Art at Zero Point: Logbook From Antakya
The results of the hub's work were first exhibited at the KUB Gallery in Leipzig back in September 2024. On the week of the second anniversary of the earthquake, the exhibition is opened again at Defne Evi in Antakya.
The devastating earthquakes on February 6 and February 20, 2023, shook Turkey and hit the Hatay region particularly hard. The administrative and cultural centre of the region, the city of Antakya, was almost completely destroyed. The city, which is several thousand years old and was known as Antioch in ancient Roman times, has been repeatedly hit by earthquakes throughout its history and has been rebuilt again and again. The tragedy of 2023 will go down in history books and legends as the eighth fall of Antakya, with reconstruction still to come for the current generation. In this context, two art collectives in the city - Antakya Performative Collective and Janus Artzine - have joined forces in response to the earthquake. To support the reconstruction of the city, they founded the project "Sıfır Noktasında Sanat (Art at Zero Point)", which focuses on the healing power of art in the disaster area.
COLLABORATION OF
Sıfır Noktasında Sanat
Murat German 
International artists have been on the road since April 2024 with a caravan that serves as a mobile art space. They organise public workshops, exhibitions, and creative meetings that are open to everyone.
Emrah Gökdemir, Melisa Kurtuluş, Hatice Yıldız Züreyk, Anastasia Kurtuluş, Meryem Yalçınkaya and Kenan Nuraydın from Antakya Performative Collective; Macide Yalçınkaya and Ezgi Aysever (Janus Artzine); Ayben Kaynar Tanır, Evrim Kavcar, Memed Erdener, Raziye Kubat, and Pawel Korbus as part of the Sıfır Noktasında Sanat Hub Artist in Residency programme in Antakya invited the local community to come together with different art practices. The outputs of these workshops were curated for an exhibition.
Murat Germen contributed to the exhibition with his documentation of Antakya throughout the years. The Istanbul-based photographer visited Antakya for the first time in 2006 and has been documenting various conditions in the city since then. In 2023, he was there with his camera in the first days after the earthquake. He also showed the thousand-year history of the city in the framework of different political systems in the first exhibition opening in Leipzig to an international audience together with the live performances by members of the Antakya Performative Collective; Melisa Kurtuluş, Emrah Gökdemir and Hatice Yıldız Züreyk.
The exhibition reopened in Antakya (Akdeniz Mahallesi Defne Evi) on February 1st, 2025, with the live performances of Sefa & Kenan Nuraydın, Hatice Yıldız Züreyk, and Melisa Kurtuluş. On the opening day, Murat Germen hosted a session "Antakya/lı ne istiyor | What does Antakya/ian want".
The exhibition can be visited during the week of the second anniversary of the earthquake in 2023.
Emrah Gökdemir, Melisa Kurtuluş, Hatice Yıldız Züreyk, Anastasia Kurtuluş, Meryem Yalçınkaya and Kenan Nuraydın from Antakya Performative Collective; Macide Yalçınkaya and Ezgi Aysever (Janus Artzine); Ayben Kaynar Tanır, Evrim Kavcar, Memed Erdener, Raziye Kubat, and Pawel Korbus as part of the Sıfır Noktasında Sanat Hub Artist in Residency programme in Antakya invited the local community to come together with different art practices. The outputs of these workshops were curated for an exhibition.
Murat Germen contributed to the exhibition with his documentation of Antakya throughout the years. The Istanbul-based photographer visited Antakya for the first time in 2006 and has been documenting various conditions in the city since then. In 2023, he was there with his camera in the first days after the earthquake. He also showed the thousand-year history of the city in the framework of different political systems in the first exhibition opening in Leipzig to an international audience together with the live performances by members of the Antakya Performative Collective; Melisa Kurtuluş, Emrah Gökdemir and Hatice Yıldız Züreyk.
The exhibition reopened in Antakya (Akdeniz Mahallesi Defne Evi) on February 1st, 2025, with the live performances of Sefa & Kenan Nuraydın, Hatice Yıldız Züreyk, and Melisa Kurtuluş. On the opening day, Murat Germen hosted a session "Antakya/lı ne istiyor | What does Antakya/ian want".
The exhibition can be visited during the week of the second anniversary of the earthquake in 2023.
