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Sidestreets - Chronology of Events
Sidestreets - Chronology of Events
!f ² 2014: Istanbul Live Films
21 February, Friday at 19:00, Onar Village
I wanted the tension and the weight of this event (death) to be felt, sacred and grave, but without a trace.”
After he takes the medicine from Irene, we learn that he is not ill but extremely unhappy and tired of living. Irene, this time, comes close to helping someone commit suicide, and as she runs after Carlo to change his mind, the line between life and death gets blurred. Honey does not take the easy way out, and manages to tell this tough story in a distant and positive manner. The film creates solid ground out of fragile distances between people.
Festivals:
About the Director:
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Alleine Tanzen / Dancing Alone
Germany – 2012 – 98’ – Colour – DCP – Turkish, German
“Mother, he’s not hitting you, he loves you... he loves you beatingly. Mother, the bruises are love marks!”
“Can I ever find happiness if my parents and their parents have not already found it?”
Through a little girl’s diary entries, and some old VHS recordings, we begin to get to know a family. The director is Biene Pilavcı who, at 12 years of age, decided that the bursts of violence at home were too much to handle and had herself moved into a children’s home. Now at 33, she is aware that the pain, which remains from all that was lived yet never talked about, is too much to handle, and goes back to her family, this time with her camera. Though Dancing Alone was screened formerly at the 5th Which Human Rights? Film Festival, we chose to screen it again – a first at !f. This is because Dancing Alone is an incredibly special piece of filmmaking; a powerful lesson in the healing powers of the courage to look pain in the eyes.
Also, this is no doubt a film that should be seen everywhere in Turkey, so it will be shown in 36 different locations, through !f2.
Festivals:
About the Director:
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Austria, Switzerland, Germany – 2013 – 118’ – Colour – DCP – Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, English
“I’m dedicating myself to the resistance because my father didn’t do enough.”
Everyday Rebellion is not just a contemporary document, but also a call for utopia.
A cross-media documentary about creative forms of non-violent protest and civil disobedience worldwide, Everyday Rebellion comes as a breath of fresh air in these pregnant times. Moving around the world with the Occupy movement in New York, The Indignados in Spain, the Arab Spring
in Egypt, the non-violent uprisings in Syria, and briefly through Taksim, this poetry of a documentary is a reminder that today’s struggles are all connected – they should be considered as one. Through interviews with the Yes Men, Femen, Srdja Popovic, John Jackson, and other passionate activists, Everyday Rebellion is a celebration of peaceful protest and the possibilities that it opens up. As a documentary, it gives voice to all those who decide not to use violence to try to change a violent system, and as a project (www.everydayrebellion.com), it is a growing network that ties many of the ideas, methods and passionate people mentioned in the film together.
Festivals:
About the Director:
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Pelo Malo / Bad Hair
Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Germany – 2013 – 93’ – Colour – DCP – Spanish
– “Even better, I can turn you into a singer.”
9-year-old Junior lives in public housing apartments with his single mom and little sister. Junior and his mom’s lives are on a straight line that never leads anywhere. Junior’s long lasting dream is to straighten his curly hair, wear his dancing costume and become that figure in his head. His mother’s
Festivals:
About the Director:
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Gabrielle
Gabrielle is a glowing 25-year-old woman with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by cognitive underdevelopment as well as gregariousness and advanced musical skills. She lives in a group home with her friends, among whom is her love, Martin. When Gabrielle and Martin
Festivals:
About the Director:
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Sidestreets’ first 2014 program is !f ² – the Istanbul Independent Film Festival – and the screenings will all take place from 21st to 23 February in Kyrenia at the Onar Village! (www.onarvillage.com)
The festival’s pioneering film distribution project has been connecting communities in 31 cities for 5 years.
!f ² is a ground-breaking alternative film distribution and sharing project. Organized in partnership with the quality cinema website MUBI, !f İstanbul will reach audiences in 31 cities around Turkey and in neighbouring countries.
!f ² has partners from around Turkey as well as in Nicosia*, Gyumri, Yerevan, Jerusalem and Ramallah, who will screen five festival films simultaneously with Istanbul in their respective cities on the last three days of the festival. The system is simple: Universities, unions, women’s groups or other NGOs in these cities volunteer to be a supporting branch of !f ² and organize a screening venue.
The online cinema website MUBI works in collaboration with !f ² to allow all partners access to five festival films with high resolution and quality. Q&A sessions with directors following the screenings are also broadcast live. Audiences in different cities thus have the opportunity to engage directly with the guest director or producer, who is in Istanbul. The vision is to connect diverse cities and communities, building bridges through the shared medium of cinema.
*Nicosia-based Sidestreets will be screening all the films at Onar Village, in Kyrenia.
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Cinema Culture series
Thursday, November 14th and 21st
Sidestreets, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Cyprus, is pleased to present, as part of its Cinema Culture series, screenings of two award-winning Swedish films. Both films are in Swedish with English subtitles.
PROGRAM:
Thursday, November 14th
The Wedding Photographer (Brollopsfotografen)
Director: Ulf Malmros
Stars: Björn Starrin, Kjell Bergqvist, Tuva Novotny
LANGUAGE: Swedish; SUBTITLES: English
19:30, Sidestreets Audio Visual Room
Robin is from a remote town in Sweden, Värmland. He’s a country bumpkin with a passion for leather trousers, chains and photography. Following a chance encounter with an over-the hill television personality and the closure of the local factory, Robin moves from his beloved home town to Stockholm. Having arrived in Stockholm, he is desperate to make it as a professional photographer and despite some initial setbacks and his rural background, he is commissioned to photograph an upper class wedding in Djursholm, the ritchest district in Stockholm. He promptly falls in love with the bride’s sister and is willing to change everything about himself, from his outlook on life to his hairstyle, in order to win her heart. What follows is a comical clash of cultures and class as the down-at-home Robin tries to woo the girl of his dreams.
Thursday, November 21st
Simon and the Oaks (Simon och ekarna)
Director: Lisa Ohlin
Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Helen Sjöholm, Jan Josef Liefers
LANGUAGE: Swedish, German, Hebrew; SUBTITLES: English
19:30, Sidestreets Audio Visual Room
An epic drama spanning the years 1939 to 1952, this is the gripping story of Simon (Bill Skarsgaard), who grows up in a loving working class family on the outskirts of Gothenburg but always feels out of place. He finally convinces his father to send him to an upper-class grammar school, where he meets Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Simon is dazzled by the books, art and music he encounters in the home of Isak’s father Ruben (Jan Josef Leifers), which makes Simon long to know more about his own family background. Isak, on the other hand, draws comfort from learning to do something with his hands, helping Simon’s dad (Stefan Godicke) make boats. When Isak faces trouble at home, he is taken in by Simon’s family and the two households slowly merge, connecting in unexpected ways as war rages all over Europe.
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2013, October
Creative Art Workshops with Aslı Bolayır
Aslı Bolayır is a Turkish Cypriot artist residing both in Spain and Cyprus.
Currently the creative art workshops she is offering at Sidestreets are conducted in Turkish, but upon demand English workshops can also be arranged at other times.
If interested, please contact us at +(90) 392 2293070.
Course for Prospective Art Students
This course is specifically designed for university students in the field of art, and for high-school students who are preparing to study art at university. It has been created to help each participant find or develop a contemporary artistic language, and enhance his or her understanding and skills based on individual needs. Its aim is to increase each participant’s artistic awareness and understanding, spark and generate new and broader interests and provide focus, while at the same time broadening his or her idea of what could be an artistic transformation. The sessions focus on and encourage contemporary ways of seeing, thinking and producing, and the practical application of visual methods. The course will be limited to 10 students, who will meet once a week on Saturdays for 4 hours (10.00-14.00). During this time there will be production and critique, seminars, and discussions on art and criticism, all guided by highly qualified and experienced professional artists and academics. The course begins on 16 November 2013 and ends on 25 January 2014, and will be taught by Emin Çizenel, Anber Onar and Johann Pillai (please see short bios below); there will also be guest scholars and artists on some occasions. A certificate of participation will be presented at the end of the program.
Emin Çizenel, B.A., M.A., Istanbul Fine Arts Academy (1973-1974). Emin Çizenel works as an independent professional artist and has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright fellow in New York. Since the 1970s he has participated in numerous international and local exhibitions/ biennials in countries including England, Cyprus, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, and the USA. He is the recipient of many regional and international awards for his work.
Anber Onar is the Co-founder of Sidestreets Educational and Cultural Inıtiatives,which was established in 2007, and she works as an independent artist and scholar, and developer of cultural programs at Sidestreets. After studying Fine Arts at Rutgers University, she continued her research and work at various universities: in the U.S., at Yale and the State University of New York at Buffalo; in Turkey, at Bilkent University; and in the TRNC, at Eastern Mediterranean University. Since completing her Master’s degree in Art Theory and Criticism, she has taught in the fine arts and art history, and worked as a design consultant. As an independent artist and exhibition designer, she has participated in and organized numerous international conferences and exhibitions.
2013, May 26
Presentation: “The Lost Mosaic Wall: Towards a History of Forgetting”
Home Works 6: A Forum on Cultural Practices, May 14-26, 2013
Ashkal Alwan: The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut, Lebanon
– Dr. Johann Pillai
As part of the Home Works 6 Platform, Ashkal Alwan hosted a lecture by Johann Pillai called "The Lost Mosaic Wall." This presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. This was Turkey’s first modern prefabricated building, which brought together most of the living major figures in the country’s history of art, architecture, classical music and opera, and politics.
Questions raised by the presentation included the following: As world’s fairs are essentially curations of narratives of official national identity, how does one represent “nation” or “country” or “region” outside of its geographical location? To what extent can a wall or border represent (rather than inside/ outside inclusion or exclusion) linkage and unification? Does the historiographical “writing of the disaster” (Blanchot) participate in the transference of its trials and trauma (LaCapra, Rancière) and preclude the renewal of tradition, ownership or reconstruction (Toufic)? Can archives, exhibitions, artworks and onuments resist absorption into memorial narratives, and instead express fragmentation and forgetting?
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2013, May 21, 22
Danish Film Series
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Denmark
On May 21-22 Sidestreets, in collaboration with the Embassy of Denmark in Cyprus, presented two evenings of award-winning films (in Danish with English subtitles) from the Danish Film Institute, introduced by Johann Pillai and by Mr. Yiannis Kafkarides, the Public Diplomacy and Political/Economic Affairs Officer at the Danish Embassy. A total of six films were shown at two separate screenings. The first evening’s screening was of the feature film; five short films were shown the second evening;. The screenings were followed by a reception and discussion.
Program
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2013, March 14
Tunisian Short Films: Metaphors and Resistance
– coordinated by Yetin Arslan, in collaboration with Walid Tayaa
This program consisted of eleven short Tunisian films. The total duration of screening was 151’ (3’ the shortest and 26’ the longest film). Curator and film director Walid Tayaa was present at the screenings and the discussions, which were coordinated by Yetin Arslan, a film producer and Instructor at Eastern Mediterranean University. The program was followed by a casual discussion period over refreshments.
Walid Tayaa (b. Tunis 1976) is a director, writer, trainer. He has been a member of the Amateur Film Makers Federation since 2002, and he is the creator of the short films "South South" (2002), "Madame Bahja" (2006), and "Prestige" (2008) and the documentary "The Passionates" (2009). He is currently working on his first feature movie, "Fataria," and his first novel. Tayaa’s films were selected by many festivals during these years, and received numerous awards; they have been aired on several television channels.
Program
– The Stadium, dir. Alaéddine Slim (26’)
– Coma, dir. Alaéddine Abou Taléb (8’)
– Lémrayyét, dir. Nadia Raïs (18’)
– Sur le Mur, dir. Farés Ben Khalifa (3’)
– Fils de Pauvreté, dir. Nidhal Hsine (8’)
– Kéch ma météch, dir. Nadhir Bouslama (3’)
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Exhibition: Working Title “Calendar”: Visual Presentation in Four Stages
– curated by Anber Onar
A preview series of four exhibitions by artist Emin Çizenel, to culminate in a large exhibition curated by Anber Onar and opening at the Kare Gallery in Istanbul on September 15, 2013 as a parallel exhibition to the Istanbul Biennale.
The four phases of the series opened at Sidestreets on March 13, April 11, May 16 and June 12. The final event in the series was the exhibition of Çizenel’s Ithaf (“Dedication”) to the protest movements that began in Gezi Park, Istanbul, on May 28, 2013.
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2013, March 10
Seminar: “Listening to and Appreciating Jazz”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
– in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States in Cyprus, Onar Village, and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
As part of its work to develop learning outside the classroom, Sidestreets organized a one-day program for 50 “Micro-Access” students aged 13-17. This seminar gave students a listening-based social history that began with the tradition of slavery in the U.S. and the roots of jazz in field cries and hollers of slaves, moved on to gospel (with a digression on the Christian tradition) and continued through the development of the blues and various genres of jazz, to boogie-woogie, rock-and-roll, and current versions of R&B.
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2013, February 22–24
!F ISTANBUL: The Istanbul Independent Film Festival in Cyprus
– in collaboration with If, the International Independent Film Festival in Istanbul
This was the fourth year of marathon live screenings of independent films from Istanbul in Cyprus through collaboration between Sidestreets and !F Istanbul.
On February 22-24, Sidestreets collaborated with !F Istanbul in its 12th International Independent Film Festival, together with 30 other centers in Turkey and the Middle East, with the aim of sharing a selection of highly acclaimed films with as wide an audience as possible, and facilitating a collective conversation “with a very innovative new digital technology, allowing films to travel great distances, unweighted by the canisters and reels that previously made such an enterprise both difficult and costly, without compromising on top-notch visual quality….
“In partnership with the acclaimed US-based cinema website The Auteurs, !F screened five of the festival’s most sought-after films in these locations concurrent with their weekend screenings in Istanbul… Many of the cities chosen do not have cinema theaters, and even the ones that do are often reliant on mainstream studio distribution of second or third run features….”
Program
February 22: Rebelle, dir. Kim Nguyen (2012, Canada; 90’; French with Turkish
subtitles)
Turkish subtitles)
Knappenberger (2012,
(2012, Denmark, Norway, UK; 169’; Indonesian, English, with Turkish
subtitles)
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Live Installation: “Detective Work in Progress: The Mystery of the Missing Mosaics”
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
Installation of a living 1958 office environment in Sidestreets’ gallery space, including the researcher himself and all the archival research materials and artifacts recovered as part of the research done by Johann Pillai on the Turkish pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
This exhibition was created in order to allow interested people to peek into three fascinating years of obsessive research and follow the mysterious processes of the researcher’s detective work. Working from unlikely clues and digging out a vast range of unknown and lost facts and objects, he continues to solve mysteries in the most unexpected places and realms. His finds are not just becoming facts to be written about; they also formed the elements for this exhibition. In this live and interactive office/ exhibition program, participants were not passive onlookers, but active discussants and participants in a stimulating research environment.
Johann Pillai received his B.A. from Yale University (1987) and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1989, 1991). Dr. Pillai is an independent scholar and the co-founder and director of educational initiatives at Sidestreets. An Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, he has published on a wide range of subjects related to culture and education; he is the author of Bedri Rahmi − the Lost Mosaic Wall: from Expo ’58 to Cyprus (Nicosia: Sidestreets, 2010).
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A Taste of Short, Avant-garde Art Films
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This program consisted of five short, avant-garde films, introduced by Johann Pillai and followed by a discussion.
Program
– Willard Maas, dir. Geography of the Body (1943; 7’)
– Peter Greenaway, dir. Windows (1974; 4’)
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– Anber Onar
A 2005 installation by Anber Onar entitled “Outside the Projects” converted the entire front of a five-story building in the center of Cyprus’s capital, Nicosia (prior to the building’s renovation in 2007 when it became Sidestreets) into a slum façade and drew attention to the appalling living conditions of immigrant workers and their families in the inner city; the installation received wide local and international attention and support when it was torn down on the orders of the mayor who was, largely as a result of issues raised by the project, soon afterwards elected out of office. (This project sowed the seeds of the concept of Sidestreets).
In December 2012, the Municipality of Nicosia had been under a workers’ strike for almost a year, and the city was suffering in every area, from sanitation, waste disposal and parking to crime, unregulated construction, settlement, and other activities. Although this was the issue discussed most in the media, no authority was taking responsibility, the discussions were futile, and no action was being taken.
“With unfortunate accuracy, when the 2005 ‘Outside the Projects’ installation signified the movement of the backstreets and sidestreets of the city into its center, it predicted the real politics of the city’s contemporary situation: today there is no longer a need to go to the city’s margins to see its organic deterioration and increasing poverty, because now the margins of the city have become its center. ‘Outside the Projects’ predicted, as it were, that the sidestreets would be the city’s predicament.”
Anber Onar’s POINT–SIGHT–AIM: NICOSIA included giant collages of hundreds of photographs documenting the current unsanitary and dilapidated conditions in Nicosia, and a documentary video, archival newspaper articles and photographic work from her “Outside the Projects” (2005) exhibition.
On the opening night of the exhibition, the President of the country, Dr. Derviş Eroğlu, was brought to the exhibition with the media, and he called for responsibility to be taken. The media were again very receptive towards the project, which attracted the attention of a large number of viewers throughout the exhibition period.
Anber Onar received her B.F.A. in Visual Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (1987); and her M.A. in English Studies (Critical Theory and Film) Eastern Mediterranean University (2002). She is an independent artist and scholar, and the co-founder and director of artistic and cultural programs at Sidestreets. She has taught in the fine arts and art history at Bilkent University; and at Eastern Mediterranean University, where she also worked as a design consultant and was the founder of several arts associations for students. She has participated in art exhibitions in Cyprus and internationally, from the USA to Turkey, France, Greece, and Luxembourg.
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Video Installation: Eye Trap
– with Carmen Beckenbach
An exhibition of two video works selected by curator Carmen Beckenbach: Christian Aberle’s Schicker Schamane Weckt Bunte Geister/“Fancy Shaman Evokes Checkered Ghosts” (2007-08), and Blaffert and Wamhof’s Your World Is So Far From The One I Know (2006).
Carmen Beckenbach is a free-lance art historian. She was a scholarly researcher at the ZKM (Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany) from 2002-2005 in the area of the media museum and international\media\art\award. She worked as a lecturer at Unisinos (Brazil) in 2006 and at the Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda in 2007. In texts, lectures and workshops she deals with contemporary art and new media art. In addition, she was the curator of the travel exhibition "Speaking to One Another: Personal Memories of the Past in Armenia and Turkey" which was shown at the Goethe-Institut, Nicosia in May 2012. She lives in Karlsruhe, Germany.
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2012, November 22
Performance: Breaking the Rules
– Johann Pillai
“The dramatic breaking of rules in modern music, art, and architecture in the 20th century, from Cubism to Futurism to Dada to Language Poetry, was accompanied by similar exciting new developments in literature, as internationally poets, artists and musicians experimented with new ideas and forms of expression. Asking fundamental questions – “What is poetry made of? What is literature?” – writers developed brilliant interdiciplinary forms of poetic expression that break down the boundaries between writing, images, and music.
This event was an analytical lecture-performance of some twenty very short Modernist “language experiments,” including concrete poems or visual/optophonetic texts by e. e. cummings, Reinhard Döhl and Christian Morgenstern; Dada and Surrealist works by, among others, Hugo Ball, Guillaume Apollinaire and Tristan Tzara; and lettriste works by Isidore Isou. These texts are particularly interesting as they function on the borders of visual and verbal sign systems, and raise fundamental questions about the semiotic interrelations between oral, aural, and visual communication. Many require vocal performance for their sense to emerge. “Breaking the Rules” represents a unique visual and auditory exploration, interpretation, and performance of alternative forms of literature, ranging from Japan to New York to Scotland to Russia, and from classical visual poems to sound poetry.”
Johann Pillai received his B.A. from Yale University (1987) and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1989, 1991). Dr. Pillai is an independent scholar and the co-founder and director of educational initiatives at Sidestreets. An Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, he has published on a wide range of subjects related to culture and education.
