TCF has provided a grant to support a second exhibition of Stone Sounds: Echoes from 4,000 Years at Sinop Kaleat the Explorer’s Club in New York City. The exhibition will be displayed at the Explorer’s Club May 1-5, 2017, and will be highlighted by Sinop Festivali 2017 on May 4, an evening of food, music, and film inspired by Sinop Kale’s rich history. The Stone Sounds exhibition explores the history of the fortress of Sinop, a historical and archaeological site on the Black Sea in Turkey. Through the use of images and sound recordings from Sinop and the excavations at Sinop Kale, the exhibition allow viewers to experience the history of an important port in the Black Sea/Eurasian world. Sinop Kale excavations are led by Dr. Owen Doonan of California State University Northridge and Dr. Alex Bauer of Queens College of the City University of New York.
Makam New York's program Turkish Story Time, supported by a TCF grant, continues to present weekly programs in New York City. Turkish Story Time brings children and their caregivers together to learn about Turkish culture through reading stories in Turkish, learning songs, rhymes, and riddles, introducing instruments and advancing literacy. The program is recorded the first Saturday of every month at 4:00 pm at Book Culture on Columbus in New York City and is open to the public. The recordings, stories and materials are available on Makam New York’s website.
Oud virtuoso Mehmet Polat (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2016) has released a new album, Ask your heart. The album features the Mehmet Polat Trio and is a mix of sounds from the Middle East and Balkans to Africa and Latin America. In addition to Mehmet Polat on the oud, Dymphi Peeters plays the kora and Sinan Arat the ney. The Mehmet Polat Trio’s CD release concert was held on April 16 at De Fermerie, in Deventer, Netherlands. On April 19, Mehmet Polat held a concert entitled “Classical Turkish Music Sessions with Çiğdem Okuyucu (vocals) & Mehmet Polat (ud)” at the Mixtree in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Özgür Demirci (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellows - 2014) held an exhibition with Fraser Stewart entitled "Sudden Stop" at the Corridor Project Space, which ran from March 10 through April 7 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Özgür Demirci is also participating in the exhibition “En Masse: Books Orchestrated” with 13 book artists at the The Center for Book Arts in New York, NY. The exhibition will remain open until July 1, 2017.
James Thurman (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellows - 2014) was featured in the “Collaborate4” exhibition with four artists from three continents, which took place at the University of North Texas Institute for the Advancement of the Arts in Denton, TX.
Cellist, composer, improviser, and photographer Anil Eraslan (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) held a workshop entitled “Workshops on Turkish Music & Improvisation” at Conservatoire de Saint Claude from April 3-6 in France. On April 8, he held a concert entitled “ello-FRITRIP-drums” with Eric Groleau at La Fraternelle in Saint Claude, France.
Suraiya Faroqhi (TCF Academic Fellow-2015) participated as a panelist at a conference on the “Recent Perspectives of Ceremonies, Rituals, and Festivals in the Ottoman World” held at Yale University on April 14-16.
Turkish modern artist Emre Hüner (TCF grantee-2009) held an exhibition entitled "Neochronophobiq" at the Protocinema in New York from March 29 – April 30.
Roberley Bell (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2015) gave a lecture entitled "“Teachers on Teaching: Roberley Bell on asking questions, here and elsewhere” at the Wallace Center at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York on April 26.
Dr. Özgen Felek (TCF Academic Fellow-2008) gave a presentation on the “Display of Manhood, Masculinity, and Gender Identity in 1582 Surname” at a conference entitled “Recent Perspectives of Ceremonies, Rituals, and Festivals in the Ottoman World,” which she also co-organized. The conference was held at Yale University in New Haven, CT from April 14-16.
Photographer Mehveş Lelic (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2015) participated in the “Mamut Art Project 2017” in Istanbul.
Glass artist Gülfidan Özmen, (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2013) participated in the Ningbo International Glass Conference in Ningbo, China. Her artwork was on display at the conference from April 16-20.
Hazal Gümüş (TCF Academic Fellow-2012) participated in “EAD 12 - Design for Next Conference” and presented her paper entitled, "Design for Grassroots Production in Eastern Turkey through the Revival of Traditional Handicrafts" at Sapienza University of Rome’s Faculty of Architecture Valle Giulia in Rome, Italy from April 12-14. She also presented her paper on "Traditional Pottery and its Contemporary Reflections in Turkey" for a Digital Modelling course at the Faculty of Design and Art at Free University Bozen-Bolzano on April 18.
Newsletter April 2017
