Soli

We are in and around Sıraselviler. The neighbourhood that connects Taksim to Cihangir and that wears on the chaos and diversity of Istanbul. The neighbourhood that we read the transformation from its face.

Sıraselviler route from Saha Studio to Geyik

Hood: Sıraselviler. Writing: Çelenk Bafra. Photos: Kaan Walsh.You enter SAHA Studio from Sıraselviler Street. You pass by the 2 nightclubs and go down the stairs. A little doubt, the question of whether you have come to the right place is on your mind. There's no need to worry. The astonishment is only beginning. Due to the difference in levels, this basement floor opens to a lush, sunlit space among fig trees. We are now in an area that creates a perspective of the neighbourhood with trees, flora, fauna, and the cats and birds that drop by from time to time. The breeze of Cihangir behind us.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/8/5/1664530050739.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.66" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Çelenk<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Let's meet with SAHA</h2><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/sahadernegi/?hl=en" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">SAHA - Supporting Contemporary Art From Turkey</a> has been in close contact with the Biennial since its start in 2011. The aim of SAHA is to carry out projects, develop funds, and run programmes that provide support to include art professionals, artists, writers, and curators working in the field of visual arts from Turkey in the international art dialogue. Since 2011, we have been providing funds for projects, books, and artwork productions to artists and artist groups invited from Turkey for each edition of the Istanbul Biennial. On the other hand, at the SAHA Residency in Galata, we were hosting curators who came from abroad for the Biennial and international artists who came to Istanbul for research during the Biennial period.SAHA Studio meets with its visitors in 2019, simultaneously with the previous Istanbul Biennial. This is a workshop space that works with artists who work in relation to Turkey at least every 6 months; where they can get help in editorial, legal, technical, curatorial, and production issues, as well as being a source for their production budgets; and where they can interact with each other and the neighbourhood. They can continue an unfinished project or start a new one and produce works in the form of a book, video, installation, sound, sculpture, or painting.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/8/4/1664457845828.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Pop-up biennial images can be seen from every corner<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">The relationship between SAHA Studio and the Biennial</h2>It was 2 years ago when the biennial curatorial team invited us. Thinking "Let this Biennial compost, let it start ahead of time and continue afterward", the team was interested in the fact that this place was not a place where art was exhibited, but a place where art was talked about, discussed, and researched, in other words, and a kind of art-kitchen. The process that started with the aim of meeting and interacting with the artists working here, led us to the idea of inviting artists whose works were in the Biennial when the Biennial was postponed for a year. Ahmet Öğüt and Atıf Akın, who are of Turkish origin but live in Europe and New York respectively, were part of this process. Burcu Yağcıoğlu, Elmas Deniz, and Can Küçük, are pursuing projects that ask questions and seek answers about the ecological and climate crisis within the World Weather Network, of which we are the founding members. The artists we invited started working in June and will continue to produce at least until the end of the year.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/8/4/1664458054933.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">A studio that makes the viewer a participant<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Council with an open door, and an open mind</h2>During the Biennial, we have organised a system in which the viewer can also be a participant, opening a space for the contact between the artist and the viewer. All workshops can be visited during Open Door Days on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Open Door Days are important in several ways. This time becomes a meeting place for the artist and the audience. The onlooker experiences the process of the creator and chats with them. The said onlooker can be a child, a museum director, or a curator with expertise in art. The feedback, sometimes on a subject that the viewer does not understand, sometimes on a subject that the viewer asks a question about, sometimes giving advice, provides the creator with a tone that transforms, changes, enriches, sometimes demotivates, but sometimes increases their motivation in the time remaining in the workshop or beyond, because there is no prerequisite for finishing work here. This is the most important reason why we designed this place as a space-separated by curtains instead of workshops with locked doors.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/8/4/1664458118103.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Locals at SAHA Studio for the art observation<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 fr-original-style="text-align: left;" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">The relationship between SAHA and the neighbourhood</h2>Taksim is one of the most central points of the city and Turkey. For a long time, there has been talking that Beyoğlu has lost its culture, that it has turned into a touristic area, and that it has lost its old character, but the situation does not manifest itself in the same way for the artists who come here. There were those who researched the history of Taksim Square, we learnt that its name comes from the word "taksim" (to divide/to share), and those who researched Gezi Park and the square's relationship with political memory. Sıraselviler is not only a place for an intellectual quest but also a place where you can establish sincere relationships with shopkeepers and shops selling different materials. From a knife sharpener to a florist, a veterinarian, or a cowboy boot seller... Here, you will find everything you are looking for, and more, way more. Yes, maybe there are not as many art centres and galleries as before, many of them have moved or closed down, but Co-Pilot is still here, for example. It was very important for us to be in a place easily accessible by public transport. We are here, together, at the meeting point of those coming from Karaköy, Galata, Cihangir, and Şişli.<h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/8/5/1664531054383.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"></h2>Streets are the neighbourhoods memory keepers&nbsp;<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">The memory of a street</h2>I wanted to take a walk on the street, on the Sıraselviler line. We're on Meşelik Street now. It is one of the main arteries from Istiklal Street to reach Cihangir without entering the bustle of the square. The important buildings of Beyoğlu and of Turkey, such as the Private Esayan Armenian High School,&nbsp;Private Zapyon Greek High School, and Aya Triada Greek Orthodox Church are the buildings we come across here.I have been living in this periphery since the 90s. Although there are times when I live here where my school and work are always close to each other, what matters is not whether my physical home is here or not. The streets, the people I meet, and the conversations in front of the doors make this place "home". Now, back to Abdullah Street, it is known as "Sokak" (Street) in the collective memory of people like me who have worked in the fields of culture and arts. It was an area with cafes, culture centres, and entertainment venues, where underground culture flourished inside and outside. This is the street where music, leftist ideology, fanzines, and bookstores are located; where you can easily drink on the streets; where empty bottles are collected and exchanged at the grocery store; and where Küçük İskender, one of the leading figures here, wrote a lot about. Although now gentrified, it preserves its memories in all of us.

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