Exhibition: Art in Transit
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
“Art in Transit” comprised two of the latest paintings by Emin Çizenel: “Airmail Butterflies” (170cm x 180cm; candle soot and origami on canvas), and “Provocation” (200cm x 300cm; candlesoot and tempera on canvas). These paintings were first exhibited at Sidestreets before being transported to İstanbul where they were exhibited at the Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair, represented by Kare Gallery.
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2012, October – December
Traditional Craft Workshops: Yelpaze
– conducted by Emin Çizenel and Anber Onar
– in collaboration with the Office of the European Union in Cyprus and UNDP
During October-December 2012, Sidestreets organized and led 6 workshops, partly funded by the European Union and the UNDP, on making “yelpaze,” traditional Cypriot date-leaf fans, for women’s NGOs and students at its own venue and for the public at the Bandabuliya (traditional covered market), a historic building in Nicosia which has recently been restored and needs to be brought to life. Over a hundred people participated in the workshops, which were designed to bring back a lost Turkish Cypriot craft that is inexpensive and where the product can be sold for everyday and touristic use and so help create a small-family economy/cottage industry.
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Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #19
“’In a Contested Realm’: Archaeology and Historical Architecture of Northern Cyprus”
– Dr. Allan Langdale
A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale introducing his authoritative, newly-published guide to the architectural and historical cultural heritage of the northern part of Cyprus.
Allan Langdale’s guide surveys the remarkable history of one of the most culturally rich regions in the world. In this book, one can explore the ruins of ancient towns dating back 6000 years, descend into monumental tombs from the Bronze Age, and investigate centuries-old churches and monasteries, while also being delighted by marvelous sights such as an elegant 14th century French gothic cathedral, now a mosque, situated on the seashore merely 100 miles from the coast of Syria.
More than a guide, Langdale’s text enlivens the archaeological sites and ancient buildings with the rich historical contexts relevant to each monument. Liberally augmented by compelling accounts of ancient voyagers, and generously illustrated by the author’s own photographs, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the cultural heritage of Cyprus. The extraordinary depth of history in this region has been ebbing from our consciousness for decades, preempted by Cyprus’s acutely contemporary political issues. In a Contested Realm gives new life to the area’s long architectural heritage, surveying prehistoric settlements, Greco-Roman cities, Byzantine castles, Gothic cathedrals, and village shrines situated in landscapes laden with history; all supplemented by the personal testimonies of travelers throughout the centuries.
Allan Langdale has taught art history at EMU and at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has published six articles on the art and architecture of the north of Cyprus and, with Dan Frodsham, wrote, directed, and produced the award winning documentary film The Stones of Famagusta: the Story of a Forgotten City. The book In a Contested Realm is his latest publication.
2012, June 9
Workshop: The Americans and the History of Chocolate
– conducted by Johann Pillai and Anber Onar
– in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States in Cyprus and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
This activity for 60 disadvantaged high school students consisted of a seminar, chocolate tasting session, taste competition and chocolate spree party. The seminar looked at the social history of chocolate, ranging from the Aztec and Maya civilizations to the chocolate houses of Europe, to the branding of Hershey’s and Cadbury’s, and the various types of milk and bitter chocolate. Topics included the sugar and spice trade and slavery, manufacturing processes, and current fair trade issues.
2012, May 26
Street Event: “Spring Poetry Rain”
– in collaboration with Ideogramma, the Office of the European Parliament in Cyprus, the Turkish Municipality of Nicosia, the Nicosia Municipal Theater, Extend Broadband, and other local businesses
An event based on interaction between the two communities in Cyprus promoting the themes of individuality, respect, tolerance, acceptance, human rights, shared lives, and shared space. At intervals on Arasta (North Cyprus) and Ledra Street (South Cyprus) which meet at the border, 50,000 poems (originals with English translations) submitted by 300+ poets from over 30 different countries and printed on lightweight paper were placed in large, 2m-diameter helium balloons at intervals. During this street event at 17:30 on May 26, 2012, as the balloons were burst and the poems showered down on the streets, poems were recited, music was performed, there were dramatic performances, and members of the public read aloud chosen poems, and/or pinned them to “wishing areas” at the border crossings. The event was broadcast live on local television and the internet.
Ideogramma is a non-profit organization established in Cyprus in 2006. It has staged poetry events every year in March, and in 2009 and 2010 ran a European Culture 2007–2013 program with six events in four European countries. Ideogramma is run by Nora Hadjisotiriou (marketing & pr consultant, event organizer and administrator) and Lily Michaelides (poet and writer, event organizer).
2012, May 24
Workshop: “Video Art – From its Beginnings Until Now”
– conducted by Carmen Beckenbach
A workshop comprising close to 5 hours of video and discussions was conducted by Carmen Beckenbach in Sidestreets’ Audio Visual Room on May 24, 2012. The works were screened in their original languages and the discussions were held in English.
Carmen Beckenbach is a free-lance art historian. She was a scholarly researcher at the ZKM (Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany) from 2002-2005 in the area of the media museum and international\media\art\award. She worked as a lecturer at Unisinos (Brazil) in 2006 and at the Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda in 2007. In texts, lectures and workshops she deals with contemporary art and new media art. In addition, she was the curator of the travel exhibition "Speaking to One Another: Personal Memories of the Past in Armenia and Turkey" which was shown at the Goethe-Institut, Nicosia in May 2012. She lives in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Works screened
– Bruce Nauman, Bouncing in the Corner #1 (1968;01:00:00)
– John Baldessari, I Am Making Art (1971; 00:19:03)
– Nam June Paik, Global Groove (1973; 00:28:40)
– Marina Abramovic, Art must be beautiful (1975; 00:14:05)
– Bill Viola, The Reflecting Pool (1977/80; 00:07:00)
– Dara Birnbaum, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman (1978; 00:05:41)
– Dieter Kiessling, Fallende Scheibe 1, 3 & 4 (1986-92; 00:02:52)
– Fischli & Weiss, Der Lauf der Dinge (1987; 00:29:57)
– Sadie Benning, Jollies (1992; 00:11:00)
– Pipilotti Rist, Pickelporno (1992; 00:12:00)
– Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Tänään (Today) (1996; 00:09:30)
– Daniel Pflumm, questions & answers (1997; 00:30:00)
– Chris Cunningham, Come to Daddy (1998; 00:05:50)
– Annika Larsson, Dog (2001; 00:16:00)
– Walid Ra’ad (The Atlas Group), Hostage: The Bachar Tapes (2001; 00:16:27)
– Matthew Barney, The Order [Film Version from Cremaster 3] (2003; 00:28:30)
– Johan Grimonprez, Looking for Alfred (2005; 00:10:02)
– Nira Pereg Shabbat (2009; 00:12:00)
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Presentation: “Organizing Culture”
– Dr. Atila Türk, Department of Communication and Media Studies,Near East University
– in collaboration with The Civil Initiative for Preservation and Revitalization of the Cultural Heritage (in Turkish)
Professor Türk’s lecture on “Organizing Culture” discussed our own tales in terms of cultural poetics and organizing poetics, and suggested a range of new ideas for organizing awareness of citizenship and enlivening personal, civil and social life.
Atila Türk completed his Ph.D. in Political Science at Ankara University, and after the Turkish military coup d’état of 12 September 1980, continued his research on political science, Turkology, musicology, and military sociology in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 2000 he has been a lecturer at Near East University.
The Civil Initiative for Preservation and Revitalization of the Cultural Heritage aims "to take responsibility for creating a sense of ownership and raising awareness and sensitivities in order to preserve the cultural heritage for future generations.”
2012, March 25
Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #18
“The Kyrenia Shipwreck: Its History and Future Plans”
– Dr. Matthew Harpster
The northern Cypriot coastline experienced a flurry of underwater archaeological activity beginning in 1967 including surveys, the development and testing of underwater magnetometers and metal detectors and, particularly, the excavation of the 4th-century BC vessel near the town of Kyrenia. As a result of the events in the summer of 1974, however, all of this activity came to an unexpected and premature halt; archaeological activity in the northern portion of Cyprus since that time has been virtually absent.
The vessel excavated near Kyrenia, once a nexus of this activity and a significant representative of it, has suffered from this absence in a variety of ways. The management and curation of the assemblage has been intermittent, the exhibition is out of date, material in storage needs further stabilization, and the infrastructure is in need of repair. Prompted by these issues, the Kyrenia Shipwreck Collection Restoration Program began in 2011 to stabilize, revitalize and reinvigorate all aspects of the Kyrenia vessel and the exhibit, and similarly hopes to enhance the capacity and knowledge of the community to care for their cultural resources in the future.
After receiving his PhD with a specialty in Nautical Archaeology from Texas A&M University in 2005, Matthew Harpster was a Fellow at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 2006 to 2010, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University, in Famagusta, until he began his present position as the Director of the Kyrenia Shipwreck Collection Restoration Program. This international effort hopes to revitalize and care for the 4th-century BC collection artifacts excavated in the late 1960s, as well as the surrounding exhibition and infrastructure.
2012, March 24–26
!F ISTANBUL: The Istanbul Independent Film Festival in Cyprus
– in collaboration with If, the International Independent Film Festival in Istanbul
This was the third year of marathon live screenings of independent films from Istanbul in Cyprus through collaboration between Sidestreets and !F Istanbul.
On March 24-26, Sidestreets collaborated with !F Istanbul in its 11th International Independent Film Festival, together with 23 other centers in Turkey and the Middle East, with the aim of sharing a selection of highly acclaimed films with as wide an audience as possible, and facilitating a collective conversation “with a very innovative new digital technology, allowing films to travel great distances, unweighted by the canisters and reels that previously made such an enterprise both difficult and costly, without compromising on top-notch visual quality….
“In partnership with the acclaimed US-based cinema website The Auteurs, !F screened five of the festival’s most sought-after films in these locations concurrent with their weekend screenings in Istanbul… Many of the cities chosen do not have cinema theaters, and even the ones that do are often reliant on mainstream studio distribution of second or third run features….”
Program
March 24: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, dir. Marshall Curry (2011;
English with Turkish subtitles)
March 25: Terri, dir. Azazel Jacobs (2011; English with Turkish subtitles)
Ayten Amin, Amir Salama (2011; Arabic with Turkish subtitles)
March 26: Machete Language, dir. Kyzza Terrazas (2011; Spanish with Turkish
subtitles)
Turkish subtitles)
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International Women’s Day: Presentation of the Short Film “Women in Cyprus”
– in collaboration with Şebnem Elings Aydeniz and Marte Elings
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Sidestreets presented, in collaboration with independent film-makers Şebnem Elings Aydeniz and Marte Elings (Periscope AV Production and Consultancy: www.periscope.nl) a short film entitled “Women in Cyprus.”
This is the first phase of a project conceptualized as a trilogy by Şebnem Elings Aydeniz and being realized by Şebnem Elings Aydeniz and Marte Elings. The interviews used in this short presentation were in Turkish; they will be translated into English later, when the project is completed.
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2012, March 1 – April 14
– Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
The fifth phase of Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel’s Argilla project (2007-2012).
The first phase, “Argilla Animata I,” was exhibited in June 2007 in the "Third Annual Exhibition of the Ceramists Association of North Cyprus" at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Nicosia, North Cyprus. In this initial phase of the project (2007-2012), 50 small ceramic (raku) sculptures were created of fictional “creatures” in a range of different primeval organic. These were presented in museum-style glass cases as an exhibit of an archaeological “family,” with an enlarged photographic table categorizing them in terms of their forms. The title of the exhibition, “Argilla Animata,” alludes to the creation of the Golem of Judaic tradition out of “animated clay,” and hence to the process of artistic production; it also evokes the terminology of biological classification, and classification systems/museology in general. The exhibit parodied and foregrounded the arbitrariness of constructs of classification in the context of the island of Cyprus,where the rich archeological heritage and human legacy are contested by different communities with different and conflicting ideologies of history, identity and belonging.
The second phase, “Argilla Animata II,” was exhibited in Summer 2007 as part of “Art Unlimited” at the Bleu Galerie/Schloss Mahlberg, in Schönecken/Eifel, Germany. Here the exhibition space was an old family church in the grounds of a castle near the border between Germany and Luxembourg. The setting provided a new context: familial lineage as well as the Christian tradition of (genuine or created) holy relics. For this exhibition, a Latinate “scientific name” was given to each member of the family of 50 raku sculptures, and they were mapped and sketched on a family tree (a giant accordion-paper map, 3.5 x 2.0 m). The “creatures” were photographed, and a single mixed-media print was created of each one. A large wooden cross was constructed on the floor and covered with fresh green moss from the nearby forest. The tree/map and 50 prints were exhibited in the church as icons, and the ceramic sculptures were exhibited in various positions along the moss cross, appearing both as primeval organic creatures and as relics.
The third phase, “Argilla Animata III: Argilla Animata Cypria,” was a multimedia installation exhibited in July 2008 as part of “You Give – I Give’/Cyprus Week” at the Galerie Nikki Diana Marquardt in Paris, France. In this phase, the context was an art gallery exhibition for “Cyprus Week,” part of a “European Cultural Season” in Paris. This provided a triple framework: (1) European policies on Cyprus, such as the non-recognition of the territory of the north of the island and passports issued by the Turkish Cypriot community; (2) the objectification of Cyprus and its peoples by the European Community as objects of research and study; and (3) the framework of postcolonial intervention, as the history of Cyprus includes a history of French (Lusignan) colonialism (1192-1489). The “Argilla Animata Cypria” exhibition comprised three elements: first, the large, accordion-paper map (3.5 x 2.0 m) of the Latinate classification/family tree of the 50 raku sculpture-creatures; second, a limited-edition artists’ book which included photographs and poetic descriptions of the creatures and a text telling their story (an allegory of the Cypriot peoples who are treated almost as extinct creatures with archaeological values to be studied); and third, a large photographic display. This display consisted of fifteen 70 x100 cm photographs of recognizable sites in Paris such as city squares and building interiors, with photographically enlarged Cypriot Argillae graphically incorporated into them and occupying them on a massive scale as monuments, referencing and inverting the historical 300-year French Crusader dynasty’s occupation of Cyprus.
The fourth phase, Argilla Animata IV: “Positions Taken,” exhibited during September 3-15, 2008, took the form of a multimedia installation and Limited Edition Artists’ Book in “Looking Forward to Hearing From You” at Action Field Kodra 08 in Thessaloniki, Greece. The items exhibited at the Paris exhibition (“Argilla Animata Cypria”) were reconfigured at the site of a converted army barracks in former military camp Kodra, Kalamaria (Thessaloniki). This exhibition added a further layer of irony to the Argillae; the division and current political impasse in Cyprus can be traced back to a 1974 invasion and attempted military coup on the island by the military junta in Greece, which provoked military intervention and occupation by Turkey and the subsequent division of the island and nonrecognition of the Turkish Cypriot-administered area.
In this fifth phase, “Argilla Animata V: “’To RÜYA’ – Argilla Animata Cypria” at Sidestreets, a mixed-media exhibition brought to the public in Cyprus the original family of 50 raku sculpture-creatures, the mapping of their family tree, the artists’ book, and the 15 photographs of Argillae occupying public sites in Paris. The exhibition was now loaded with all the meanings and significations accreted through the travels and exhibitions of these creatures in different geographical locations and sites, and acquired the sense of a personal Cypriot travel narrative as well as a comment on the current politics of Cyprus.
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– Anber Onar and Johann Pillai
“This project, under the main heading of “Provocation,” … emerged from the embers of “The Chosen Tree” and “Phoenix Again,” earlier projects that set off the spark. The works were formed out of the traces of soot from a flickering candle. And these works by “Emin Çizenel” can be approached under another light: through the glimmering of meanings coded on abstract surfaces – in syncopated rhythm, scored by soot-strokes from a wandering candle-flame – to the gleams of a life of anarchical love and passion.
"Çizenel’s works of “Provocation” are an extraordinary postmodern reflection on the history of art and on contemporary issues, on the processes of memory and forgetting, and on history itself: they are formed out of traces of soot, a medium which is, paradoxically, both an integral part of the history of painting and writing, and the primary source of damage to art, which curators and restorers try to remove, so erasing from artworks the traces of their history. Çizenel’s work foregrounds soot as the very mark and trace of history, in a series of works that restore the aura to painting, as painting …
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has worked as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
2012, January 29
Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #17
“Towards the Defining Moment in Cyprus Peace Negotiations?”
– Dr. Ahmet Sözen
The 17th event in Sidestreets’ “Conversations on Culture” series was a presentation, “Towards the Defining Moment in Cyprus Peace Negotiations?” by Dr. Ahmet Sözen.
Prof. Sözen’s presentation was in three parts. He first provided a brief historical background on the inter-communal peace negotiations in Cyprus, focusing on the current round of negotiations, where he analyzed the areas of convergence between the two Cypriot leaders as well as the sticking issues in front of them. In the second part, he presented some of the results of island-wide public opinion polls that the Cyprus 2015 Initiative conducted to lay the grounds for answering the question: “Are the two communities ready for a comprehensive solution based on the established UN parameters?” In the last part, based on the analyses of the two earlier parts, Dr. Sözen talked about probable future scenarios for Cyprus. The presentation was followed by a question and answer session.
Ahmet Sözen is currently the Founding Director of the Cyprus Policy Center. He has taught at Eastern Mediterranean University (North Cyprus, 1994), the University of Missouri (USA, 1994-1999), Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey, 1997-98) and the University of Bahçeşehir (İstanbul, Turkey, 1999-2004). Dr. Sözen was an intern at the National Security Archive, Washington DC in 1993; he served as the director of ISTAM (the Istanbul Strategic Research Center) from 2000 to 2004, and is a regular analyst of the Politics Institute, Vienna. Educated in Conflict Resolution in various countries including the US and Cyprus, he has been invited to instruct and hold seminars on Conflict Resolution around the world and worked on international projects under such sponsors as TESEV ("Analysis of the Annan Plan") and IMF ("Integration of Turkey with Financial Markets." Dr. Sözen is a member of the International Studies Association (ISA) and the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM); he is a referee for International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives and Turkish Studies, and he is also a reviewer for such international academic journals as Turkish Studies and the International Journal of Middle East Studies.
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2012, January 2
Presentation: “Bedri Rahmi’s Lost Mosaic Wall: Metaphors for a New Republic.” Anglo-Turkish Association, Kyrenia, North Cyprus.
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This updated presentation based on Sidestreets’ research project, and with a focus on the 1960 Cyprus Fair and its aftermath, was given for the expatriate community in Kyrenia at the invitation of the Anglo-Turkish Association.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. This is a key moment for looking at Turkey’s relationship to Europe and Cyprus in its socio-cultural and historical context.
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2011, December 15
Presentation: “Kayıp Mozaik Duvar.” [The Lost Mosaic Wall].
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu 100 Yaşında Semposyumu [Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu 100th Year Symposium]. Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey. December 15.
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This updated presentation in Turkish, based on Sidestreets’ research project, was given at the invitation of the organizers of the Bedri Rahmi 100th Year Symposium, as part of a panel that included family members and former friends of the artist.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. This is a key moment for looking at Turkey’s relationship to Europe and Cyprus in its socio-cultural and historical context.
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2011, November 25
Presentation: “Bedri Rahmi’s Mosaic Wall in Cyprus: A Politics of Difference vs. a Politics of Sameness.” Enorasis Socio-Cultural Club, Nicosia, Cyprus.
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This updated presentation, based on Sidestreets’ research project, and with a focus on the 1960 Cyprus Fair and its aftermath, was given for members of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot community in Nicosia at the invitation of the Enorasis Socio-Cultural Club.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. This is a key moment for looking at Turkey’s relationship to Europe and Cyprus in its socio-cultural and historical context.
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Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #16
“Venetian Architecture and Spolia in Famagusta: Pragmatic or Programmatic?”
– Dr. Allan Langdale
The 16th event in Sidestreets’ Conversations on Culture series in Kyrenia was a presentation on “Venetian Architecture and Spolia in Famagusta: Pragmatic or Programmatic?” by Dr. Allan Langdale.
