Istanbul trip, enquiry group, Dublin, Ireland at 'City and Arts Project'

- What surprised/shocked me in the city/country? How was the cultural scene there?
What I found surprising in the Istanbul cultural scene was its contributors passion for their work, with little funding. The extremely high degree to which the work and subsequent documentation resolved itself was also surprising. For example, this project includes a Forum “City and Art,” a DVD documenting the process of the projects undertaken and a publication of a book containing its outcomes. The project questions the present and future role of the art university and the role of the city and its public within this framework. During the course of the project a workshop with the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) has been organized addressing issues concerned with networking and collaboration between European universities. Outcomes of this cross-institution based project initiative include national and international networking, sustainable collaborations and cross institutional fertilization of practices and facilities between the EU and Turkey. The project encourages and maintains tutor exchanges, student workshops and exhibitions throughout the partner universities, an exhibition in Istanbul, construction of an internationally based social network system of cultural practioners and an internet distributed magazine.

- What about the collaboration with your partners: how was it and what did you learn
from it?
Meeting with and viewing the City and Art project leaders was of significant importance to our trip. It was organised through a member of the enquiry group who is originally from Istanbul. The work on show at the exhibition in the City and Art venue has been selected from an international collective through cross institutional collaboration initiatives. The exhibition is taking place from the 15th October – 25th November 2009. The research group spent two hours at the project venue viewing, documenting and networking with the project partners. Project Partners include Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Malmö University School of Arts and Communication, University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Associated Partners include Mersin University Faculty of Fine Arts, Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, ELIA European League of Institutes of the Arts, Consulate General of Sweden, Austrian Cultural Forum, European Cultural Association, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Yeditepe University Department of Arts Management, Gayrettepe Rotaract Club. Future networking opportunities were extended through the City and Art project initiative. Networking with the City and Art project directors has created an interest in potential future collaborations through Irish Art institutions and on an individual student basis between Turkey and Ireland.

- To what extent did the visit go as planned? (Please explain why.)
The visit went to plan and was an enormous success. Networking opportunities were made possible through meetings with such a diverse range of curators and artists visited.

- What are the next steps in relation to future plans and how could the information
and contacts you obtained help you in realizing them?
Many of the institutions visited run residencies for visiting artists. The information and contacts obtained will aid in potential future project collaborations.