March 23 – April 6 2024
Shorelines: A Stop brings together three presentations scrutinizing the geographical and social changes spurred by human activity along the Turkish coastline.
The initial phase of the Shorelines research, led by Meriç Öner within AVTO, concluded with a series of workshops, trips, and discussions held in partnership with Hayy Open Space and sezon. AVTO hosted conversations and discussions initiated by climate-focused academic research, with Cenk Demiroğlu delving into tourism and Ulaş Karakoç exploring agriculture. Artist Dilşad Aladağ produced a new lecture-performance dedicated to the Shorelines, in which she examined the reform efforts along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in the 1950s. The trips and workshops organized by the Aegina-based collective studio Vessel in İzmir followed the historical and personal traces of migration across the Aegean.
Shorelines: A Stop centers around COMPASS by artist Navine G. Dossos (Vessel) – a group work completed during the workshop Dossos conducted on November 24-25, 2023, at Hayy. COMPASS comprises the paintings of twenty participants who depicted their positions and orientations in the world by using a custom visual lexicon. In the video titled My own private compass, Sofia Georgovassili (Vessel) remembers the childhood stories told by her great-grandmother, who was born and raised in Çeşme and fled to Chios in 1922. The short video displays a collection of details the artist documented during her stay in İzmir and Çeşme last year. Dilşad Aladağ’s work titled Detection of the Dune, Invention of the Coast portrays the transformation of the Mediterranean coast through an intergenerational fictive dialog. The video recording of the presentation held at AVTO on December 21, 2023, is accompanied by organic objects including grass, weeds, and sand alongside drawings that were featured in the live performance.
Shorelines: A Stop will be on view at Hayy Open Space from March 23 to April 6. Video documentation of the past events will be available on the AVTO YouTube channel.
*Shorelines is supported by the British Council’s Creative Collaborations Grants Program. Program partners are AVTO (Istanbul), Vessel (Aegina), Hayy Open Space (Izmir), sezon (Izmir), and Art Unlimited (Istanbul).