The presentation explored how the Venetians may have used architectural and sculptural artifacts from Salamis in the main square of the city of Famagusta. It focused on the triple arched gateway to the Palazzo del Proveditore, the ‘Tomb of Venus’, a sculpted bench set up along the square’s south flank, and the two free-standing columns in the cathedral square. The specific case of reused materials from Salamis showed how the Venetians reproduced not only a familiar built environment in Famagusta, their most distant colonial outpost, but also how they imbued this environment with signs of Venetian predestination and authority. Examples from Venetian Crete helped in interpreting the material from Famagusta. Ultimately, the presentation addressed how the Venetians propagated the ‘Myth of Venice’ in their colonial towns.
Allan Langdale has published six articles on the art and architecture of northern Cyprus and, with Dan Frodsham, wrote, directed, and produced the award winning documentary film The Stones of Famagusta: the Story of a Forgotten City. He has just completed a guide to the archaeology and historical architecture of northern Cyprus, which will be published early in 2012. Dr. Langdale has taught art history at EMU and at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
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2011, September 30 – October 21
Film Series: Sports and Inspirations
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Austria
Sidestreets, in collaboration with the Embassy of Austria, presented a series of inspirational Austrian documentary films on sports and achievement stories as a way of promoting motivation and a sense of identity; and to recognize and contribute to the international NGO Peace Players, who are doing important work to promote sports as a form of collaboration between the peoples of Cyprus. All films were screened in their original language with English subtitles.
The first screening (Mount St. Elias) was held at the Arabahmet Cultural Center in Nicosia with an entrance fee, all proceeds to benefit the Peace Players as a gesture of good will and appreciation for their work; the other three films were screened at Sidestreets free of charge.
PeacePlayers – Cyprus (PPI–CY; www.peaceplayersintl.org/locations/cyprus) is a locally led, independently registered charity in Cyprus that uses the game of basketball to allow 11-15 year-old Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play together, learn together and build positive relationships that overcome generations of mistrust and formidable physical barriers to interaction. PPI – CY is currently the only year-round bicommunal youth sports organization on the island. By facilitating regular, frequent, and structured interaction, it helps reverse prejudices built steadily over years in segregated communities and fosters the long-term trust necessary for true friendship. In its 2011 programmatic year, PPI – CY was working with over 320 children.
Program
September 30: Mount St. Elias, dir. Gerald Salmina; 100’. Arabahmet Cultural Center
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– coordinated by Erhan Öze
– in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Siegen, Germany, and the Clear Village Foundation, England
On September 17-22, 2011, Sidestreets held a five-day workshop series in Nicosia for students from the University of Siegen, organized around an urban case study in the old town of Nicosia. Its aim was to spark some new ideas on how to approach the social transformation and rehabilitation of the old town, taking as a starting point one of the worst affected parts, Ay Yıldız (Agios Lucas), was chosen.
Coordinated by architect Erhan Öze, the scheduled events included presentations by Professors Dietrich Pressel and Uli Exner (Registered Architects, Hesse Architectural Association Germany) from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Siegen, Alice Holmberg from the Clear Village Foundation in England, Anber Onar and Johann Pillai from Sidestreets, Onur Olguner from Olguner Design Studio in Nicosia, Layık Topcan from the Nicosia City Planning Office, and Ali Çağlar, the UNDP’s Senior Technical Officer responsible for restoration projects in Nicosia.
Workshop Program
September 17: Guided Tour of Nicosia; Site Mapping Workshop and lecture at Sidestreets
September 18: Site Mapping Workshop and two lectures at Sidestreets
at Sidestreets
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2011, September 7
Book Launch: Onay Fadıl Demirciler: The Story of an Era and a Life devoted to Eastern Mediterranean University [Onay Fadıl Demirciler: Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi’nin, Bir Dönemin ve Bir Yaşamın Öyküsü] (in Turkish)
– in collaboration with the authors and Eastern Mediterranean University
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2011, June 25
Presentation: “The Lost Mosaic Wall: A Bridge Between Cultures in Cyprus.”
Cyprus Academic Dialogue Conference, Agros, Cyprus.
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This updated presentation, based on Sidestreets’ research project, was given at the invitation of the organizers of the Cyprus Academic Dialogue Conference, Agros, Cyprus, for Greek and Turkish Cypriot academics working on the Cyprus Conflict.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. This is a key moment for looking at Turkey’s relationship to Europe and Cyprus in its socio-cultural and historical context.
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Installation: “Readers’ Road” Bookstore Awarenesss Campaign
– with Sidestreets’ Poet-in Residence, Rıdvan Arifoğlu
The ’’’Readers’ Road’ at Sidestreets’’ project lasted for four months during the summer of 2011. This project in north Nicosia was designed as part of a larger project to map the “invisible cities” of the capital and promote literacy and reading.
The project began with research into and construction of a database of photographs, stories, and records of the owners (or their descendants/relatives) of all the bookstores that have existed up to the present in the walled city of Nicosia. The exhibition space of Sidestreets was then turned into the space of a bookstore, with all the shelves and items (new and secondhand books, children’s books, records, CDs and memorabilia) of an existing bookstore, “Readers’ Road,” which was in the process of moving online.
The exhibition became a focal point in the city center for reading and the exchange of ideas; in addition to making sales and exchanges, it functioned as a library for inner-city children, and as a place where the general public could meet with authors such as Rıdvan Arifoğlu, Mehmet Yaşın, Hakkı Yücel, Harid Fedai and many others; seminars and informal talks were held in the natural environment of a bookstore; and guest poets, writers and journalists frequently visited and generated discussions.
The installation was supplemented by a book launch on September 7 (Onay Fadıl Demirciler: The Story of an Era and a Life devoted to Eastern Mediterranean University); and at the end of the project Sidestreets received a substantial donation of children’s and other books from “Readers’ Road,” with which it expanded its library.
2011, May 15
Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #15
"’Runaway Dreams’: The Story of Mama’s Boys and Celtus”
(presentation & musical performance)
– Dr. Michael Walsh
Dr. Michael Walsh’s new book, Runaway Dreams, tells the story of brothers Pat, John and Tommy McManus who, together, wrote their own chapter in the history of rock music. From a farmhouse in Derrylin, Northern Ireland, and a family steeped in the traditions of Irish folk music, the three brothers set out at the height of ‘The Troubles’ to make their mark on a world stage. Given an early leg up by Barry Devlin of Horslips, then by Hawkwind and Wishbone Ash, their success was assured when Phil Lynott chose Mama’s Boys to accompany Thin Lizzy on their farewell tour. The band went on to circuit the world many times over, sharing the stages with the likes of Deep Purple, Rush, Sting, Black Sabbath, Rory Gallagher, and Foreigner; and touring in the company of Twisted Sister, Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Ratt and Bon Jovi.
At the height of their success tragedy struck the band when youngest brother, Tommy, after years of struggle, died of leukemia at the age of 28. There could be no Mama’s Boys without Tommy, and yet it was unthinkable for the two remaining brothers not to play on. After a brief hiatus therefore, the music and the successes continued with Pat and John’s new venture, Celtus. Playing their debut at the Royal Albert Hall, the band went on to win the 1998 Irish World Music Award, ahead of U2, The Corrs and Enya, and toured with Sheryl Crow, Deacon Blue, Paul Carrack and Jimmy Nail. Their final performance was with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Runaway Dreams is the story of a band of brothers who, through passion, talent, loyalty and determination, became cultural icons in Ireland and in the words of Mary Anne Hobbs “living, breathing Irish history.”
Michael J. K. Walsh is an art historian and the author of several books and numerous articles, on topics ranging from modern British art to the cultural heritage of Cyprus. Dr. Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, completed his undergraduate work at Leicester Polytechnic and his graduate work at St. Andrews, Cambridge, and York University; he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is known internationally for his authoritative works in the field of art history and also as an activist who has been making things happen for the preservation of cultural heritage sites in Cyprus; it was through his efforts that in 2007 the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund.
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2011, May 12
Poetry Reading
– Peter Curman, introduced by poet Neşe Yaşın
Peter Curman was born in Stockholm in 1941. His first selection of poetry appeared in 1965, and since then he has published twelve books of poetry, debate books, anthologies, and one love novel (Metdown, 1998). Together with Ingemar Lindahl he also translated John Lennon’s “In his own write” (1965). A Turkish translation of his poetry book Northern Breezes was published in Turkish in 2004 (Istanbul: Berfin Yayınları). Peter Curman was for many years the President of the Swedish Writers’ Union (1987-95) and has recently been serving as the Chairman of the Swedish Joint Committee for Literary and Artistic Professionals, an umbrella organization for 18 creative unions representing the cultural scene of Sweden. He was one of the driving forces behind the literary cruises in the Baltic Sea in 1992 and in the Black Sea and the Aegean in 1994 that resulted in the creation of two Writers´ and Translators´ Centers under the auspices of UNESCO, on the Swedish island of Gotland and the Greek island of Rhodes respectively. Peter Curman is also the initiator of the Swedish digital printing house PODIUM—an initiative aimed at introducing new technology—print-on-demand—to distribute new literature in limited editions as well as worldwide (www.podium.nu).
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2011, April 25
Presentation: “Expo 58’den Kıbrıs’a: Kayıp Mozaik Duvar” [From Expo ’58 to Cyprus: the Lost Mosaic Wall]. Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey.
This updated presentation in Turkish, based on Sidestreets’ research project, was given at the invitation of the university where the artist of the wall was once a professor, for former students of the artist, some of his relatives and former colleagues, and actors in the story, as well as the general public.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus.
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2011, April 14
Cyprus Film Premiere: Mürid
– in collaboration with the directors-writers,cinematographer and producer
On April 14, 2011, Sidestreets presented the North Cyprus premiere of the documentary film Mürid, which, through interviews, follows the thought process and life story of a young American man who joined a colourful but reclusive Sufi sect led by the mysterious Sheikh Nazim in Cyprus.
The screening was followed by a cocktail where the audience had a chance to meet with Yeliz Shukri (Director/co-script writer), Simon Bahceli (Assistant Director/co-script writer), Simon Hustings (Cinematographer and Editor), and Stavros Papageorghiou - Producer (Tetraktys Films).
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2011, April 13–22
Photography Exhibition: Dumanex
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
An exhibition by two young Turkish Cypriot photographers, Kerim Belet and Tağmaç Çankaya. This was an exhibition of images of smoke that contain within them a mixture of metaphors evoking different meanings and images from life, such as escaping, disseminating, communicating, getting lost, flying, dirtying, and smelling.
The photographers worked to transform audience perception by representing these metaphors visually: their photographs use the language of photography to go beyond simple photographic representations of reality, abstracting the ideas of framing and perspective and creating images of atmospheric possibilities. The result is a photography that evokes moods and moments, and whose message emerges through the various connotations and contradictions that arise in the context of smoke.
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2011, April 3
Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #14
“’The Past in Pieces’: A Reading and Discussion.”
– Dr. Rebecca Bryant
On April 23, 2003, to the surprise of much of the world, the ceasefire line that divides Cyprus opened. After almost three decades of closure, the opening was a euphoric moment that led to expectations of reunification. But within a year Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected at referendum a United Nations plan to reunite the island, despite their Turkish compatriots’ support for the plan.
InThe Past in Pieces, Bryant tells the story of the opening through the voices and lives of the people of one town that has experienced conflict. Bryant uses research in one formerly mixed town in northern Cyprus in order to understand both experiences of life together before conflict and the ways in which the dissolution of that shared life is remembered today. By examining the ways the past is rewritten in the present, Bryant explores why the momentous event of the opening has not led Cyprus any closer to reunification, and indeed in many ways has driven the two communities of the island further apart.
Rebecca Bryant is Associate Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University and Visiting Associate Professor at Middle East Technical University’s Cyprus campus. She is a cultural anthropologist who has been conducting research on both sides of the Green Line since 1993. She is the author of Imagining the Modern: The Cultures of Nationalism in Cyprus (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004) and of The Past in Pieces: Belonging in the New Cyprus (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010). The latter work examines the ways in which Cypriots have been rethinking the past and relationships to place since the 2003 opening of the checkpoints.
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2011, April 1
Multimedia Poetry and Video Performance: "Memory in the Dead Zone"
– with Alev Adil
A performance by Alev Adil, described by reviewers as “a multi-cultural poet of exceptional originality” this is both a multimedia retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and an autobiographical performance which explores memory and the performance of becoming Cypriot through poetry, myth, home movies, photographs, remembered songs, the imagined spaces of Cyprus and the digital detritus of the 21st century. Memory becomes opaque while as the performance makes a story about the mediated evidence that summons memory, the faded images, the home movies marked by multiple translations from super 8 film to video to DVD, remixed pop songs and fragments of film.
Based in London, where she is Chair of the Department of Communication and Creative Arts at Greenwich University, Alev Adil is widely published in literary and critical journals, and has performed at venues from the British Museum to Radio 4 and Channel 4 television. Her poetry has been described as “fractured narratives of love, loss, longing, exile and collision,” and her collection Venus Infers as “both a passport and a trip to new and unimagined communities.”
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2011, March 29 – April 6
Film Festival of the Green Line II
– in collaboration with Panicos Chrysanthou and the Cyprus Film Archive
The Second Film Festival of the Green Line, organized in collaboration with Panicos Chrysanthou and the Cyprus Film Archive, featured six award-winning films from Yugoslavia, Israel/Palestine, Albania/Greece, Italy/Switzerland/Germany, Greece, and Turkey.
Program
March 29: The Powder Keg (aka Cabaret Balkan), dir. Goran Paskaljevic (Yugoslavia,
1998; Serbian with English subtitles)
Zexer, Murat Nassar, Eti Tsico, Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Gasi Abu
Baker, Aya Somech, Eitan Sarid (Israel, Palestine, 2010; Hebrew/Arabic
with English subtitles)
Germany,
subtitles)
Panicos Chrysanthou (b.1951, Kythrea, Cyprus) is a Greek Cypriot filmmaker and documentarian. After studying literature and philosophy at the University of Athens, he worked in Cyprus as a film critic, curator of the Nicosia Film Club and the Cyprus Film Archive, and as a director of the art cinema "Studio" in Nicosia. He worked as an assistant director and executive producer in Greek and Cypriot films before making his own films, such as the documentaries A Detail in Cyprus (1987) and The Footprints of Aphrodite (1998). Chrysanthou’s 1993 film Our Wall received the Abdi İpekçi Peace Award; and he co-directed the documentary Parallel Trips (2003) with Turkish Cypriot film-maker Derviş Zaim, who produced Chrysanthou’s feature film Akamas (2006).
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2011, March 13
Sidestreets’ directors Johann Pillai and Anber Onar attended the “2011 March Meeting” of the Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where Johann Pillai presented a paper on a planned Sidestreets project, “Immigrant Spaces and Pervasive Mapping.”
“This project is to recover and create an alternative living map and archive of the "invisible" spaces of art and architecture in the divided city of Nicosia, through personal recollections of individuals and communities occupying them historically as well as in the present.
The political history of Cyprus, with its focus on conquests and leaders and propaganda, has eclipsed the country’s artistic and cultural heritage with the result that the population has, for the most part, lost its connection to the land and its spaces, which carry the cultural memories/traces of civilizations - Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, Lusignan, Venetian, British, Ottoman - as well as the current lives of immigrants whose identities range from Armenians to Kurds to Arabic-speaking Turks.
The project involves (1) historical research, (2) personal interviews/digital storytelling with residents, immigrants and transients (3) an oral history archive, (4) web archiving, (5) publication, both academic and for the general public, and (6) also the use of pervasive media technology to set up publicly accessible nodes of interaction around the city (mobile phone/GPS), to foreground the lost artistic/cultural heritage through recorded personal stories and images, to repopulate the invisible city.
The project intervenes in the political history and current agendas of Cyprus by foregrounding alternative microhistories of art and culture as well as lived experience, breaking the limited idea of "bicommunality" that dominates political discussions and conflict resolution in Cyprus and reclaiming its artistic and cultural history for the other civilizations that constitute a broader Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and world heritage
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!F ISTANBUL: The Istanbul Independent Film Festival in Cyprus
– in collaboration with If, the International Independent Film Festival in Istanbul
On February 20-21, Sidestreets collaborated with !F Istanbul in its 10th International Independent Film Festival, together with 23 other centers in Turkey and the Middle East, with the aim of sharing a selection of highly acclaimed films with as wide an audience as possible, and facilitating a collective conversation “with a very innovative new digital technology, allowing films to travel great distances, unweighted by the canisters and reels that previously made such an enterprise both difficult and costly, without compromising on top-notch visual quality….“In partnership with the acclaimed US-based cinema website The Auteurs, !F screened five of the festival’s most sought-after films in these locations concurrent with their weekend screenings in Istanbul… Many of the cities chosen do not have cinema theaters, and even the ones that do are often reliant on mainstream studio distribution of second or third run features….”
Program
Feb. 25: Women Are Heroes, dir. JR (2010; Portuguese, English; with English subtitles)
Feb. 26: Four Lions, dir. Christopher Morris (UK, 2010; English; with Turkish subtitles)
Solomonoff (Argentina, Spain, France, 2009; Spanish with English subtitles)
Persian; with English subtitles)
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Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #13
“Michel Foucault’s ‘Madness and Civilization’: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
Johann Pillai’s visual presentation, the third and final one in a Sidestreets series of three on Michel Foucault (earlier talks focused on Foucault’s study of medical perception, “The Birth of the Clinic”; and on his study of the development of penal systems, “Discipline and Punish”) provided a clear and accessible overview of this brilliant philosopher’s work on the relations between madness and insanity, which has been described by reviewers as “superb scholarship rendered with artistry.”
“Madness and Civilization”: “What does it mean to be mad? In recent years the question of madness and how to define it has become the center of a great deal of discussion. This is the question Michel Foucault seeks to answer by studying madness from 1500 to 1800 – from the Middle Ages when insanity was considered part of everyday life and fools and madmen walked the streets, to the point when these people began to be considered a threat, asylums were built for the first time, and a wall was created between the insane and the rest of humanity.”
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, sociologist, historian and professor of the “History of Systems of Thought” at the Collège de France, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California at Berkeley. His major works include social histories of prisons, medical perception, insanity, and sexuality. In 2007, the Times Higher Education Guide listed Michel Foucault as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.
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Exhibition: Berlin Notes
– Emin Çizenel
An exhibition of works by Emin Çizenel. “In 2007, when the artist was in Berlin for an art meeting, different ways of thinking , feeling, and detecting entered the process, shaping it so that a new series of paintings emerged. These can be understood almost as if they were developments arising from ‘notes in a diary.’ In other words, they were projected traces of the artist’s perceptions of this city: small paintings, created out of hand-made paper, collages and other, very different materials, from which larger paintings on paper emerged later. The works were not created with a single, particular concept in mind and are very distinct from each other; taken together they could be read as the ‘sensibilities of a traveler.’ On the other hand, the process of producing these paintings has transformed them into a language derived from a certain geographical space and a sense of belonging; that is, from the problematics experienced by the artist over 40 years, both as aspects of the island of Cyprus and as pivoting around issues of identity, shaped by multiple layers of intellectual sensations.
”Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in local and international exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2010, October 31
Presentation: Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #12
“Bedri Rahmi – The Lost Mosaic Wall”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
This early presentation based on Sidestreets’ research project was given for the expatriate community in Kyrenia.
The presentation traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. This is a key moment for looking at Turkey’s relationship to Europe and Cyprus in its socio-cultural and historical context.
2010, October 6 – November 30
Exhibition: Bedri Rahmi, The Lost Mosaic Wall: From Expo ’58 to Cyprus
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel; research by Johann Pillai
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Turkey in Cyprus
On October 6, 2010 a seminar by Dr. Johann Pillai inaugurated the exhibition at Sidestreets (7.00pm) of Bedri Rahmi, The Lost Mosaic Wall: From Expo ’58 to Cyprus curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel.The results of a comprehensive investigation conducted by Sidestreets on Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu’s award-winning mosaic wall from the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair were revealed for the first time in an exhibition and a unique book.
