Concrete Contract in Diyarbakır

Beton

18 June - 3 July 2022, Merkezkaç Collective Space

The exhibition focuses on revealing human-concrete relationships, mainly through the eyes of women. It questions concretisation, unplanned developments and gentrification, in Diyarbakır and globally. The works engage with the exploitation and abusive profit making of urbanisation and their consequences on the political, economical, social or cultural field while envisaging alternative approaches.

Curator: Remzi Sever

Artists: Cansel Deveci and Baran Güven, Nurefşan Altay, Remziye Serim, Rozerin Akgök, Seyran Ekin, Sena Nur Gülecen, Sevli Rider, Şilan Baran

How to Turn Concrete Blocks into Swings

10-30 September 2022, Merkezkaç Collective Space

It appears that the answer to the ultimate question of life on earth is Concrete. But what was the question anyway? Wasn’t it about joy? We invite you to a convoluted trip through the city. It is a trip for the rediscovery of a question we forget to ask ourselves: How do we enjoy the city?

This exhibition focuses on the playfulness of the city for its dwellers. How do the inhabitants (humans, cats, birds, plants, spirits) bypass the hard and rigid frame set by concrete to build and sustain their own myth, their own practice of the city; despite the crushing presence of concrete and its ability to ignore or to deny their right to the city. It takes the form of a handbook, a dwellers guide to the city, for those who continue playing in the unfinished space. Asking one simple question: How to turn concrete blocks into swings?

Artists: Katerina Charou, Benoît Durandin, Arnold Kapinova, Konstanza Kapsali, Vincent Meyrignac, Merkezkaç Young, Olga Souri, Panagiotis Tzannetakis, Sofia Zafeiriou

Conversation with artists

11 September 2022, Merkezkaç Collective Space

Artist and social scientist Şefik Özcan moderated a talk with contributing artists of the exhibition. The talk elaborated on both the journey of “Concrete Contract” collaboration and also appropriations of artists from various backgrounds to the idea of bringing imaginative aspects of involvement with concrete and concretisation.

Live electronic sound performance by Sofia Zafeiriou

11 September 2022, Wêjegeh Amed / Ro Cafe 

Sofia Zafeiriou is a sound artist, composer and developer based in Athens. She presented an anti-spectacular performance of electronic sound built live upon active layers of aleatoric processes, location recordings in the Aegean borderland, sonified books and noise.