thursday – friday
Spaces of Encounter and Change
installation
The installation will display the results of a workshop that was jointly conducted with an interdisciplinary group of students from Humboldt-Universität, Freie Universität and Universität der Künste in Berlin with Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul. It continues the inquiry into the economic activities as well as socio-cultural and spatial practices of Syrian entrepreneurs in the neighbourhoods of Neukölln and Aksaray. Representing different forms of internal border regimes and development through various layers of migration, both neighbourhoods engender spaces of encounter between different groups and their everyday practices in particular ways.Through video mappings, drawings, audio recordings and other means, the installation presents different instances and grades of encounter in urban space. A total of five research projects portray the multiple ways in which Syrian newcomers to Berlin and Istanbul compensate the loss of home through particular food practices and various forms of spatial appropriation. Investigating the specific spaces’ advantages for and hindrances to encounter, the projects look into the intercommunal perceptions and tensions among different groups. They examine the role of gossip and its potential for othering; detect visual resemblances between both neighbourhoods; shed light on common coping strategies; and decipher the unwritten rules, linguistic barriers and other obstacles that shape the form and depth of encounter.
Workshop Participants
Serena Abbondanza, Haya Alkheder, Ragad Avad, Mariame Bentaibi, Katharina Bonengl, Nina Bühler, Finn Dittmer, Emma El Kaladi, Rüya Erkan, Erasmus Famira-Parcsetich, Nikoleta Gashi, Sofía Gohlke Butler, Erol Gorur, Marleen Hascher, Maximilian Hauser, Leo Lüdemann, Marlene Mingramm, Jan-Christopher Pien, Neslişah Kesici, Esra Nur Özçam, Vera Pohl, Dian Sheng, Sean Underwood, Gizem Yağınlı, Busenur Yahsi, Sinem Yıldız, Ezgi Yılmaz, Kübra Yılmaz, Emine Ecem Yücesoy