
Istanbul
TurkeyNetwork partner SAHA positions the historical watch tower of Istanbul, the Galata Tower facing its premises as an imaginary weather station to bring artists and writers together for personal and collective observation of weather. SAHA’s weather reports covers a wide-range of artistic statements including artworks, texts, essays, artist talks and conversations, lecture performances, panel discussions, podcasts, and workshops, etc. about art, weather, and ecology from Turkey and beyond.
About this weather station
SAHA positions the historical watchtower Galata Tower situated just across from SAHA office, as the symbolic weather station of Istanbul. Within the scope of the World Weather Network, SAHA collaborates with m-est.org (ed. Merve Ünsal, Özge Ersoy) to commission seven artists and artist collectives to report on the weather through their artistic practices in text-based works as well as public programming spread across Turkey. Under the editorship of m-est.org, SAHA Art Writing series aims to address artistic strategies to measure, report, fabulate, and tell stories about the weather, air flows, circulation, and other high to low pressure aspects our practices and cities.
SAHA invited three artists, namely Elmas Deniz, Can Küçük, and Burcu Yağcıoğlu in residency at SAHA Studio in Istanbul between May 2022 and March 2023 and commissioned them artworks, texts, and public programmes within the scope of the World Weather Network. Furthermore, SAHA has commissioned photographer Yusuf Sevinçli a report on Istanbul’s ever-expanding topography and urban ecology, by recording the fast-eroding nature and alien sceneries of its peripheries under heavy industrialization. The series was premiered in January 2023 on SAHA’s and London Review of Books’ Instagram before SAHA Studio Open: World Weather Network held on 17-21 March 2023. Exhibiting the resident artists’ new artworks along with texts published by m-est.org and London Review of Books, SAHA Studio Open showcased a selection of digital and moving image projects by the international partners of the network.
Furthermore, SAHA’s director Çelenk Bafra produces and presents a monthly radio interviews with artists and writers on “Hariçten Sanat” [Art from the Exterior], a weekly culture & arts programme on Açık Radyo – a broadcast, internet and podcast community radio, that has been actively engaged in gathering and sharing scientific information and evidence of the devastating changes in the world’s atmosphere, oceans, ice cover, land, and biodiversity due to the climate crisis.
Participating Artists & Writers: Merve Ünsal, Özge Ersoy, Elmas Deniz, Burcu Yağcıoğlu, Can Küçük, Yusuf Sevinçli, Yasemin Nur, İz Öztat, Özgür Demirci & Monica Papi, Wing Chan
Commissioned by SAHA for World Weather Network.
SAHA
SAHA was founded to support artists, curators, and writers working in visual arts from Turkey in improving their production and learning environments, and to enhance their interactions with international art institutions and networks. Since 2011, SAHA has supported approximately 550 artists, curators, writers, and art initiative projects in museums and art institutions in 46 countries. Conceived by SAHA as a co-working space in Istanbul and a studio & residency programme for artists and curators, SAHA Studio focuses on providing art professionals from Turkey and abroad opportunities for research and production.
Weather Reports


The Weather in Istanbul
Izzy Finkel
1 July 2022


with the breath of the wind like a small cloud
Merve Ünsal
April 2022


Tying Together The Text Between Two Doors
Yasemin Nur
June 2022


weather forecasting lake
Wing Chan
September 2022


When Does Orange Become Red: A Conversation with Elmas Deniz
Elmas Deniz & Merve Ünsal
5 December 2022
Turuncu Ne Zaman Kırmızı Olur: Elmas Deniz’le Söyleşi
Elmas Deniz & Merve Ünsal
5 Aralik 2022


Daredevil
İz Öztat
11 January 2023


Journal by Yusuf Sevinçli
Yusuf Sevinçli
January 2023


Is There Any Snow?
Burcu Yağcıoğlu
18 April 2023


Will Be Ignited
Can Küçük
25 May 2023


Acts of Attunement: A Conversation
Özge Ersoy and Merve Ünsal
10 July 2023


I am Anthus
Monica Papi & Özgür Demirci
June 2023
I am Anthus
Monica Papi & Özgür Demirci
Haziran 2023


ventilation veins: the anatomy of air
Kiều-Anh Nguyễn
June 2023
havalandırma geçitleri: havanın anatomisi
Kiều-Anh Nguyễn
Haziran 2023
Events
Art, Ecology & Activism
SAHA Studio
24 September 2022


In Reality, Everything is in the Air
SAHA Studio
8 October 2022


Philosophy of Value as an Artistic Practice
SAHA Studio
8 October 2022


breathtaking
SAHA Studio
15 October 2022


A Contemplation on Inertia, Perpetual Motion, and Climate
SAHA Studio
22 October 2022


Partners