This was a major exhibition of a lost work by Bedri Rahmi (1911-1975), one of the main figures in Turkish art and literary history of the 20th Century, and this work has great significance for reading the socio-political history of Cyprus and Turkey as well as the current situation in Cyprus, Turkey and Europe. Although Bedri Rahmi’s wall is mentioned in numerous articles and books on art history and architecture and has been a controversial subject of discussion in newspapers over the last 50 years, the full story was only discovered through Sidestreets’ research: large sections of the wall were found in Cyprus, and most of it has now been digitally reconstructed.
The (lost) mosaic wall was a very large artwork commissioned for the Turkish pavilion in Brussels at Expo 58: a 100-meter long, 227 meter-square mosaic wall. The (now lost) pavilion itself was the first modern prefabricated Turkish building, designed by Turkish architects and built by Belgian and French firms. The wall was awarded the Grand Prix at Expo 58. After the fair, through a series of events which Sidestreets’ research uncovered, most of the wall appeared in Cyprus. It was brought to Cyprus at the birth of the Republic, and exhibited in Nicosia at a now forgotten Cyprus Fair in which Greece, Turkey, Israel and Italy participated; since then it has made fragmentary appearances in Cyprus in various forms and functions through ethnic conflicts, military coups, war, and peace.
As the wall originated in Brussels and its first appearance in Cyprus marked the beginning of the Republic of Cyprus, the stories which lie behind the cultural heritage reveal a great deal about the politics of these countries. Its current relevance comes partially from the fact that the wall, which represented the first international and public presentation from Turkey of a logic of pluralism and multiculturalism, was lost after Expo 58 and never exhibited in Turkey, but was seen as bringing the two communities of Cyprus together at the beginning of the Republic.
Sidestreets traced the path of the wall to Cyprus, researched its route and its sociopolitical context, and through this presentation and exhibition of its remains in the form of a monumental fragmentation, provided a fresh and unique opportunity to rethink the very nature of walls.
Sidestreets also published a 171-page bilingual book by Dr. Johann Pillai on the Lost Mosaic Wall, which was made available for the first time at the exhibition. The book traces the history of the wall over the last fifty years, bringing the untold histories of Cyprus and Turkey to life, and providing, between the lines, an unusual and telling commentary on the current socio-politics of Cyprus and Turkey.
Johann Pillai’s visual presentation “From Expo ’58 to Cyprus: Bedri Rahmi’s Lost Mosaic Wall,” developed each time and with new material added, was given by request at Sidestreets on the following dates:
· October 6: for the Exhibition Opening: bilingual English/Turkish presentation,
attended by the Turkish Ambassador Mr. Kaya Türkmen.
· November 9: for writers from Turkey at the “Turkish Literature in Cyprus” week
(in Turkish).
· November 12: for the Turkish Minister of Culture, Ertuğrul Günay, officials and the
press (in Turkish).
· November 13: for participants in the conference on Cyprus organized by PRIO,
the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (in English).
· November 24: for the Nicosia Rotary Inner Wheel Women’s Association of North
Cyprus (in Turkish).
· November 29: for the Kyrenia Rotary Club (in Turkish).
· December 1: for diplomats, including the Belgian Ambassador to Cyprus, and
representatives of the German Embassy and the European
Commission (in English).
2010, September 16
“From Expo ’58 to Cyprus: Bedri Rahmi’s Lost Mosaic Wall.”
ARIT (American Research Institute in Turkey), Istanbul, Turkey.
– Dr. Johann Pillai
“Some fifty years ago one of the most significant works in the history of Turkish art and architecture disappeared.”
This second presentation in Turkey of the full story of a lost moment of Turkish art and architectural history, based on Sidestreets’ research project, was given at the invitation of ARIT in Istanbul to an audience of researchers, art and art historians and academics.
It traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. The presentation combined personal histories, interviews, news stories and historical narratives in an extraordinary tale of detection and discovery woven around art and architecture that spans over fifty years of the social and cultural histories of Turkey and Cyprus.
2010, September 15
“From Expo ’58 to Cyprus: Bedri Rahmi’s Lost Mosaic Wall.”
ARIT (American Research Institute in Turkey), Ankara, Turkey.
– Dr. Johann Pillai“
Some fifty years ago one of the most significant works in the history of Turkish art and architecture disappeared.”This first presentation in Turkey of the full story of a lost moment of Turkish art and architectural history, based on Sidestreets’ research project, was given at the invitation of ARIT in Ankara to an audience of researchers, art and art historians and academics.
It traced to the present, through historical mishaps and the political mayhem of wars, military coups and chance discoveries, the trials and tribulations of the 227 square-meter mosaic wall by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu for the Turkish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the eventual appearance of its remnants in Cyprus. The presentation combined personal histories, interviews, news stories and historical narratives in an extraordinary tale of detection and discovery woven around art and architecture that spans over fifty years of the social and cultural histories of Turkey and Cyprus.
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2010, June 21 – 25
Sidestreets Artistic and Cultural Education Program for Disadvantaged Youth
– conducted by Johann Pillai, Anber Onar and Mine Kök
– in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
To develop learning outside the classroom, Sidestreets organized and conducted a week-long summer program for 60 “Micro-Access” students aged 13-17, themed around social responsibility and civil organizations, with additional activities involving sports and crafts. The purpose was to raise the students’ awareness, help them understand networking, diagnosing and thinking about their own prejudices and cultural prejudices while rethinking the issues in society, and stimulate their interest in humanistic issues.
· Understanding the work of NGOs (Students were broken up into groups for interactive seminars, discussions and workshops with four instructors from NGOs, including the North Cyprus Human Rights Foundation.)
· Sports and Recreation (Students were taken for two afternoons to sports facilities offsite. Activities included swimming and theater animation.)
· Origami Workshop (Students were divided into two groups and given a seminar on the history of paper and the art of origami, after which they again assembled in groups and learned how to make a range of origami shapes and figures.)
· Compasito Workshop on Intercultural Human Rights (Students were involved in playing games with an intercultural and participatory approach to understanding their own prejudices regarding the themes of citizenship, democracy, discrimination, gender equality, health and welfare, participation, peace and conflict, poverty and social exclusion, and violence.)
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2010, June 15 – July 17
Exhibition: Insects
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
An exhibition of sculptures in large, organic, insect-like forms by sculptor Baki Boğaç. The works were mostly constructed out of metal and stone; phosphorescent paint was applied on some surfaces, allowing the organicity of the forms to appear animated under black lighting. The arrangement of the whole took the shape of an installation, complete with sound and drama.
Baki Boğaç was born in 1951 in Larnaca, Cyprus. He completed his studies in the Architecture Department at Istanbul Technical University, where he worked with sculptor Yavuz Görey and painter Şadan Beyaziş. While working as an architect, he also made time for his work in sculpture, which he considered an important part of his life. He has participated in numerous national and international group and solo exhibitions; and he is the recipent of five national painting and sculpture prizes in North Cyprus. His work can be found in various state and private collections. He currently works in the Pygmalion Sculpture Studio, which he established in Famagusta, Cyprus, in 2000.
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2010, May 30
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #11
“Voluptuous Bristle”: A lecture punctuated with poetry
– Dr. Ravi Shankar
Poet, critic, editor and professor Ravi Shankar, a visiting faculty member at Eastern Mediterranean University for Spring 2010, read from some of his work, including transliterations from the Sanskrit, collaborations with other poets, erasures, mash ups and sestinas, traversing a wide range of poetic possibility. As the founding editor of one of the oldest electronic journals of literature, Drunken Boat, he considered the potentialities that exist for electronic literature, and as the editor of a Norton anthology that gathered together 450 poets from 61 countries writing in over 40 different languages, he talked about the trajectories and shapes of non-Western poetries, including the role translation plays in contemporary discourse. Shankar’s talk included a discusion of how that most ancient of genres, poetry, situates itself in the mediated and constantly shifting global landscape; and he punctuated his comments with performances of new poems, some of which were debuted at Sidestreets.
Ravi Shankar is Associate Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Central Connecticut State University and the founding editor of the international online journal of the arts, Drunken Boat, http://www.drunkenboat.com. He has published a book of poems, Instrumentality (Cherry Gove), named a finalist for the 2005 Connecticut Book Awards, and with Reb Livingston, a collaborative chapbook, Wanton Textiles (No Tell Books, 2006). He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Center for the Book, reviews poetry for the Contemporary Poetry Review and along with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, he edited Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond (W.W Norton & Co.), described as “a beautiful achievement for world literature” by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. He is the recipient of a Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (CCT) FY09 Fellowship in Poetry, fellowships from Breadloaf, the MacDowell Colony and the Blue Mountain Center, and a Pushcart Prize; he has also served as a commentator on National Public Radio and on the BBC. His two chapbooks of poetry came out in 2010, including a collaboration with late American artist Sol LeWitt, Seamless Matter (Rain Taxi) and Voluptuous Bristle (Finishing Line), which won the 2010 National Poetry Review Prize. He is currently on the faculty of Eastern Mediterranean University, the Stonecoast Writers Conference and the first international MFA program in Creative Writing at the City University of Hong Kong. He has performed his work around the world, including at the Asia Society, PEN India, St. Mark’s Poetry Project and the National Arts Club.
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Bookplate Exhibition: Ex-libris
– curated by Senih Çavuşoğlu and Ümit İnatçı
Curated by Senih Çavuşoğlu and Ümit İnatcı, this was the opening of the “1st International Ex-libris Competition – N. Cyprus 2010,” an exhibition of 174 bookplates (prints), four of which were the prize winners and ten of which received an honourable mention in the competition. In addition, twenty of the bookplates exhibited were created by graphic artist Martin R. Baeyens; the rest were works submitted for the competition which the jury felt deserved to be exhibited.
Senih Çavuşoğlu (b. Paphos, Cyprus, 1969) completed his doctorate in graphic design in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Hacettepe University in Ankarai Turkey, and has been teaching since 1998 at Eastern Mediterranean University, where he is the Chair of the Department of Visual Arts and Communication Design. He is the recipient of numerous awards in Cyprus and Turkey for his graphic design work.
Ümit İnatçı (b. Limassol, Cyprus, 1960) began his higher education at the Holborn Center School of Art and Design in London and then traveled to Italy, where he graduated from the Pietro Vannucci Academy of Fine Arts in 1984. İnatçı has participated in numerous exhibitions in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and has received many awards for his work in painting, photography and graphics design. He is currently based in Cyprus, where he lectures at Eastern Mediterranean University and also writes regularly for the Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Afrika.
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2010, April 25
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #10
“Dinner for One and Humor Across Cultures.”
– Dr. Holger Briel
The tenth event in Sidestreets’ Conversations on Culture series in Kyrenia was a presentation by Dr. Holger Briel on “Dinner for One and Humor Across Cultures.” The presentation included a screening of the classic short film Dinner for One (“The 90th Birthday”) and a discussion which considered a range of questions in relation to the film: How does humor translate? What is so specific about British humor? What is its history and its perfomance? And why is it a big hit abroad? How does it differ from American humour? And German humor? What mechanisms are at work when a piece is received in a foreign country? And what role do the media play in this reception?
Dinner for One (The 90th Birthday/Der 90 Geburtstag) is a comedy sketch for the theater written in the 1920s by British author Lauri Wylie. Practically unknown in Britain, it has become a New Year’s Eve cult classic in Germany (where up to half the population watches it every year), the Nordic countries, Switzerland, Australia and South Africa, since the 18-minute film version (recorded in English) premiered on German television in 1963. Listed in the 1995 Guiness Book of Records as the most frequently repeated television program ever, Dinner for One has been the subject of a range of parodies, interpretations and cultural analyses.
Holger Briel completed his studies at Eberhardt-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, the University of Michigan, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Nicosia, and has published widely in the fields cultural studies, critical theory and visual communication. His books include Intercultural Visual Literacy (London: Sage, 2010) and Glocal Media and the Balkans (Skopje: Blesok, 2009).
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2010, March 30
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #9
“Michel Foucault’s ‘The Birth of the Clinic’: An Archeology of Medical Perception.”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
Johann Pillai’s second presentation in the Sidestreets series of three on Michel Foucault provided a clear and accessible overview of Foucault’s extraordinary 1963 work on the social history of medicine.
“The Birth of the Clinic” charts the dramatic transformation of medicine that occurred in the eighteenth century, as “for the first time, medical knowledge took on a precision that had formerly belonged only to mathematics. The body became something that could be mapped. Disease became subject to new rules of classification. And doctors began to describe phenomena that for centuries had remained below the threshold of the visible and expressible. ... Brilliant, provocative, and omnivorously learned, Foucault’s book sheds new light on the origins of our current notions of health and sickness, life and death.”
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, sociologist, historian and professor of the “History of Systems of Thought” at the Collège de France, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California at Berkeley. His major works include social histories of prisons, medical perception, insanity, and sexuality. In 2007, the Times Higher Education Guide listed Michel Foucault as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.
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2010, February 28
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #8
“Cities in Transition: Urbanism in Byzantium”
– Dr. Luca Zavagno
Dr. Zavagno’s second presentation in the Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture series introduced his new book, “Cities in Transition,” a major contribution to our current understanding of the urban experience between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Zavagno expanded his exploration of urbanism in the Byzantine Empire beyond Constantinople, the “eye of the universe,” and looked at the real problems facing cities in a period of transformation and modification, as their functions, ideologies and topographies changed. The talk focused on the peculiarities of urban centres such as the Pontus (Amastris), Italy (Naples), western Anatolia (Ephesos), and insular and mainland Greece (Gortyn and Athens); and outlined how exciting new archeological discoveries have helped to transform our understanding of this period and provide a new perspective on urban experience in our own time.
Luca Zavagno was born in Venice, where he received his B.A. degree in History from the University Ca’Foscari; he completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of Birmingham on the society, culture, economics and politics of Byzantine cities. Zavagno is the author of Cities in Transition: Urbanism in Byzantium Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (British Archaeological Reports – International Series, 2009), a book which explores the impact of important historical events on urban settlements in the Pontus (Amastris), Italy (Naples), western Anatolia (Ephesus), and Greece (Gortyn and Athens) during this period. Zavagno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Eastern Mediterranean University, where he is currently doing research on Cyprus in the Byzantine period, in its role as a major strategic and commercial hub along the eastern Mediterranean sea routes, its administrative and exchange links with Constantinople, and its relation to Syria and Palestine, where Byzantine power succumbed to the expansion of Islam.
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2010, February 20 – 21
!F ISTANBUL: The Istanbul Independent Film Festival in Cyprus:
“A Transterritorial Experiment in Film.”
– in collaboration with If, the International Independent Film Festival in Istanbul
On February 20-21, Sidestreets collaborated with !F Istanbul in its 9th International Independent Film Festival, together with 15 other centers in Turkey and the Middle East, with the aim of sharing a selection of highly acclaimed films with as wide an audience as possible, and facilitating a collective conversation “with a very innovative new digital technology, allowing films to travel great distances, unweighted by the canisters and reels that previously made such an enterprise both difficult and costly, without compromising on top-notch visual quality….
“In partnership with the acclaimed US-based cinema website The Auteurs, !F screened six of the festival’s most sought-after films in these locations concurrent with their weekend screenings in Istanbul… Many of the cities chosen do not have cinema theaters, and even the ones that do are often reliant on mainstream studio distribution of second or third run features….
“The intention was to seek answers to questions that motivate this experiment: How can we map these new forms of interaction? How can you become active within this new world map? How can we make the new possibilities for conversation that Internet-based means of communication create less fragile? Is there a poetics to politics? And: is there hope?
“The weekend movie marathon concluded with a discussion by thinkers from a variety of disciplines and audiences (broadcast via the web) in these location, focusing on the nature of our relationships within a web of the globalized economy, technology and power relations, and the way we position our sense of self and production; and seeking to formulate new metaphors for our interconnected geographies.”
Program
Nadareh), dir. Bahman Ghobadi (Iran, 2009; Persian/English and Turkish
subtitles)
Feb. 20: Bawke, dir. Hisham Zaman (Norway, 2005; Norwegian/English and Turkish
subtitles)
English & Turkish subtitles)
directors, thinkers and writers from Turkey and the region.
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2010, February 11–18
Sidestreets Artistic and Cultural Education Program for Disadvantaged Youth
– conducted by Johann Pillai and Anber Onar
– in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy,Onar Village, and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
To develop learning outside the classroom, Sidestreets organized and conducted a two-week spring program for 50 “Micro-Access” students aged 13-17, during the schools’ February semester break. The purpose of the program was to stimulate interest and excitement in learning by engaging 14-year-old students in discussions of music, art, literature and history within the framework of global culture. All events (except tours) were held at Sidestreets, in Nicosia. Presentations and tours were designed and conducted by Dr. Johann Pillai, and implemented with the assistance of Christopher Coupland.
· Native Americans and World Culture (This visual seminar explored contributions made by the indigenous peoples of the Americas to world agriculture, cuisine, medicine, architecture, law, and finance, and also touched on slavery, freedom, and the development of capitalism and corporations.)
· Coffee and Tea Around the World (This visual seminar looked at vignettes of the history of exploration from China to Europe to the Americas, world trade in coffee and tea including substitutes and herbal versions, and the diversity of tastes and smells, as well as the mythological, physiological and cultural atmosphere of coffee and tea from the U.S. to Turkey and Cyprus. Student activities included a taste competition with a prize of a tea selection.)
· Visual and Sound Poetry (This visual seminar and sound performance explored unique and unusual poems from the U.S. to Europe and Japan which break all the established rules of literature, and the boundaries between music, poetry, and art. Activities included creating a Dada poem.)
· Chocolate Around the World (This visual and olfactory seminar looked at the social history of chocolate, ranging from the Aztec and Maya civilizations to the chocolate houses of Europe, to the branding of Hershey’s and Cadbury’s, and the various types of milk and bitter chocolate. Student activities included a taste competition with a prize of a chocolate selection.)
· Rights, Justice, and Discipline (This visual seminar explored a range of issues in human rights, but focused mainly on crime, punishment, and rehabilitation, tracing the historical development of police systems, prisons, and surveillance, and touching on current issues such as coercion and torture, freedom of speech, and censorship, to raise the students’ awareness of social responsibility.)
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2010, January 31
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #7“
Michel Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’: The Birth of the Prison.”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
Johann Pillai’s visual presentation, the first in a Sidestreets series of three on Michel Foucault, provided a clear and accessible overview of this brilliant philosopher’s work, which “sweeps aside centuries of sterile debate about prison reform and gives a highly provocative account... of innovations that range from the abolition of torture to the institution of forced labor and the appearance of the modern penitentiary... a genuinely revolutionary book, whose implications extend beyond the prison to the minute power relations of our society.”
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, sociologist, historian and professor of the “History of Systems of Thought” at the Collège de France, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California at Berkeley. His major works include social histories of prisons, medical perception, insanity, and sexuality. In 2007, the Times Higher Education Guide listed Michel Foucault as the most cited intellectual in the humanities.“Discipline and Punish” (1975) is a classic work of social history, a “history of the human soul” which traces the power relations between crime and punishment as they have developed over the last four centuries, from the spectacle of torture to the hidden logic of prisons, rehabilitation, education, and surveillance. When the book was first published, prison inmates got hold of it and read it to each other, shouting through the walls from cell to cell; the resulting riots led to substantial prison reforms in France. Asked about his ethics as a historian, Foucault responded: “I am not a historian. I write fictions that may come true in the future.”
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2010, January 30 – February 5
Film Festival of the Green Line I
– in collaboration with Panicos Chrysanthou and the Cyprus Film Archive.
The First Film Festival of the Green Line, organized in collaboration with Panicos Chrysanthou and the Cyprus Film Archive, featured seven award-winning films from Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States, screened at Sidestreets and other venues.
Program
January 30: Soul Kitchen, dir. Fatih Akın (Germany, 2009). Pantheon Cinema.
Reid (USA, 2000). Goethe Center.
Goethe Center.
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2009, December 10
Two posters created by Sidestreets’ director Johann Pillai received, respectively, the joint First Prize and Honorable Mention at the national poster design competition for International Human Rights Day in Cyprus (10 December 2009) organized by KISA (Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism) and the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation, supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands. The winning entries as well as a selection of the best artwork submitted were exhibited at an awards ceremony organized by the Dutch Embassy at the Goethe Institute on the Green Line on the evening of December 10, 2009.
