Diyarbakır
Hub IWords Written on the Water
Phase 1
“Words Written on the Water” included preparatory productions of an art, culture and nature festival, with artists and initiatives from Diyarbakır and different geographies, aiming to have a place in the urban memory of Diyarbakır and to carry Kurdish language, culture and art out into the world.
Initiated with VAHA programme, the festival aims to enmesh the VAHA ecosystem to the Kurdish artistic and cultural ecosystem and to produce inter-spatial, inter-communal and inter-disciplinary artistic interlacements for a porous artistic expression. FeqîFest is the dream of a festival where the voices of all the diverse identities of human history intermingle with living and non-living voices of the earth. Through the words of Feqî written on the water, rolling into the poetic flow of coexistence, the festival strives to shake given meanings of the clichés. While the loss interfolds with the presence, only the artistic expression bodies forth the meshwork hidden in the spot. Down from Fiskaya to the Hevsel Gardens, a telluric voice roams the city spot by spot to spread the word farthest. Dare to hear it then it will tell you.
In this crone world, you move from spot to spot
You neither sleep nor do you ever come to a halt
In all honesty, you are the very image of my heart
You suffer and agonize, you are deep in misery
Phase 2
Concrete Contract
in collaboration with Athens and Tirana hubs
Connecting three different cities, Diyarbakır, Athens and Tirana, the project “Concrete Contract” uses fiction as a tool to explore contexts, map new territories, and produces content through collaborations, exchanges and productions. This fiction fits and travels into the interstices of a concrete megalopolis spreading over Turkey and the Balkans. Concrete Contract faced local realities, different audiences and environments, but it also exposed what we believe to have in common: a territory linked by geography and history, intertwined practices, yearnings for a different future and the absolute necessity to meet and produce together.
The project expanded over eight different activities that punctuate and structure the fiction. There were activity phases of discussions, data-mining and brainstorming and activities of wide openings, collaborations and production. Storytelling, virtual and physical encounters, participation of artists, travels, workshops, diary of the journey, exhibitions, local events, interactions and publications are amongst the tools that were used for this purpose. The desired goal was to make this fiction tangible and craft a topography for all to see and explore.