuk: Ecology and Art Studies consisting of climate change-energy economist and performance artist Ayşe Ceren Sarı, environmental scientist and artist Serkan Kaptan and curator Yasemin Ülgen, the Digestion Programme is a continuation of the ‘Respiration’ meetings organised by the collective in 2017 and 2018. In this series of public events, seemingly ordinary objects we are accustomed to as part of our daily lives will be brought up for discussion and examination. Placing the concept of socio-ecological metabolism at the centre, phenomenon such as water, agriculture, climate, energy, city, waste, gender, commons and future will be explored in relation to science, social movements and art practices, searching for possible dialogue opportunities in between.