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2009, December 6
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #6
“Against the Clock: Continued Efforts to Protect Historic Famagusta in 2009”
– Dr. Michael Walsh
The sixth event in Sidestreets’ Conversations on Culture series in Kyrenia was “Against the Clock,” a lecture by Dr. Michael Walsh and the screening of a new documentary by Dan Frodsham.
2009 was another important year for the historic monuments of Famagusta. The Byzantine, Lusignan, Genoese, Venetian, Ottoman and British cultural remains had all been subject to new plans and projects which were now receiving international funding and the participation of international experts. Dan Frodsham’s 20-minute documentary and Michael Walsh’s accompanying lecture looked at what had been achieved, and mapped out where to go from there. The situation was still urgent, but, it was felt, 2010 might be a breakthrough year. The lecture also presented newly discovered archival sources relating to 19th and 20th century Famagusta.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
Dan Frodsham, a former BBC producer and director based in Famagusta, is the cinematographer and codirector/coproducer with Allan Langdale of “The Stones of Famagusta.” The movie, which the BBC News described as “exquisitely filmed,” premiered at Sidestreets in Nicosia, and then featured at a conference in Paris hosted by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation for cultural heritage, at which the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Famagusta pledged to work together to conserve the city’s heritage. The film was also screened twice at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California in 2009, and received the award for “Best Documentary” in the 2009 Monterey Independent Film Festival.
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2009, November 20 – December 18
Sidestreets Art Film Series III: Masterpieces of the Avant-Garde
– presented by Johann Pillai
Today in Cyprus, film is typically seen by the general public simply as a medium of entertainment (the popular film or blockbuster) or communication (the documentary or political statement). Yet in the early 20th century, film was both an exciting new technology and a new creative opportunity. Artists and writers changed the perception of both art and the world by exploring the limits of their media and creating the explosive new forms of expression that became known as Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism, and Lettrism.
Program
November 20: Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dali, An Andalusian Dog; Joris Ivens & Mannus
Franken, Rain; Erno Marzner, Chance; Orson Welles & William Vance,
Hearts of Age; Fernand Léger, Mechanical Ballet.
November 23: Hans Richter, Rhythmus 21; Viking Eggeling, Diagonal Symphony; Man
Richter, Film Study; Man Ray, Emak-Bakia; Hans Richter, Ghosts
Before Breakfast; Man Ray, The Starfish.
December 4: Man Ray, The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice; Robert Florey, The Life
and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra; Dimitri Kirsanoff, Ménilmontant.
December 7: James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber, Lot in Sodom; Marcel
Duchamp, Anemic Cinema; Jean Painlevé, The Vampire; Jean Epstein,
The Mirror with Three Faces.
December 11: Jean Epstein, The Tempest; Sergei Eisenstein, Sentimental Romance;
Herman Weinberg, Autumn Fire; Paul Strand & Charles Sheeler,
Manhatta.
December 14: Germaine Dulac & Antonin Artaud, The Seashell and the Clergyman;
Roger Barlow, Even - As You and I; Marie Menken, Visual Variations on
Noguchi; Paul Leni, Rebus-Film Nr. 1; Jean Mitry, Pacific 231.
December 18: Isidore Isou, Venom and Eternity.
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2009, November 20
Establishment of the North Cyprus Children’s Rights Platform
– in collaboration with the SOS Children’s Village Association, the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation, the Cyprus Turkish Press Union, the Foundation for Prevention of Social Risks, the Social Services Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance, and the Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Union.
The North Cyprus Children’s Rights Platform (CRP)’s “Common Framework of Agreement” was signed at Sidestreets in a short ceremony and press conference at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, November 20, the day on which the UN Declaration of Children’s Rights was signed in 1989, and the day which has been celebrated as World Children’s Rights Day ever since. The Common Framework of Agreement is based on the ethics and aims of the Declaration, and will serve as the Constitution of the Children’s Rights Platform.
The founding members of the CRP, who signed the partnership agreement were: the SOS Children’s Village Association, the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation, the Cyprus Turkish Press Union, the Foundation for Prevention of Social Risks, and the Social Services Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance, as well as two other participating organizations, Sidestreets Educational and Cultural Initiatives and the Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Union.
The Children’s Rights Platform issued a declaration that it envisioned “as its aim a society with an awareness, understanding of, respect for, and will to protect children’s rights.” Its main mission as a platform is: “to set up a system where the childrens rights can be applied; to create awareness in the area of childrens rights; to prevent violations of childrens rights; to bring the necessary legal changes to life; and to generate public engagement in these areas.” The platform is committed to collaborating with state organizations and the media, as well as “with the assistance and personal initiatives if individuals who are sensitive to the needs of children... to create effective policies for the benefit of children in our country.”
Later during the day, at 3:00 p.m., following the signing ceremony at Sidestreets, a Panel on Exploitation/Abuse of Children was held at the Atatürk Cultural Center. The well-attended panel discussion covered topics ranging from definitions of abuse and exploitation, to press coverage of the issue, to its legal dimensions, effects, and strategies for its prevention.
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2009, November 19–20
Celebrating World Children’s Rights Week at Sidestreets: "Childish Works"
– Workshops on art, theater and dance for inner-city children in Nicosia.
– organized and directed by Emin Çizenel and Anber Onar"
On Thursday, 19 November, as part of its activites to celebrate and draw attention to children’s rights, Sidestreets organized and hosted a morning of creative events for four-year-old children from the SOS Children’s Village Creche. The event, “Childish Works,” was held from 10:00 to 12:00 a.m. on the ground floor of Sidestreets, which was laid out with colorful carpets and cushions.
Sidestreets’ central location is in the main business, legal and banking district of the city which is mostly focused on adults and their work, and part of its mission is to foreground the lives, activities and rights of children in the area and beyond. Sidestreets has organized a variety of events for the local children, including story-telling sessions with poet Mehmet Yaşın, street puppet theater shows with American performer John Higgins, a session for children on hearing disabilities with ear specialist Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, and educational visits for SOS and primary school children to its art exhibitions. Sidestreets’ staff are also teaching English at four local high schools, and it has organized semester break and summer cultural education camps for chidren at several schools; the organization has also been screening free kids’ films, which attract 30-50 local children every Saturday.
This event was designed to stimulate the children’s creativity through painting, collage, and other activities, using the power of creative work to express their thoughts and feelings and broaden their imagination, and to exhibit what they produced; it was also designed to bring them into contact with other children and ongoing life in the city of Nicosia, and many local children who live in the area stopped by and were invited in to join the activities. Some of the works produced by the children during this event were exhibited on the front windows of Sidestreets to engage the public. Following this event, Sidestreets worked with the Foundation for the Prevention of Social Risks, to combine its Saturday film screenings with workshops for children on behavior and socialization.
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Film Culture: A Taste of the Netherlands
– in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands
Sidestreets, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands, presented three nights of screenings of award-winning Dutch films (in Dutch with English subtitles). The Dutch Ambassador to Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Jan Eric van den Berg, introduced the event, “Selected Dutch Short Films” on Friday, 30 October, which was followed by a reception.
Program
October 30: Introduction by the Dutch Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Jan Eric van den Berg,
screening of “Selected Dutch short films,” and reception.
October 30: Activity Centre (2008: Animation, 5’; dir. Michiel van Dijk & Sjeng Schupp)
October 30: Big Buck Bunny (2008: Animation, 10’; dir. Sacha Goedegebure)
October 30: Impasse (2008: Fiction, 5’; dir. Bram Schouw)
October 30: Jolanda 23 (2008: Experimental Documentary, 9’40”; dir. Pim Zwier)
October 30: Notebook (2008: Experimental Animation, 4’52”; dir. Evelien Lohbeck)
October 30: The Phantom of the Cinema (2008: Animation, 11’; dir. Erik van Schaaik)
October 30: Reef (2008: Fiction/Puppetry Animation, 12’; dir. Eric Steegstra)
November 2: De Tweeling (Twin Sisters, 2002; 137’; dir. Ben Sombogaart)
November 3: De Dominee (The Preacher, 2004; 110’; dir. Gerrard Verhage)
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Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #5
"A Mosaic of Cities: Urbanism in the Byzantine Empire from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (Focus on Constantinople and Salamis)"
– Dr. Luca Zavagno
There has been a long and heated debate among medievalists as to what happened to the classical Greco-Roman idea of the city or polis during the exciting and rapid changes that took place between late antiquity and the Byzantine period: did cities survive or did they physically collapse as social and economic conditions changed? This presentation took a unique and different approach, looking at the real problems confronting Byzantine cities, especially Constantinople, which served as a capital of the empire and as the ‘eye of the universe of cities’ that were scattered across the whole Byzantine empire, and the city of Salamis in Cyprus. These multifunctional cities developed in dramatically different ways in different regions as a result of the social, economic, cultural, administrative, religious and political roles they played; and the changing ideologies and spatial patterns of the Byzantine cities provide an unusual perspective from which we can see the cities of our own time in a new light.
Luca Zavagno was born in Venice, where he received his B.A. degree in History from the University Ca’Foscari; he completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of Birmingham on the society, culture, economics and politics of Byzantine cities. Zavagno is the author of Cities in Transition: Urbanism in Byzantium Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (British Archaeological Reports – International Series, 2009), a book which explores the impact of important historical events on urban settlements in the Pontus (Amastris), Italy (Naples), western Anatolia (Ephesus), and Greece (Gortyn and Athens) during this period. Zavagno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Eastern Mediterranean University, where he is currently doing research on Cyprus in the Byzantine period, in its role as a major strategic and commercial hub along the eastern Mediterranean sea routes, its administrative and exchange links with Constantinople, and its relation to Syria and Palestine, where Byzantine power succumbed to the expansion of Islam.
2009, October 2
Eric Lloyd Wright on Frank Lloyd Wright & Environmental Architecture
– in collaboration with Cyprus International University, Onar Village and the NGO NeMe
Sidestreets, in collaboration with Cyprus International University, Onar Village and the NGO NeMe, presented a lecture by Eric Lloyd Wright on the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and his own work in relation to organic architecture and working with nature. The lecture and Q&A, followed by a reception, were held on Friday, 2 October at 2:30 p.m. in the Çevik Uraz Conference Room at Cyprus International University.
Eric Lloyd Wright is an architect and founder of Wright Way Organic Resource Center in Malibu, CA. During Eric’s early years in architecture, he was an apprentice to his grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright and his father, Lloyd Wright. His portfolio includes the restoration and renovation of Frank Lloyd Wright and Lloyd Wright works as well as residences and institutional buildings of his own design.
Wright’s current focus is on the evolution of Organic Architecture and Green Building design. His design philosophy is rooted in the integration of ecology, social responsibility and beauty. Through his years of design experience, he has developed an understanding that it is not the physical walls and roof, but the space within a building that forms its character - its soul. He gives careful thought to a project’s physical, social and spiritual environment, with a focus on appropriate materials, quality, craftsmanship, and careful detailing. Wright believes that one of the most important aspects of the design process is the relationship between the client, the site and the architect. It is the client and site, together with the architect, that shape the design of a project.
Wright Organic Resource Center educates and activates people to be creative, aware, and environmentally responsible in all aspects of life. It provides opportunities for people in the Los Angeles area, especially youth, to experience the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and Organic Architecture, encouraging the creative integration of Nature, Art and Community. Its goal is to spark the imagination of people who come to land and activate them to envision and participate in building a socially and environmentally connected world. The Center is located in Malibu, California on a beautiful and rustic 24 acre site where it has a resource library and hosts workshops, events and a variety of demonstration projects. Wright Organic Resource Center is a project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a not-for-profit organization which provides technical assistance towards its development as an independent entity. The mission of the Center is to: teach and practice the concepts of Organic Architecture which have evolved through the life works of four generations of Wrights; develop ecological and social models for future generations; and create an environment for contemplation and exchange. The Center has educational programs on ecological design; resource use; social and community structures; green lifestyles and business practices; alternative agriculture; the celebration of Nature’s cycles and spiritual renewal; and the creative and performing arts.
2009, September 7–11
Sidestreets Artistic and Cultural Education Program for Disadvantaged Youth
– conducted by Johann Pillai and Anber Onar– in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, Eastern Mediterranean University and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
During September 7-11, 2009, Sidestreets organized the program for a 5-day Micro-Access Summer Camp at Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, for students from schools in Lefkosa, Famagusta, and Iskele. The camp (programmed by Anber Onar, and staffed by teachers in the Micro-Access Program including Sidestreets’ Jenna Durham) was attended by some 80 students, and featured, in addition to other activities, three seminars (on the history of Cyprus, Famagusta, and historical sites in the area) and four walking tours of the city and its surroundings conducted by Johann Pillai, as well as a photography tour and student photography exhibition organized by Anber Onar.
· History and Culture: An Introduction to the History of Cyprus (A colorful slide presentation and seminar surveying major moments in Cyprus’s history from Neolithic times to the present.)
· Tours of the Ruins of Salamis, the Necropolis and the Church of St. Barnabas
· Education and Culture: Thinking Across Religions (An overview of major world religions, focusing on the Christian and Islamic traditions and their reflection in religious architecture and imagery.)
· Tours of the City of Famagusta
· Workshop on Photography; Student Photography Exhibition
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2009, June 3
European Green Week: EU Commission Press Conference and Film Screening
– in collaboration with the European Commission in Cyprus (English and Turkish)
On the occasion of Green Week, Sidestreets hosted the European Commission’s Representation in Cyprus at the European Green Week Press Conference with the Head of Representation, Ms Androulla Kaminara and representatives of environmental NGOs.
The morning press conference was followed later, in the evening, by a screening of Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth (subtitled in Turkish), at Sidestreets.During the day, leaflets were also distributed by the Commission and NGO representatives in front of Sidestreets to raise public awareness of environmental issues.
These events (free and open to the public) were organized by the European Commission’s Representation in Cyprus in collaboration with seven NGOs (BIO-DER, KEMA, Çekova, the Green Action Group, the Bright Future Movement, the NEU Environmental Sciences Institute, and the Chamber of Environmental Engineers) and coordinated by Sidestreets.
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2009, May 20
Press Conference & Book Launch: The Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature Series
– in collaboration with Freebirds Press, and sponsored by the Mallia Wine Bar
On May 20, 2009 Sidestreets hosted a bilingual (English and Turkish) Press Conference of the eight editors involved, on the release of a new and historic literary publication: the unique, eight-volume bilingual (Turkish and English) Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature.
This unique eight-volume paperback collection is the product of a comprehensive three-year research, translation and publication project examining about 130 years of Turkish Cypriot literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Eight editors from academic backgrounds collaborated with other editors from creative backgrounds, to produce, for the first time, an extraordinary overview of the range and quality of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature. Also for the first time, each text or excerpt from a longer work is printed in the original Turkish, followed by its English translation.
The publication of The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature is an extraordinary event: it fills an important gap in Cyprus’s cultural history and makes this field accessible for the first time to both Turkish- and English-speaking audiences; it also represents the first comprehensive classification of genres and styles of modern Turkish Cypriot literature; it opens up new ways of thinking about the literature and performing arts in Cyprus; and it creates new avenues to explore issues of memory, history, identity, and individual and group identity in such fields as sociology, anthropology, history, and cultural studies.
This unique collection, produced under the supervision and general editorship of distinguished poet and scholar Dr. Mehmet Yashin, will undoubtably be the standard reference source in the field for schools and universities throughout Cyprus. It comprises the following volumes:
The Series of Modern Turkish Cypriot Literature
Volume 1: Poetry (167 pages; edited by Suzan Yılmaz, featuring works by 37 writers)
notes on all the authors featured in the series)
Mehmet Yaşın (b. 1958, Lefkoşa) lives between Cyprus and Cambridge, where he lectures and does research on literature and translation studies. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Pathos (1990), The Promising Armchair (1993), Fantasy Repair (1998), Don’t Go Back To Kyrenia (2001), His Name on the List of Missing (2002), the novel Hours Outside Borders (2003), and the experimental works Poeturka (1995) and Kosmopoetika (2002). His 1984 work My Love the Dead Soldier was awarded the first prize of the Turkish Academy and the A. Kadir Poetry Prize; his 1994 novel Your Kinsman Pisces won the prestigious Cevdet Kudret Novel Prize. His edited works include the Anthology of Turkish Cypriot Poetry (1994), the Anthology of Early Cypriot Poetry (1999), Stepmothertongue (2000), and the Anthology of Cypriot Poetry (2005) which was awarded the Memet Fuat Criticism prize. Five of his books were published in 2007: Collected Writings 1978-2005, Collected Poems 1977-2002, Hours Outside Borders, Your Kinsman Pisces; and a new volume of poetry, Orange Bird, in 2008.
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A Taste of Experimental Short Films
– with film-maker Özgür Özcan
On Tuesday, May 19, Sidestreets presented a first smorgasbord of experimental short films by David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Özgür Özcan, Elvan Dülgeroğlu/Tuğba Tokat, and Rabia Otoloğ. The screenings of internationally and locally produced films (which required no translation, and took about 45 minutes) were followed by a presentation and discussion of experimental production by film-maker Özgür Özcan.
Program
– David Lynch, The Alphabet (USA, 1968; color & b/w, sound; 4’)
– Peter Greenaway, Intervals (UK, 1969/1973; color, sound; 6’)
– Man Ray, Return to Reason (Paris, 1923; b/w, silent; 2’)
– Hans Richter, Ghosts before Breakfast (Baden-Baden, 1927; b/w, sound; 6’)
– Özgür Özcan, Eternal Return (Istanbul, 2008; b/w, sound; 4 minutes)
– Özgür Özcan, Witches through the Looking-Glass (Istanbul, 2008; color, sound;1’35”)
– Özgür Özcan, LOGOS (Istanbul, 2007; b/w & color, sound; 8’30”)
– Elvan Dülgeroğlu, Tuğba Tokat, Becoming Insane (Kyrenia, 2008; color, sound; 6’40”)
– Rabia Otoloğ, “…” (Kyrenia, 2009; color, sound; 5’)
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Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #4
“Breaking the Rules: A Performance-Lecture on Dada, Surrealist, Concrete and Phonetic Poems.”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
The fourth event in the Sidestreets in Kyrenia-Conversations on Culture series was “Breaking the Rules,” a performance-lecture on Dada, Surrealist, Concrete, and Phonetic Poetry, by Dr. Johann Pillai. This experience, which received enthusiastic acclaim from a packed audience at Sidestreets in Nicosia in November 2008, was offered once again in Kyrenia on Sunday, 26 April.
“The dramatic breaking of rules in modern music, art, and architecture in the 20th century, from Cubism to Futurism to Dada to Language Poetry, was accompanied by similar exciting new developments in literature, as internationally poets, artists and musicians experimented with new ideas and forms of expression. Asking fundamental questions – “What is poetry made of? What is literature?” – writers developed brilliant interdiciplinary forms of poetic expression that break down the boundaries between writing, images, and music.
Johann Pillai’s “Breaking the Rules” represents a unique visual and auditory exploration, interpretation, and performance of alternative forms of literature, ranging from Japan to New York to Scotland to Russia, and from classical visual poems to sound poetry.”
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2009 April 24 – May 12
Sidestreets Art Film Series II: Derviş Zaim
– in collaboration with Derviş Zaim,
– partially sponsored by Pegasus Airlines and the Mısırlızade Cinema
In its Second Art Film Series, Sidestreets screened all of the feature films of international award-winning Turkish Cypriot novelist and film-maker Dervish Zaim (subtitled in English). This was the very first retrospective done on Derviş Zaim, and the first screening of all of his films in Cyprus.
The series began with a screening of Parallel Trips (2004; 115 minutes), a documentary based on Cyprus and jointly directed and produced by Dervis Zaim and Greek Cypriot Panicos Chrysanthou. Fiachra Gibbons of the British newspaper The Guardian reported on 1 May 2004: “Parallel Trips is a tough film. It was shown for the first time to a shocked silence at the Istanbul film festival earlier this month, and was screened again in Nicosia in the turbulent week leading up to the referendum on the UN plan to reunite the island last week.” In Zaim’s words: “We know we can live together, but we still have to ask why we did this to each other."
The series ended with the Cyprus premier of Zaim’s latest film Nokta (“Dot”), sponsored by and screened free of charge at the Mısırlızade Cinema in Nicosia on May 11, followed by an open discussion with the film-maker at Sidestreets.
Program
April 24: Parallel Trips (Paralel Yolculuklar)
April 27: Parallel Trips – additional screening at their request for members of the
international diplomatic community in Cyprus.
April 28: Somersault in a Coffin (Tabutta Rövaşata)
April 30: Elephants and Grass (Filler ve Çimen)
May 5: Mud (Çamur)
May 7: Waiting for Heaven (Cenneti Beklerken)
May 11: Cyprus premiere screening of Dot (Nokta) at Mısırlızade Cinema
May 12: Discussion with Dervish Zaim at Sidestreets
Derviş Zaim (b. 1964, Famagusta, Cyprus) is a Turkish Cypriot filmmaker and novelist. After completing his studies in Business Administration at Boğaziçi University in Turkey (1988) he attended a course in independent film production in London, where he made an experimental video, Hang the Camera (1991); he also wrote, produced and directed various television program, beginning with the documentary Rock around the Mosque (1993). He completed his master’s degree in Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick in 1994; a year later his first novel, Ares in Wonderland (1995), won the Turkish Yunus Nadi literary prize. He co-directed the documentary Parallel Trips (2004) with Greek Cypriot film-maker Panicos Chrysanthou, and produced Chrysanthou’s feature film Akamas (2006); his directing, screen-writing and feature films Somersault in a Coffin (1996), Elephants and Grass (2000), Mud (2003), Waiting for Heaven (2006), and Dot (2008) have received numerous international awards.
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Poetry Performance and Book Signing: Mehmet Yaşın and Alev Adil
Alev Adil performed her poems and prose-poems in English, accompanied by slides reflecting their explorations of personal and Cypriot identities and mythologies, and a commentary in Turkish and English. Based in London, where she is Chair of the Department of Communication and Creative Arts at Greenwich University, Alev Adil is widely published in literary and critical journals, and has performed at venues from the British Museum to Radio 4 and Channel 4 television. Her poetry has been described as “fractured narratives of love, loss, longing, exile and collision,” and her collection Venus Infers as “both a passport and a trip to new and unimagined communities.”
Mehmet Yashın, whose work has been characterized as creating “an entirely new philosophical and linguistic dimension to poetry in Turkish,” began with a melodious meditation on two classical images, and performed a range of works from his new book, In the Time the Heart Stopped. Living between Cambridge and Cyprus, Mehmet Yaşın is well known for his work on literary criticism and translation; and he is the recipient of numerous awards for his poetry collections and novels, many of which have been translated into languages from English, French and Italian to Russian and Latvian. He is considered by critics to be “one of the most important representatives of Modern Cypriot Poetry.”
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2009, March 29
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #3
“On Not Reading ’The Raven’: Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem and its Illustrators, Manet, Redon, and Doré”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
Since its publication in 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Raven,” has become one of the world’s most famous poems, described by Poe himself as “the greatest poem that ever was written,” and by one critic as "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift...." This poem has been the subject and inspiration for music, dance, films, paintings, and graphic novels; and for a tradition of illustrations by such distinguished artists as John Tenniel, John Rea Neill, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
To mark the Poe Bicentennial, Johann Pillai’s presentation, “On Not Reading the Raven,” proposed an unusual new interpretation of the poem, while exploring a wide range of visual images, focusing in particular on the illustrations to the poem created by Édouard Manet, Odilon Redon and Gustave Doré.
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2009, February 22
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #2
“Hanging a Rebel: The Life and Art of the English Modernist Painter C.R.W. Nevinson”
– Dr. Michael Walsh
Futurist, rebel, War Artist, Englishman in New York, painter of the Jazz Age and the Great Depression, and war artist once again in the second World War, C. R. W. Nevinson has earned a place among the established icons of art and literature in early 20th-century England. The list of distinguished contemporaries who were his personal friends or declared enemies includes: Wyndham Lewis, Roger Fry, Clive Bell, F.T. Marinetti, Amedeo Modigliani, H. G. Wells, Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.
Michael Walsh’s study of Nevinson, “Hanging a Rebel,” published in 2008 by the Lutterworth Press, “is the first comprehensive study on this artist, writer, playboy and provocateur who continually found himself at the heart of public scandals, intellectual debates and personal vendettas, which characterized his four-decade career”... Walsh’s book is accessible and authoritative; it represents a major contribution to the history of art and understanding British intellectual thought and culture in the early 20th century.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
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2009, February 17 – March 5
Sidestreets Art Film Series I: Ingmar Bergman
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden
On 17 February 2009 Sidestreets inaugurated its first art film series in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Nicosia. The aim was to introduce, to as wide an audience as possible in Cyprus, the works of one of the most influential film directors of the twentieth century; and to stimulate interest in and discussions of Bergman among movie lovers, students and the general public.
The first event was a simultaneous screening of both the Turkish and the English (subtitled/dubbed) versions of The Seventh Seal, introduced by H.E. Mr. Ingemar Lindahl, the Swedish Ambassador to Cyprus, and followed by a reception.
February 17: Introduction by the Swedish Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Ingemar Lindahl,
screening of The Seventh Seal (; 1957; Swedish with English and Turkish
subtitles), and reception.
February 19: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955; Swedish with English subtitles)
February 24: Wild Strawberries (1957; Swedish with Turkish subtitles)
February 26: Autumn Sonata (1978; Swedish with Turkish subtitles)
March 3: Persona (1966; Swedish with Turkish subtitles)
March 5: The Virgin Spring (1960; Swedish with English and Turkish subtitles)
2009, February 2–12
Sidestreets Artistic and Cultural Education Program for Disadvantaged Youth
– in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean
To develop learning outside the classroom for students aged 13-17, Sidestreets began a two-week pilot program during the schools’ February semester break. The purpose of the program was to stimulate interest and excitement in learning by engaging 14-year-old students in discussions of music, art, literature and history within the framework of global culture. Ten events were organized: six 2-hour educational seminars, two film screenings, and two tours (Nicosia and Kyrenia). All events (except tours) were held at Sidestreets, in Nicosia. Presentations and tours were designed and conducted by Dr. Johann Pillai, and implemented with the assistance of Christopher Coupland.
· Listening to and Understanding Music I: Classical Music (Slides and music as well as actvities to accompany Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.)
· Looking at Art and Culture I: The Christian, Islamic and Gnostic Traditions (Interactive presentation of fundamental concepts in these traditions through artworks such as Sistine Chapel frescoes, calligraphy, etc. Fundamentals of church, cathedral and mosque architecture and functions.)
· Art and Architecture Tour I: Nicosia (Educational tour of St. Sophia’s Cathedral (Selimiye Mosque), St. Catherine’s Church, the Arabahmet Mosque, and the Dervish Museum, making use of concepts and ideas from the previous session.)
· Games in Poetry: Experimental verse (Slide presentation, interpretation, and performance of international concrete, visual and sound poems, with student activities based on creating Dada poems.)
· Enjoying film: Screening of several films, followed by a discussion of audience response, relation to historical reality, and film technique.
· Listening to and Understanding Music II: Jazz (Slides and music introducing the history of jazz, covering the slave trade, call-and-response, work-songs, gospel, blues, dixieland, ragtime, swing, boogie-woogie, and the origins of rock-and-roll.)
· Looking at Art and Culture II: Cyprus from its beginnings to the Venetian period (Interactive slide presentation and discussion of cultural history, including archeological artifacts, lifestyles, images, and antiquities from the various periods of Cyprus’s history, including the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Lusignan and Venetian. Overview of Lusignan and Venetian castle structure and functions.)
2009, January 25
Sidestreets in Kyrenia – Conversations on Culture #1
“Innocence and Experience: The Poetry and Art of William Blake”
– Dr. Johann Pillai
Sidestreets presented the first in its new series of cultural and art events for the English-speaking community in Kyrenia on Sunday, 25 January at Onar Village, an interactive visual lecture, “Innocence and Experience: the Poetry and Art of William Blake,” by Johann Pillai, the Director of Sidestreets.
It was announced that the events and luncheons, generally to be held on the last Sunday of every month, would include informal, interactive and visual talks on British and World art, music and literature, with new and exciting interpretations of classical and modern masterpieces.
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2008, December 22
Presentation: “On Performance and Installation Art”
– Sümer Erek (in English and Turkish)
On December 22, 2008 Sümer Erek, an artist based in the UK, gave an informal talk and slide presentation on "house installation" projects he has been working on since 2000.
Sümer Erek (b. Limassol, 1959) graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1985, and in 2008 completed his M.A. in Theory and Practice of Transnational Art at Camberwell–University of the Arts, London. Erek is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist with extensive experience in public art installation, creating large-scale works and participatory projects in the UK and abroad. He works in a variety of art fields, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance, and has exhibited widely nationally and internationally; currently he works as a freelance artist in the UK.
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2008–9, December 16 – January 15
Sidestreets Creative Writing and Poetry Workshop Program
– Mehmet Yaşın (in Turkish)
A five-week “Creative Writing and Poetry Workshop” program was offered by distinguished Turkish Cypriot poet Mehmet Yaşın, Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow for the period December 2008 – January 2009.
The ten workshops in the program were held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 18:00 to 20:00 at Sidestreets, during 16 December – 15 January.
Mehmet Yaşın (b. 1958, Lefkoşa) lives between Cyprus and Cambridge, where he lectures and does research on literature and translation studies. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Pathos (1990), The Promising Armchair (1993), Fantasy Repair (1998), Don’t Go Back To Kyrenia (2001), His Name on the List of Missing (2002), the novel Hours Outside Borders (2003), and the experimental works Poeturka (1995) and Kosmopoetika (2002). His 1984 work My Love the Dead Soldier was awarded the first prize of the Turkish Academy and the A. Kadir Poetry Prize; his 1994 novel Your Kinsman Pisces won the prestigious Cevdet Kudret Novel Prize. His edited works include the Anthology of Turkish Cypriot Poetry (1994), the Anthology of Early Cypriot Poetry (1999), Stepmothertongue (2000), and the Anthology of Cypriot Poetry (2005) which was awarded the Memet Fuat Criticism prize. Five of his books were published in 2007: Collected Writings 1978-2005, Collected Poems 1977-2002, Hours Outside Borders, Your Kinsman Pisces, and the new volume of poetry, Orange Bird (2008).
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2008–9, December 15 – January 24
Exhibition: “Small Touches”
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
A group exhibition featuring artists of Greek and Turkish Cypriot descent from Cyprus, Turkey and Europe: Aslı Bolayır, Emin Çizenel, Sümer Erek, Ümit İnatcı, Aşık Mene, Panayiotis Michael, Lefteris Olympios, Anber Onar, Güner Pir, and Cemal Gürsel Soyel.
Aslı Bolayır (b. Istanbul, 1968) lived in Cyprus until 1986, when she went to France to study art at the Marseille School of Fine Arts. She has participated in exhibitions in Bastia, Barcelona and Nicosia. She currently lives in Spain and works as freelance artist.
Emin Çizenel (b. Mallia, 1949) received his B.A. and M.A. from Istanbul Fine Arts Academy (1973-1974). He works as an independent professional artist, and has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna, and as a Fulbright fellow in New York. The recipient of many regional and international awards for his work, Çizenel has participated in numerous international and local exhibitions/biennials in England, Cyprus, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, Greece, France, Germany, and the U.S.A.
Sümer Erek (b. Limassol, 1959) graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1985, and in 2008 completed his M.A. in Theory and Practice of Transnational Art at Camberwell–University of the Arts, London. Erek is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist with extensive experience in public art installation, creating large-scale works and participatory projects in the UK and abroad. He works in a variety of art fields, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance. Erek has exhibited widely nationally and internationally; currently he works as a freelance artist in the UK.
Ümit İnatçı (b. Limassol, 1960) began his higher education at the Holborn Center School of Art and Design in London and then traveled to Italy, where he graduated from the Pietro Vannucci Academy of Fine Arts in 1984. İnatçı has participated in numerous exhibitions in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and has received many awards for his work in painting, photography and graphics design. He is currently based in Cyprus, where he lectures at Eastern Mediterranean University and also writes regularly for the Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Afrika.
Aşık Mene (b. Limassol, 1955) began his studies at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, and also traveled to the UK to pursue his personal artistic interests. In 1982, after graduating from the Neşet Günal Studio of the Academy, he returned to North Cyprus, where he currently works as a freelance artist and art director. Mene has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including in the "Contemporary Istanbul Painters" exhibition at Moda Cumali Gallery, the Istanbul State Museum of Fine Arts, and Urart Art Gallery, Istanbul.
Panayiotis Michael (b. Nicosia, 1966) studied Graphic Arts and Poster Design at Moscow Academic Art Institute V.I., Surikov, Moscow in 1986-1993, and then painting at Queens College, New York in 1998-2000. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for his work, which has been exhibited nationally and internationally in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, and the United States. Michael teaches in the Department of Art, Design and Communication at Frederick Institute of Technology in Nicosia, and is also the cofounder of the Artrageous Group.
Lefteris Olympios (b. Limassol, 1953) completed his studies in graphic arts at the Doxiades Academy, Athens in 1973-76, and then studied painting, iconography, fresco and mosaic at the School of Fine Arts (1978-84), and painting and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague (1984-86). Since 1986 he has been living and working in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited from Italy, Portugal and Holland to Mexico; and is exhibited regularly in Cyprus, Greece, and the Netherlands.
Anber Onar (b. Nicosia, 1964) received her B.F.A. in visual arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (1987), and her M.A. in critical theory and film analysis from Eastern Mediterranean University (2002). Onar is an independent artist and scholar, and co-founder of Sidestreets, where she develops the culture and arts programs. She has taught fine arts and art history at Bilkent University, and at Eastern Mediterranean University, where she worked as a design consultant. Her work has been exhibited in Cyprus and internationally, from the USA to Sweden, France, Greece, and Germany.
Güner Pir (b. Paphos, 1949) studied painting at Ankara Gazi Institute and graduated from its Turan Erol Studio in 1972. Pir is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, which has been exhibited extensively in Cyprus and Turkey, including in the Asia Europa Bienalles in Istanbul and the National Painting Competitions in Cyprus. He currently teaches art in North Cyprus.
Cemal Gürsel Soyel (b. Paphos, 1951) graduated in 1986 from the Neşet Günal, Neşe Erdok Studio at Mimar Sinan Üniversity in Istanbul, and then studied at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy with Prof. Anton Lehmden during 1986 to 1990. The recipient of numerous prizes for his work, Soyel has exhibited widely nationally and internationally. He is currently working in Austria as a freelance artist.
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Seminar for Children: “What is Hearing, and How do we Hear?”
– Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, Hacettepe University, Ankara (in Turkish)
As part of its mission to raise awareness of critical social activities and promote values among children and in the community, Sidestreets hosted a seminar for children aged 5 to 10 on hearing disabilities by Dr. Levent Sennaroğlu, which was followed by the regular screening of a Sidestreets Saturday afternoon children’s film. The seminar was designed for children, with colorful animated films about the ear and its functions, and how disabilities can affect hearing, balance, and social participation; some 35 children from the areas around Sidestreets participated in an energetic question-and-answer session.
Levent Sennaroğlu is a specialist, surgeon and professor in the Ear, Nose and Throat Division of the Medical School of Hacetttepe University, Ankara, who has also worked at the House Ear Institute in the United States, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on cochlear implants. His area of specialization is in clinical and surgical procedures for treating hearing loss and balance problems in children and adults.
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2008, November 19
Performance: Breaking the Rules: Dada, Surrealist, Concrete and Phonetic Poems
– Dr. Johann Pillai
The dramatic breaking of rules in modern music, art, and architecture in the 20th century, from Cubism to Futurism to Dada to Language Poetry, was accompanied by similar exciting new developments in literature, as internationally poets, artists and musicians experimented with new ideas and forms of expression. Asking fundamental questions – “What is poetry made of? What is literature?” – writers developed brilliant interdiciplinary forms of poetic expression that break down the boundaries between writing, images, and music.
This event was an analytical lecture-performance of some twenty very short Modernist “language experiments,” including concrete poems or visual/optophonetic texts by e. e. cummings, Reinhard Döhl and Christian Morgenstern; Dada and Surrealist works by, among others, Hugo Ball, Guillaume Apollinaire and Tristan Tzara; and lettriste works by Isidore Isou. These texts are particularly interesting as they function on the borders of visual and verbal sign systems, and raise fundamental questions about the semiotic interrelations between oral, aural, and visual communication. Many require vocal performance for their sense to emerge. “Breaking the Rules” represents a unique visual and auditory exploration, interpretation, and performance of alternative forms of literature, ranging from Japan to New York to Scotland to Russia, and from classical visual poems to sound poetry.”
Johann Pillai received his B.A. from Yale University (1987) and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1989, 1991). Dr. Pillai is an independent scholar and the co-founder and director of educational initiatives at Sidestreets. An Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, he has published on a wide range of subjects related to culture and education.
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2008, November 11
Armistice Day Lecture: “British Art in the First World War”
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Department of Archeology and Art History,Eastern Mediterranean University (in English)
Ninety years ago on November 11 the guns fell silent and the process of remembering began. British artists, however, had been on the Western front, and every other major theatre of war, since 1914. This lecture looked at the process of anticipating, recording and remembering the "war to end all wars," in painting and sculpture.
The radio program "Rebellion and Fear: Artists and the Great War" was aired on BBC Radio 3 at 9:30 p.m. GMT on Sunday, November 9, hosted by The Times art critic Richard Cork, and featuring Dr. Michael Walsh. The Sidestreets lecture represented a detailed follow-up, and provided a fresh perspective on the art and ethos of the time.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
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2008, November 6 – December 10
Exhibition: "Provocation"
– Emin Çizenel
Emin Çizenel’s works of “Provocation” represent “an extraordinary postmodern reflection on the history of art and on contemporary issues, on the processes of memory and forgetting, and on history itself: the images on these multimedia works are formed out of traces of soot, a medium which is, paradoxically, both an integral part of the history of painting and writing, and the primary source of damage to art, which curators and restorers try to remove, thereby erasing from artworks the traces of their history. Çizenel’s work foregrounds soot as the very mark and trace of history, in a series of works that restore the aura to painting, as painting.”
One image in this exhibition was a photographic reproduction of the original that was on view at Sidestreets during the opening. Çizenel was selected as a finalist in the Fifth International Painting Prize competition of Castellon County Council, in Spain. His original canvas was exhibited with those of the other finalists at the Museu de Belles Arts de Castello in 2008-09.
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2008, November 1
Digital Story-Telling Workshop
– Dr. John Higgins,Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow and Lecturer,Department of Communication and Media, University of San Francisco (in English)
A one-day intensive workshop was conducted at Sidestreets by Resident Fellow Dr John Higgins, on the creation of digital stories.
Digital Storytelling is a method of telling personal stories using digital tools. These are typically stories of personal relevance – transcendence, transformation, change, of events or people in our lives who have made a difference.
The focus of digital storytelling is on hearing the stories of everyday people, the communities in which they live, and the people with whom they share the planet. The belief is that there is empowerment in hearing the stories, as well as empowerment in the telling of the stories. The technique has spread across the globe: contexts have included support in healing and prevention of domestic violence, awareness of HIV, conflict resolution and reconciliation, and self-reflexivity in the college classroom.
Digital storytelling focuses more on the stories told, and less on the technical polish of the finished production. Simple digital tools and methods are used, drawing from archival family photographs and artifacts, with the voice of the storyteller favored over that of the polished professional announcer.
There are striking similarities between the tenets of digital storytelling and notions of self-reflexivity, oral history, ethnographic methods of social science, and media as tools for building community and affecting personal/social change.
John W. Higgins is an associate professor of Communication and Media at Menlo College in Atherton, California, USA. Since 1974 he has been involved in alternative, grassroots, community-based media in a variety of roles. Most recently he served as president of the board of the San Francisco Community Television Corporation, the non-profit organization managing the city’s and county’s public access cable television facilities and channel. Dr. Higgins’ areas of expertise include community-based, alternative media; media production; media technologies; critical pedagogy; and storytelling and oral history as art and social science. His background includes twenty-five years as a professional puppeteer and street performer. Dr. Higgins’ interest in narratives has typically been focused on the stories told by people within communities. A recent outgrowth of these interests has been digital storytelling, which fuses individual and group narratives of struggle and transformation, personal reflexivity, ethnographic research, and digital distribution.
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2008, November 1
Street Puppet Performance for Children
– Dr. John Higgins,Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow and Lecturer,Department of Communication and Media, University of San Francisco (in English)
Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow, Dr John Higgins, a professor of communication and professional puppeteer, was in Nicosia during 22 October – 12 November 2008. During this time he gave presentations and conducted workshops on Digital Storytelling, and also gave a series of street performances with his Night Vision Puppets, at Sidestreets and at the SOS Children’s Village.
In recreating the magic of the old-time street puppeteers, John Higgins utilized a modern concept – the "Walking Stage." A unique backpack-like design of tubes and burlap, the walking stage allows the puppets to walk among the audience and interact directly with the crowd. Performances depend a great deal on audience participation. No script is used; shows follow a basic outline and the rest is improvised. This allows each performance to be fresh and alive, with the audience helping to create the outcome.
John Higgins` troupe was first organized in Dayton, Ohio in 1974 as the "Puppets of Lothlorien," and the cast changed its name to the "Night Vision Puppets" in 1977. As Dayton`s official "Ambassadors of Goodwill," the puppets toured Mexico and the U.S., performing in English and Spanish, primarily in small, remote villages. They appeared weekly on Dayton`s WKEF TV program "Shock Theater" for three years, until in 1981 the troupe finally settled in southeastern Ohio.
John W. Higgins is an associate professor of Communication and Media at Menlo College in Atherton, California, USA. Since 1974 he has been involved in alternative, grassroots, community-based media in a variety of roles. Most recently he served as president of the board of the San Francisco Community Television Corporation, the non-profit organization managing the city’s and county’s public access cable television facilities and channel. Dr. Higgins’ areas of expertise include community-based, alternative media; media production; media technologies; critical pedagogy; and storytelling and oral history as art and social science. His background includes twenty-five years as a professional puppeteer and street performer. Dr. Higgins’ interest in narratives has typically been focused on the stories told by people within communities. A recent outgrowth of these interests has been digital storytelling, which fuses individual and group narratives of struggle and transformation, personal reflexivity, ethnographic research, and digital distribution.
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2008, October 31
Presentation on Digital Storytelling
– Dr. John Higgins,Sidestreets’ Resident Fellow and Lecturer,Department of Communication and Media, University of San Francisco (in English)
Digital Storytelling is a method of telling personal stories using digital tools. These are typically stories of personal relevance – transcendence, transformation, change, of events or people in our lives who have made a difference.
The focus of digital storytelling is on hearing the stories of everyday people, the communities in which they live, and the people with whom they share the planet. The belief is that there is empowerment in hearing the stories, as well as empowerment in the telling of the stories. The technique has spread across the globe: contexts have included support in healing and prevention of domestic violence, awareness of HIV, conflict resolution and reconciliation, and self-reflexivity in the college classroom.
Digital storytelling focuses more on the stories told, and less on the technical polish of the finished production. Simple digital tools and methods are used, drawing from archival family photographs and artifacts, with the voice of the storyteller favored over that of the polished professional announcer.
There are striking similarities between the tenets of digital storytelling and notions of self-reflexivity, oral history, ethnographic methods of social science, and media as tools for building community and affecting personal/social change.
John W. Higgins is an associate professor of Communication and Media at Menlo College in Atherton, California, USA. Since 1974 he has been involved in alternative, grassroots, community-based media in a variety of roles. Most recently he served as president of the board of the San Francisco Community Television Corporation, the non-profit organization managing the city’s and county’s public access cable television facilities and channel. Dr. Higgins’ areas of expertise include community-based, alternative media; media production; media technologies; critical pedagogy; and storytelling and oral history as art and social science. His background includes twenty-five years as a professional puppeteer and street performer. Dr. Higgins’ interest in narratives has typically been focused on the stories told by people within communities. A recent outgrowth of these interests has been digital storytelling, which fuses individual and group narratives of struggle and transformation, personal reflexivity, ethnographic research, and digital distribution.
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2008, October 28
Film and Presentations for the “Suspended Spaces”/”Famagusta Project”
– for a group of 30 visiting European artists:
· Screening of “The Stones of Famagusta.” Co-produced by Famagusta-based Black Dog Media and Land of Empires Productions, The Stones of Famagusta is a feature-length documentary film charting the rise and fall of what was once the richest city in the world. The film was the result of a collaboration between British filmmaker Dan Frodsham, Canadian art historian Allan Langdale, and the Turkish Cypriot company Black Dog Media. The film was written and presented by Allan Langdale; Dan Frodsham, a former BBC producer and director, also took on the roles of cameraman and editor for this production. Black Dog Media, headed by Turkish Cypriot Sanem Şahin, a co-producer of the film, provided a production base for the project in Cyprus.
The movie, which the BBC News described as “exquisitely filmed,” premiered at Sidestreets in Nicosia, and then featured at a conference in Paris hosted by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation for cultural heritage, at which the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Famagusta pledged to work together to conserve the city’s heritage. The film was also screened twice at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California in 2009, and received the award for “Best Documentary” in the 2009 Monterey Independent Film Festival.
· Presentation: “Famagusta’s Cultural Heritage: Recent Developments”
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Department of Archeology and Art History,Eastern Mediterranean University (in English)
· Presentation: “A Scientific and Visual Project for Creating an Environmentally- Friendly Park on the Green Line”
– Dr. Anna Grinitsch, Department of Architecture, Harvard University (in English)
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Archeology and Cultural Heritage Exhibition: Photographs from the King’s Hill Excavations
– curated by Anber Onar and Emin Çizenel
A new season of cultural events at Sidestreets began on October 6, 2008 with an exhibition of photographs on the ongoing archeological excavations of the King’s Hill-Kraltepesi (Vasili), a Late Bronze Age site at Kaleburnu-Gallinoporni in the Karpas Peninsula.
The excavations were directed by Dr. Uwe Müller from the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University and conducted by DAKMAR, Eastern Mediterranean University’s Research Center for Cultural Heritage, in cooperation with the local authority, the Department of Museums and Antiquities in Famagusta. They were initiated in 2004 after an investigation into the site concluded that there was an imminent danger to archeological structures and an urgent need for a rapid rescue operation: the archeological structures on the surface were visibly eroding, and needed to be protected from further destruction, as they form part of both the cultural and natural heritage of the country and the region.
The exhibition consisted of extraordinary ethnographic photographs from the excavations by Dr. Wilbert (“Skip”) Norman, ranging from beautiful images of many of the unusual bronze artifacts discovered at the site, to ethnographic studies of the excavation process.Sidestreets’ events around the exhibition included educational tours of the exhibition; a one-day site visit to study the excavations, with on-site tours guided by the archeologists and experts involved; and a series of authoritative presentations on different aspects of cultural heritage given at Sidestreets by Dr. Uwe Müller (Excavation Director), Mr. Bülent Kızılduman (Excavation Co-director), Dr. Michael Walsh (Art Historian) and Dr. Matthew Harpster (Maritime Archeologist).
Wilbert Reuben Norman, Jr. (aka Skip), began his career as a documentary filmmaker in (West)
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A new season of cultural events at Sidestreets began on October 6, 2008 with an exhibition of photographs and a presentation series on the ongoing archeological excavations of the King’s Hill-Kraltepesi (Vasili), a Late Bronze Age site at Kaleburnu-Gallinoporni in the Karpas Peninsula. Sidestreets organized this series of events to share the finds and developments with the general public, and to provide an open forum for discussions on Cyprus’s cultural heritage and its management in disputed areas.
The excavations were directed by Dr. Uwe Müller from the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University and conducted by DAKMAR, Eastern Mediterranean University’s Research Center for Cultural Heritage, in cooperation with the local authority, the Department of Museums and Antiquities in Famagusta. They were initiated in 2004 after an investigation into the site concluded that there was an imminent danger to archeological structures and an urgent need for a rapid rescue operation: the archeological structures on the surface were visibly eroding, and needed to be protected from further destruction, as they form part of both the cultural and natural heritage of the country and the region.
The exhibition and presentations continued Sidestreets’ tradition of promoting social responsibility and public debate, by opening a platform for discussion of topics which had recently been at the forefront of local, European and international concerns.
The exhibition consisted of extraordinary ethnographic photographs from the excavations by Dr. Wilbert (“Skip”) Norman, ranging from beautiful images of many of the unusual bronze artifacts discovered at the site, to ethnographic studies of the excavation process. Sidestreets’ events around the exhibition included educational tours of the exhibition; a one-day site visit to study the excavations, with on-site tours guided by the archeologists and experts involved; and a series of authoritative presentations held at Sidestreets:
· Oct. 6: Presentation: “Kaleburnu-Kraltepesi/Gallinoporni-Vasili: Discovery of a Major Bronze Age Settlement in Cyprus”
– Dr. Uwe Müller, Excavation Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
· Oct. 8: Presentation: “The Kaleburnu/Vasili Settlements in the Context of World Cultural Heritage”
– Mr. Bülent Kızılduman, Excavation Co-Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. (in Turkish)
· Oct. 13: Presentation: “Kaleburnu-Kraltepesi/Gallinoporni-Vasili: An Example for Cultural Heritage Management in Disputed Areas"
– Dr. Uwe Müller, Excavation Director, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
· Oct. 15: Presentation: “Famagusta’s Cultural Heritage: Recent International Developments”
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
· Oct. 17: Presentation: “Discoveries from the 2008 Underwater Surveys at Kaleburnu”
– Dr. Matthew Harpster, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
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2008 May 5–6
Workshop on History for Primary School Children
– Coordinator: Dr. Gül İnanç
For the collective personal history project Acts of Confidants, nine prominent members of the Turkish Cypriot community were each invited by the organizer, Dr. Gül İnanç, to decorate a refrigerator according to their personal tastes, considering that it would be exhibited publicly with the potential to act as a primary source in history writing and reconstruction. The final forms of the refrigerators do not only reveal aspects of personality and individuality; they also serve as commentaries on the time and space in which they were created.
This workshop, designed and run by Dr. Gül İnanç and based on the Acts of Confidants exhibition, discussed history and how to enjoy the past through artifacts. Sixty primary-school children aged 6-11 participated.
Gül İnanç received her B.A. from Boğaziçi University (1991) and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Dokuz Eylül University (1999). She has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (2000-01) and a Research Fellow at Princeton and Georgetown (2007). Dr. İnanç has taught at Boğaziçi University, Central Connecticut State University, and the University of Cyprus; and is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Mediterranean University. Dr. İnanç is the author of a variety of books and articles on regional history and diplomacy; she was also one of the key figure involved in rewriting the state history textbooks in North Cyprus.
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2008, May 3
Conversations on Film: A Series of Film Screenings and Round-Table Discussions
– Panelists: Yeliz Şükrü (Director), Skip Norman (Ethnographer), Davita Jones (Child Sociologist), Dan Frodsham (Producer/Director), Emin Çizenel (Artist), Gül İnanç (Historian), Anber Onar (Artist), Mete Hatay (Researcher).
This event included short-film screenings and round-table discussions for film enthusiasts and professionals with a panel made up of film professionals and academics from different disciplines, with the aim of discussing the power of film as a means of visual communication. The films screened included both Cypriot and international shorts, with a selection of films made by young Cypriots as part of the UNDP-ACT sponsored Young Film-makers Competition. The purpose was to evoke discussion and debate as well as provide a networking opportunity for film-makers and film enthusiasts in Cyprus and further promote the development of the emerging Cypriot film industry.
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2008, April 27
Panel: Living in Between/Being in Between
– Panelists: Eero Tarasti, Roland Posner, Goran Sonesson (in English)
Sidestreets hosted the Plenary Session of Living in Between/Being in Between: An International Semiotics Congress organized by Girne American University under the auspices of IASS-AIS, the International Association for Semiotic Studies.
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2008, April 25 – May 10
Exhibition: “Acts of Confidants”
– with Dr. Gül İnanç
For the collective personal history project Acts of Confidants, nine prominent members of the Turkish Cypriot community were each invited by curator Gül İnanç to decorate a refrigerator according to their personal tastes, considering that it would be exhibited publicly with the potential to act as a primary source in history writing and reconstruction.
The participants were: Işın Ramadan Cemil (businesswoman), Emin Çizenel (artist), Tufan Erhürman (lawyer), Gönül Erönen (judge), Niyazi Kızılyürek (professor), Bilge Nevzat (businesswoman), Cemal Turgut (businessman), Neşe Yaşın (poet), and Derviş Zaim (film-maker).
The final forms of the refrigerators do not only reveal aspects of personality and individuality; they also serve as commentaries on the time and space in which they were created. Should we view these as genuine acts of sincerity, analyze them as acts of intimacy, or question the self-perceptions of the participants, as now destined for a permanent place in history? Each approach reveals an alternative perspective. For the future historian, this exhibition may serve as a source, a momentary insight, frozen in time and place.
Gül İnanç received her B.A. from Boğaziçi University (1991) and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Dokuz Eylül University (1999). She has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (2000-01) and a Research Fellow at Princeton and Georgetown (2007). Dr. İnanç has taught at Boğaziçi University, Central Connecticut State University, and the University of Cyprus; and is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Mediterranean University. Dr. İnanç is the author of a variety of books and articles on regional history and diplomacy; she was also one of the key figure involved in rewriting the state history textbooks in North Cyprus.
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2008, April 1–18 Architectural Exhibition: “Layers of Space”
– with Emre Akbil and Esra Akbil
This exhibition, created by Sidestreets’ Fellows and Architects-in-Residence Emre Akbil and Esra Akbil, displayed the plans and 3-D animations as well as recorded interviews with current inhabitants of the proposed site of their award-winning project to build the new Presidential Administrative Offices for North Cyprus.
Emre Akbil and Esra Akbil are the directors of Etika Architecture and Design Ltd., established in 2007 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The studio has received a range of awards for its work in the fields of architecture and design.
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2008, January 30 – February 16
Exhibition: Untitled History Part II: Plastic Arts in North Cyprus
– with Rana Zincir Celal
Untitled History, a project coordinated by Sidestreets Fellow Rana Zincir Celal, showcased the result of a one-year research initiative into the forces shaping the plastic arts scene of north Cyprus over the last 26 years. This was an opportunity to view a comprehensive assessment of developments in the plastic arts during that time, complete with original exhibition posters, catalogues, clippings, video footage and other material. The exhibition was complemented by workshops and panels taking place in February 2008.
Rana Zincir Celal received her B.A. from Columbia University (1997) and her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics (1998). Ms Celal is currently Vice President for Programs at the Chrest Foundation. Her recent efforts, in partnership with Anadolu Kultur, have led to the establishment of a new program for cultural cooperation in the Caucasus, particularly Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Her work also entails enhancing relations between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, as a member of the Greek-Turkish Forum; she has also worked as a coordinator of several conflict resolution projects.
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2008, January 28
Panel Discussion: “Establishing Art and Art Audiences in the Community”
– Panelists: Ergün Olgun, Rezzan Nevzat, Ümit İnatçı (in Turkish)
A panel made up of well known figures in the local art scene – an art collector, a gallery owner and an artist – opened up a public discussion at Sidestreets on the state of the arts and culture in North Cyprus and the problems encountered by artists, primarily the lack of state support, the low priority given to the arts in schools, and the need to increase cultural literacy in the general population. The panel’s statements were followed by a discussion and a reception.
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2008, January 28
Poetry Reading: Northern Breeze
– Peter Curman
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden (in English)
On January 28, 2008 Sidestreets presented a poetry reading by Swedish poet Peter Curman from his latest book inspired by North Cyprus, Northern Breeze. The event, which was attended by poets and literature-lovers, was followed by a reception.
Peter Curman was born in Stockholm in 1941. His first selection of poetry appeared in 1965, and since then he has published twelve books of poetry, debate books, anthologies, and one love novel (Metdown, 1998). Together with Ingemar Lindahl he also translated John Lennon’s “In his own write” (1965). A Turkish translation of his poetry book Northern Breezes was published in Turkish in 2004 (Istanbul: Berfin Yayınları). Peter Curman was for many years the President of the Swedish Writers’ Union (1987-95) and has recently been serving as the Chairman of the Swedish Joint Committee for Literary and Artistic Professionals, an umbrella organization for 18 creative unions representing the cultural scene of Sweden. He was one of the driving forces behind the literary cruises in the Baltic Sea in 1992 and in the Black Sea and the Aegean in 1994 that resulted in the creation of two Writers´ and Translators´ Centers under the auspices of UNESCO, on the Swedish island of Gotland and the Greek island of Rhodes respectively. Peter Curman is also the initiator of the Swedish digital printing house PODIUM—an initiative aimed at introducing new technology—print-on-demand—to distribute new literature in limited editions as well as worldwide (www.podium.nu).
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2008 January 25-26
Workshop: “Starting up your own business: a targeted workshop for women entrepreneurs.”
– EU/UNDP Partnership for the Future
Sidestreets hosted a workshop on January 25-26, 2008 in English and Turkish run by the EU/UNDP Partnership for the Future, to promote development in the Turkish Cypriot community.
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2008, January 18
Lecture: “Famagusta and its Fading Frescoes: the Armenian Church, St. Anne’s, and the SS Peter and Paul”
– Dr. Michael Walsh, Chair, Department of Archeology and Art History,Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
On January 18, 2008, Sidestreets presented a slide lecture by Dr. Michael Walsh on the unfortunate state of the church frescoes in Famagusta, and his proposed plans for having them professionally restored. The event was followed by a discussion and reception.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
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2008, January 17
Lecture: “Maritime Archeology and Heritage in Famagusta”
– Dr. Matthew Harpster, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
On January 17, 2008, Sidestreets presented a slide lecture by Dr. Matthew Harpster on the history and present state of maritime archeology in Cyprus and the key developments in the field that occurred during the excavation of the Kyrenia shipwreck in the 1960s. The event was followed by a discussion and reception.
After receiving his PhD with a specialty in Nautical Archaeology from Texas A&M University in 2005, Matthew Harpster was a Fellow at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 2006 to 2010, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University, in Famagusta, until he began his present position as the Director of the Kyrenia Shipwreck Collection Restoration Program. This international effort hopes to revitalize and care for the 4th-century BC collection artifacts excavated in the late 1960s, as well as the surrounding exhibition and infrastructure.
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2008, January 15
Lecture: “The Edge of Empire: Venetian Architecture in Famagusta”
– Dr. Allan Langdale, Department of Archeology and Art History,Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
On January 15, 2008, Sidestreets presented a slide lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale covering the Venetian colonial architecture of the city of Famagusta, focusing particularly on the fortifications of the walled city. The event was followed by a discussion and reception.
Allan Langdale has published six articles on the art and architecture of northern Cyprus and, with Dan Frodsham, wrote, directed, and produced the award winning documentary film The Stones of Famagusta: the Story of a Forgotten City. He has just completed a guide to the archaeology and historical architecture of northern Cyprus, which will be published early in 2012. Dr. Langdale has taught art history at EMU and at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
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2008, January 11, 12, 13
World Premiere: The Stones of Famagusta
– Allan Langdale and Dan Frodsham
“Famagusta Week” at Sidestreets began on Friday, January 11 with the screening premiere of the new documentary The Stones of Famagusta and a reception with the scriptwriter Allan Langdale and film-maker Dan Frodsham (in English). The film was screened again on Monday and Tuesday, January 12 and 13, to meet public demand.
Co-produced by Famagusta-based Black Dog Media and Land of Empires Productions, The Stones of Famagusta is a feature-length documentary film charting the rise and fall of what was once the richest city in the world. The film was the result of a collaboration between British filmmaker Dan Frodsham, Canadian art historian Allan Langdale, and the Turkish Cypriot company Black Dog Media. The film was written and presented by Allan Langdale; Dan Frodsham, a former BBC producer and director, also took on the roles of cameraman and editor for this production. Black Dog Media, headed by Turkish Cypriot Sanem Şahin, a co-producer of the film, provided a production base for the project in Cyprus.
The movie, which the BBC News described as “exquisitely filmed,” premiered at Sidestreets in Nicosia, and then featured at a conference in Paris hosted by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation for cultural heritage, at which the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Famagusta pledged to work together to conserve the city’s heritage. The film was also screened twice at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California in 2009, and received the award for “Best Documentary” in the 2009 Monterey Independent Film Festival.
Sidestreets’ “Famagusta Week” events continued on January 15, 17 and 18 with lecture presentations by Dr. Allan Langdale (on Venetian architecture), Dr. Matthew Harpster (underwater archeology) and Dr. Michael Walsh (on church frescoes).
Allan Langdale has taught art history at EMU and at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has published six articles on the art and architecture of the north of Cyprus and, with Dan Frodsham, wrote, directed, and produced the award winning documentary film The Stones of Famagusta: the Story of a Forgotten City. The book In a Contested Realm is his latest publication.
Dan Frodsham, a former BBC producer and director based in Famagusta, is the cinematographer and codirector/coproducer with Allan Langdale of “The Stones of Famagusta.” The movie, which the BBC News described as “exquisitely filmed,” premiered at Sidestreets in Nicosia, and then featured at a conference in Paris hosted by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation for cultural heritage, at which the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities of Famagusta pledged to work together to conserve the city’s heritage. The film was also screened twice at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California in 2009, and received the award for “Best Documentary” in the 2009 Monterey Independent Film Festival.
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2008, January 7–23
Exhibition: Untitled History Part I: Plastic Arts in North Cyprus
– with Rana Zincir Celal
This phase of the Untitled History exhibition coordinated by Sidestreets Fellow Rana Zincir Celal entailed a collaborative research effort into the context of the plastic arts in north Cyprus from 1980 to 2006. During this time, Sidestreets hosted a research team who gathered and catalogued archival materials, conducted meetings and interviews with artists, and prepared for the January 30th show. Artists and art-lovers were invited to contribute with their own archival documents from this time period, or to stop in to see the team at work.
Rana Zincir Celal received her B.A. from Columbia University (1997) and her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics (1998). Ms Celal is currently Vice President for Programs at the Chrest Foundation. Her recent efforts, in partnership with Anadolu Kultur, have led to the establishment of a new program for cultural cooperation in the Caucasus, particularly Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Her work also entails enhancing relations between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, as a member of the Greek-Turkish Forum; she has also worked as a coordinator of several conflict resolution projects.
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2008, January 4
Poetry Reading and Book Signing: Orange Bird
– Mehmet Yaşın (in Turkish)
On January 4, 2008, distinguished poet and novelist Mehmet Yaşın read from his newly published book of poems, Orange Bird. The reading was followed by an informal discussion and book signing.
Mehmet Yaşın (b. 1958, Lefkoşa) lives between Cyprus and Cambridge, where he lectures and does research on literature and translation studies. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Pathos (1990), The Promising Armchair (1993), Fantasy Repair (1998), Don’t Go Back To Kyrenia (2001), His Name on the List of Missing (2002), the novel Hours Outside Borders (2003), and the experimental works Poeturka (1995) and Kosmopoetika (2002). His 1984 work My Love the Dead Soldier was awarded the first prize of the Turkish Academy and the A. Kadir Poetry Prize; his 1994 novel Your Kinsman Pisces won the prestigious Cevdet Kudret Novel Prize. His edited works include the Anthology of Turkish Cypriot Poetry (1994), the Anthology of Early Cypriot Poetry (1999), Stepmothertongue (2000), and the Anthology of Cypriot Poetry (2005) which was awarded the Memet Fuat Criticism prize. Five of his books were published in 2007: Collected Writings 1978-2005, Collected Poems 1977-2002, Hours Outside Borders, Your Kinsman Pisces; and a new volume of poetry, Orange Bird, in 2008.
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2007, December 15
Lecture: “‘Scratching the Surface’: Understanding the Ottoman Ship Graffiti in the Medieval Churches of Famagusta.”
–Dr. Michael Walsh, Chair, Department of Archeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English)
In its one-thousand-year history, the port of Famagusta in Cyprus has been the source of both triumph and tragedy for the city that surrounds it. At its peak, traders, merchants, warships, crusaders, pirates and pilgrims passed through Famagusta from all over the Mediterranean world. The Lusignans, Genoese, Venetians, Ottomans and British all, at some point, possessed the harbor and used it as a base for their economic or military operations in the region, giving Famagusta an importance and wealth comparable to that of Venice and Constantinople (or in the opinion of St. Bridget of Sweden, rather less favorably, to Sodom and Gomorrah). And yet it was from the sea, and through the conduit of the port, that the end of the golden period came for the city, with the Genoese in1373, then later, the Ottoman fleet of Lala Mustapha Pasha in 1571. Centuries later, and now at the heart of the “the Eastern Question” in 1879, the British declared optimistically of the now deserted and mostly ruined city, “This is our future port….” Even today it remains at the center of any realistic discussion on the “Cyprus problem.”
That some tangible traces of this enormously rich maritime heritage should remain, then, is hardly surprising; and some of its most interesting signs take the form of graffiti—images of sailing ships, scratched on the ancient walls of churches, and dating back to between the 17th and early 20th century. This presentation looks at the semiotics of the ship graffiti of the city, taking as an example an image from a church, and encourages the art/maritime historian to engage with the geo-social and historico-political frames that shape the significations of these images. The ship graffiti of Famagusta serve as complex signifiers of patterns of cultural behavior and expression, with an ethnographical significance beyond the mere recording of naval architecture, and, as with any excavation, exposing layers of meaning to be observed, recorded and, within the temporal framework of history, (mis)understood for posterity.
Michael Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Archeology and Art History at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is the author of several distinguished books and numerous articles on modernist art and on the heritage of Famagusta. Through his efforts the city of Famagusta was placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund in 2007, and the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Famagusta came together to declare their will to collaborate on the conservation of the city’s history. Dr. Walsh is currently actively working to engage local and international organizations in this endeavor.
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2007, December 6
Lecture: “Biography of an Architect: Ziya Tanalı”
– Ziya Tanalı, Chief Architect, Architects, Engineers and Consultants; and Lecturer, Çankaya University, Turkey (in Turkish)
On December 6, 2007, Sidestreets presented a slide lecture and overview of his life and work by Turkish architect Ziya Tanalı. The event was followed by a discussion and reception.
Ziya Tanalı received his Ph.D. in architecture from Middle East Technical University. He worked variously as a designer at Prof. Hans Asplund`s Design Office in Stockholm (1965-66) and in the Construction and Design Department of Ankara University (1967-73); teaching design at Ankara State Academy of Engineering and Architecture (1971-1973) and at Gazi University (1997-98); and as a tutor and design critic at the “Basic Design Studio” of Çankaya University. He was also a design critic of “Virtual Studio” (2000-01). He has served on the board of directors of ATCEA, the Association of Turkish Consulting Engineers and Architects (1987-92; 1996-2000) and as its deputy president (1996-2000). In 2005 he became an Honorary Member of the Turkish Professional Architects Association; in 2004 he was elected to the National Prize jury of the Turkish Chamber of Architects. He is the author of several books and has designed more than 230 architectural projects, which have been realized in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the ATCEA Distinguished Service Award (1994) and the Mimar Sinan Prize for Architecture (2008).
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Lecture: “Historical and Ideological Signs: The History Books in North Cyprus.”
– Dr. Gul İnanç, Department of History,Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (in English and Turkish)
How we perceive the future has a significant impact on how we construct and present the past, and how we perceive and present the past has a significant impact on how we shape the future; as Rebecca Bryant has noted, “Belief rests on imaginations of the future and hence on visions of the past.”
The last thirty years of history on the island of Cyprus have seen, in the wake of ethnic conflict and war, a physical and geographical divison of the island between its Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot populations, along a Green Line patrolled by UN Peace-Keeping Forces. Until three years ago, this border also symbolized a psychological and ideological separation, and the two populations maintained separate systems of government and education, supported by official, state-sanctioned versions of history. These contrasting histories were constructed in each community through a selection of events and use of language that reinforced state ideologies, and helped to create, through the respective education systems of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, a “collective memory” that psychologically justified the policies and actions of their respective governments. Meanwhile,the Greek Cypriot population, in the south of the island, was internationally recognized; while the Turkish Cypriots, receiving recognition and support primarily from Turkey, remained politically and economically isolated from the rest of the world. Following three decades of isolation, new initiatives and pressures exerted on the concerned parties by the United Nations and the European Union led, in 2003 to the opening of border crossings along the Green Line, and in 2004 to simultaneous referenda in the two populations. In the referenda, the Turkish Cypriot population voted overwhelmingly in favor of (while the majority of the Greek Cypriots voted against) reunification of Cyprus under the plan proposed by the UN Secretary-General.
The Turkish Cypriots then took an extraordinary step forward by reflecting critically on their past, and began to examine the texts and images that were being used to teach history in the primary and high schools, with the intention of reconstructing and re-presenting their past in a new way for a better future (how this will shape the future of their next generation still remains to be seen). This paper examines the process through which visual and verbal signifiers in these texts are imbued with national historical and psychological significance through their framing in social, cultural and ideological sign systems. It concentrates specifically on the received meaning as it is constructed and communicated in words and images, and the potential use of semiotic approaches in historical writing: not simply to create the political or national other and national identity, but to interrogate and critically question fundamental notions of otherness, nation, history, and identity, with a view to revising constructions of the past and opening up polysemic directions for the future.
Gül İnanç received her B.A. from Boğaziçi University (1991) and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Dokuz Eylül University (1999). She has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (2000-01) and a Research Fellow at Princeton and Georgetown (2007). Dr. İnanç has taught at Boğaziçi University, Central Connecticut State University, and the University of Cyprus; and is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Mediterranean University. Dr. İnanç is the author of a variety of books and articles on regional history and diplomacy; she was also one of the key figure involved in rewriting the state history textbooks in North Cyprus.
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Photography Exhibition: Everyday Life in Cyprus, 1927-1931
– in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Cyprus
An exhibition of photographs and a 40-minute film taken by the Swedish Cyprus Archeological Expedition during 1927-31.
This exhibition, organized by Sidestreets in association with the Embassy of Sweden, consisted of selected photographic prints from the Cyprus collection of the Medelhavsmuseet (the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities) in Stockholm, as well as daily screenings of a 40-minute film shot by the Expedition.
The Medelhavsmuseet’s archive houses more than 9000 original glass negatives of photographs taken by members of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, which conducted extensive professional archeological research in Cyprus during this period. Most of the photographs documented archeological work, but many others documented everyday life on the island in the 1920s and ‘30s, providing a unique and valuable perspective on the culture of Cyprus eighty years ago.
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2007, November 16
Video Art and Performance: Phoenix Again
– Emin Çizenel
This event consisted of a performance by artist Emin Çizenel and a piece of video art concerning a work of his which had been rejected by the jury of a national art competition in Cyprus that had invited submissions of two-dimensional works. The stretched canvases that made up the two-dimensional artwork had been packed by the artist and submitted in an elegant black wooden box with a wax seal. The jury members had argued amongst themselves whether to open the box or not, and eventually, despite strong cases being made for opening it, voted not to, and therefore, without seeing the two-dimensional work inside, disqualified the box as “a three-dimensional conceptual artwork” that did not fit the criteria of the competition. Çizenel’s performance and video of the process of opening the box engaged a large audience at Sidestreets as an ironic and humorous comment on the logic, politics and intelligence of local juries and art competitions, and viewers were able to see the artwork properly exhibited.
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2007, November 11
Lecture: "Mapping Simulacra: Bedouin Aesthetics and Signs of Passage."
– Johann Pillai, Sidestreets (in English)
This paper was presented as a preliminary study, a set of notes towards, in Deleuze and Guattari’s terms, a “nomadology” of Cyprus. It was grounded in two detailed semiotic analyses: (1) of the figure of the Bedouin in its poses and attitudes as well as associated cultural artifacts in the context of Cyprus; and (2) of a series of maps from classical to modern times, some of which are included in and some excluded from standard cartographical histories of the island.
The points of intersection of these two analyses revealed a more fundamental relation of nomadic movement to territorial and other forms of delimited spaces; and within this framework the paper engaged some of the orders of signification between the physical and the conceptual cartography of Cyprus, as ambivalently expressed in the lines and captions of maps, and personal and collective identity, as revealed in the signs that circumscribe the Bedouin. These connections in turn exposed the fragile relation between selective memory and selective forgetting, which is constructed in the historical and ideological space between the conditions of production of signs (as oral, aural, visual, or gestural representations) and the conditions of their reception (the contextual framework imposed on them by the interpreter).
2007, November 10
Video Art Presentation: Tapsssss
– Emin Çizenel, with Hakan Çakmak and Anber Onar
A visual re-interpretation of the Tapsssss exhibition, which comprised a series of untitled mixed media works on canvas, taking as its starting point images of public water taps set above concrete basins.
“Public water taps set above concrete basins are found in villages all over Cyprus. These taps, which also recall Ottoman water fountains made for public use and for ablutions outside mosques, were built by the British during the period of colonial rule on the island, and have today fallen into disuse.… Çizenel’s video images and sounds bring them back to life, with water gushing out in such quantity that it floods the canvas, where the streams of water appear as intense white scratches on the surface.… Water is also a figure of constant change, as it represents, spatially, the ebb and flow of cultures, histories, memories and desires in time.”
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
2007, November 10
Lecture: "Border Stamps: Towards a Semiotics of Postal Representation."
– Anber Onar, Sidestreets (in English)
The postal history of Cyprus constitutes a series of pictorial and textual representations that reflect changing social, cultural and political circumstances. These circumstances range broadly from the period of British colonial government that followed the transfer of the island from Ottoman rule, to the creation of the Republic of Cyprus in 1959-60, to the official division of the island in 1974 (and the establishment of two separate postal authorities in Cyprus, to the declaration of the generally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. Through each of these phases, postage stamps, pasted on envelopes, have served as complex representations of state and communal ideologies and policies, as the issuing authorities have tried to reflect through these tiny vignettes that are essential to communication both within and across borders, images of culture, history and language in the service of or in acts of rebellion against political ideologies.
This paper explored ways of traveling in time and space through a semiotic analysis of postage stamps issued on Cyprus in different periods of the island’s cultural and political history. These stamps function in various ways: as modes of communication and a means of authorizing communication, as instruments of ideology, and as a mobile form of public art that crosses and questions cultural, geographical, political and legal boundaries. The semiotic and historical analysis of Cypriot stamps provided a useful context for viewing contemporary issues surrounding borders and the way they define or determine individual and social identities on the island.
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Lecture: “(Mis)communications of Urban Space: Signboards and Architecture in the Modern City of Kyrenia.”
– Dr. Zeynep Onur, Faculty of Architecture,Girne American University, North Cyprus (in Turkish)
The town of
A. Zeynep Onur received her B.S. in Architecture from the State Academy of Engineering and Architecture, an M.S. in Business Administration from the Academy of Administrative and Economic Sciences, and her Ph.D. in Architecture from Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. She is an associate professor and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Girne American University in Kyrenia, North Cyprus.
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2007, November 9–27
Sidestreets’ Opening Exhibition: Emin Çizenel’s TAPSSSSS
– with Emin Çizenel
Official opening of Sidestreets, with Tapsssss, an exhibition of paintings and the screening of a film by artist Emin Çizenel.
Çizenel’s work ranges from painting to sculpture to multimedia compositions based on materials as diverse as felt and wood. The exhibition entitled Tapsssss, comprised a series of untitled mixed media works on canvas, taking as its starting point images of public water taps set above concrete basins. Taps of this sort, which recall Ottoman water fountains made for public use and for ablutions outside mosques, were built throughout the island of Cyprus by the British during the period of colonial rule that culminated in independence in 1960, and they have today fallen into disuse, existing as non-functional, yet monumental concrete signifiers of colonial government. Their surfaces have also been worked over through time, by natural forces as well as through human agency, and many are covered with graffiti.
Çizenel’s paintings develop an iconography that recontextualizes these sign systems and transposes them on an aesthetic plane, adding new dimensions of signification that in effect bring these image-objects back to life, with water gushing out and flooding the canvas in the form of intense white scratches on the surface that serve as metaphors for historical and cultural change; the paintings thus function as semiological performatives, engaging the viewer in the construction of meaning.
Emin Çizenel was born in Mallia, Cyprus, and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Fine Arts Academy. He has participated as artist-in-residence in programs in Turkey and Vienna and as a Fulbright Fellow in New York; and since the 1970s he has been working as an independent professional artist, presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have appeared in international and local exhibitions/biennials in countries including Cyprus, England, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States.
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2005, May 14
Precursor to Sidestreets: The Installation: “Outside the Projects”
– A Parallel Event to “Leaps of Faith: An International Arts Event on the Green Line, May 13-29, 2005.”
– Anber Onar
Anber Onar’s “Outside the Projects” was an art installation over the façade of a modern, five-story office building in the center of Cyprus’s Venetian-walled capital city, Nicosia. The project was completed at 22 Saray Önü Street; and it generated the concept of the “Sidestreets Project” (2007-present), which has been based at this location since 2007.
The artist created this work after some months of researching, photographing, interviewing etc. the people living in the walled inner city, where there were already existing disputes regarding territory, architecture, culture, race, belief, economics and politics (about 90% of the walled city’s population are low-income immigrant workers and their families from Turkey, many living in squalid conditions without electricity or running water, and the municipality had basically turned a blind eye towards them). The office building in question is located opposite the main courthouse, and a few meters from the central post office, surrounded by banks and lawyers’ offices, in the center of the main financial area of Nicosia; the more privileged people in this area generally ignore the conditions of people living in the side streets or “projects.”
Onar’s project was to transform, with the assistance of workmen, the entire façade of the building to give it the appearance of a local, inner-city slum tenement, with rusted corrugated iron, bits of wood, shattered windows, dirt, graffiti, and ragged laundry hanging from clotheslines. Most of the material was donated by residents in the side streets, whose living conditions the transformed façade reflected. This work therefore foregrounded the margins of the city by bringing them explicitly into the city center; its effect was to create a widespread public discussion of everyday experiences of seemingly local, but in reality global, issues. The installation was supplemented by “alternative, inner-city performance-tours” of the dilapidated side streets which the artist conducted, pointing out building currently occupied by immigrant workers and narrating stories and legends of previous inhabitants.
Within a day, the project provoked a broad discussion of social issues in the newspapers, to which the mayor of Nicosia responded with a warning notice, and then by sending out police to block off the main street and a team of workers to (illegally) tear down the artwork. This provoked a further public discussion about art and censorship.
Over 200 newspaper articles or columns (from the local Cypriot press and the press in Turkey, to Al-Jazeera and the Financial Times) were written in response to or commenting on the project, which contributed to the curatorial intentions of the “Leaps of Faith” exhibition by “shift[ing]… attention to a host of existing socio-cultural issues and problems that have been marginalized as a result of the realpolitik, such as gender and class issues, minority rights, the ill effects of tourism, deregulated urban expansion, skewed notions of ‘development’ and economic and sexual exploitation of immigrants.”
Sidestreets’ name and spirit came from this art piece: it was developed in order to open cultural forums and promote social cohesion through creative activity and inquiry into people’s everyday need for cultural belonging.
Anber Onar received her B.F.A. in Visual Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (1987); and her M.A. in English Studies (Critical Theory and Film) Eastern Mediterranean University (2002). She is an independent artist and scholar, and the co-founder and director of artistic and cultural programs at Sidestreets.She has taught in the fine arts and art history at Bilkent University; and at Eastern Mediterranean University, where she also worked as a design consultant and was the founder of several arts associations for students. She has participated in art exhibitions in Cyprus and internationally, from the USA to Turkey, France, Greece, and Luxembourg.
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